Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) will be reelected Speaker of the House because no member of the Freedom Caucus could not get the 218 votes needed.

Partial transcript as follows:

JONATHAN KARL: First of all, let’s start right there with Mike Johnson. Does he get re-elected speaker of the House? Should he be?

LAWLER: Yes, and yes. The fact is that Mike Johnson inherited a disaster when Matt Gaetz and several of my colleagues teamed up with 208 Democrats to remove Kevin McCarthy, which will go down as the single stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in politics. With that said, removing Mike Johnson would equally be as stupid. The fact is that these folks are playing with fire. And if they think they’re somehow going to get a more conservative speaker, they’re kidding themselves. Mike Johnson is arguably the most conservative speaker that’s ever been elected to the office. He’s done a great job keeping the conference unified, getting major things off the plate, and ultimately keeping the majority, which frankly despite the best efforts of some of these same people that are now calling for Johnson’s removal, we held onto the House because of seats like mine. And I’ll be very clear, as I was during the Kevin McCarthy fight, I’m not going to bend to their will. So, if they think somehow that they are going to end up in a stronger position by removing Mike Johnson, they’re not.

I think the bottom line here is this, Donald Trump has been given a mandate to govern. He’s been given majorities in the Senate and the House. And we have a lot of work to do on behalf of the American people with respect to the economy, with respect to the border, with respect to energy policy, and the foreign affairs disaster that has been left on Donald Trump’s doorstep by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

We can’t get anything done unless we have a speaker, including certifying President Trump’s election on January 6th. So, to waste time over a nonsensical intramural food fight is a joke. And I think my colleagues, if they didn’t learn anything from the 118th Congress, it should be that we absolutely do not need a fight over the speakership.

KARL: I mean, by my math, he can’t afford to lose more than a single vote. And we already have one of your colleagues, Massey, saying he’s not going to vote for him. Do you really think he’s going to line up every single House Republican?

LAWLER: Well, first of all, you’re going to have 219 members on January 3rd.

KARL: Yes.

LAWLER: Assuming Matt Gaetz doesn’t show up. And I guess that’s a big assumption. But you have 219. You need 218.

KARL: That’s some tough math.

LAWLER: Obviously, if you lose Thomas Massey, you still have 218.

KARL: Yes. Yes. Right.

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LAWLER: So, look, at the end of the day, people better be very careful though because you’re playing with fire. And if somebody thinks that they’re going to be able to get 218 votes for somebody let’s say out of the freedom caucus, they’re kidding themselves.

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