Rep. Mike Johnson wins GOP nomination for House speaker

Transcript

00:00 The former president still has clout though inside the GOP and he showed it yesterday

00:03 in the fight over the next speaker of the House.

00:06 Republican members nominated House Majority Whip Tom Emmer yesterday, but he quickly backed

00:11 out over concerns that he did not support Trump enough.

00:15 Now the party has moved on to another candidate and Scott McFarland is on Capitol Hill to

00:19 tell us all about him.

00:21 Scott, good morning.

00:22 This is a saga.

00:23 Hey, Gail, this is like a long round of musical chairs in which nobody is winning.

00:29 For the fourth time, House Republicans have nominated a candidate to be House speaker.

00:34 This time it's Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a former talk radio host, a lower ranking

00:39 member of House Republican leadership serving his fourth term.

00:43 He's an attorney specializing in constitutional law, but voted to decertify the 2020 elections

00:50 and that could be a pivotal vote because yesterday, just four hours after winning the nomination,

00:55 Minnesota's Tom Emmer quit the race.

00:57 Some of his Republican colleagues told CBS News they just couldn't back Emmer because

01:02 he voted to certify President Biden's win in 2020.

01:06 Also former President Trump had a social media post about Emmer yesterday, blasting him,

01:11 calling him a rhino Republican in name only.

01:15 After Emmer's departure, six other Republicans jumped in, all of the men and Mike Johnson

01:20 prevailed after several rounds of voting.

01:23 And late last night, Johnson won the endorsement of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who's

01:27 also from Louisiana, and also pursued the speakership lost earlier this month.

01:34 It's still an uphill fight for Mike Johnson to win.

01:37 He needs 217 votes in a House Republican conference that has a lot of bad blood over the past

01:41 few weeks.

01:43 Voting could happen, Nate, as early as this afternoon.

01:47 We will stay tuned.