- Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed Trump on Tuesday morning.
- But the new House speaker previously criticized Trump during the 2016 GOP primaries.
House Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly criticized former President Donald Trump during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, comments that came to light just before the newly minted House speaker endorsed Trump's reelection campaign.
"The thing about Donald Trump is that he lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House," Johnson wrote in a 2015 Facebook post uncovered by The New York Times.
Johnson endorsed Trump Tuesday morning, saying he was "one of the closest allies Trump had in Congress."
"He had a phenomenal first term," Johnson told CNBC. "Those first two years, as you all know, we brought about the greatest economic numbers in the history of the world, not just the country. Because his policies worked. I'm all in for President Trump.
While Trump holds a commanding lead in national and early state polling, the GOP nomination remains up for grabs. The speaker of the House also traditionally presides over the Republican National Convention.
In a statement to The Times, Johnson said he repeatedly bashed then-candidate Trump because he had not had a chance to get to know the future leader of the free world.
"During his 2016 campaign, President Trump quickly won me and millions of my fellow Republicans over," Johnson said in a statement to The Times. "When I got to know him personally shortly after we both arrived in Washington in 2017, I grew to appreciate the person that he is and the qualities about him that made him the extraordinary president that he was."
Johnson, a devout evangelical Christian, seemed to be taken aback by Trump's demeanor during the 2016 campaign. One post references a now famous moment when then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked Trump during a primary debate about his past history of comments that belittled women, including calling them "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." In response, Trump said most of his comments were "only" about actress Rosie O'Donnell, with whom Trump had a long-running feud.
"What bothered me most was watching the face of my exceptional 10 yr old son, Jack, at one point when he looked over at me with a sort of confused disappointment, as the leader of all polls boasted about calling a woman a 'fat pig,'" wrote Johnson, then just a state lawmaker in Louisiana.
Johnson, who loves citing American history, did not see how this New York businessman would stack up with the nation's greatest leaders.
"Can you imagine the noble, selfless characters of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln or Reagan carrying on like Trump did last night?" he wrote.
As a House lawmaker, Johnson served on Trump's defense team during the president's first impeachment trial. After the 2020 election, Johnson help lead the push to get the Supreme Court to hear a long-shot legal challenge to the election results in a handful of states based on disproven claims of widespread voter fraud. Johnson also voted against certifying 2020 election results even after the January 6 Capitol riot delayed Congress' formal certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden's victory.