Speaker Johnson will meet with Trump as the Republican House leader fights for his job

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet on Friday with Donald Trump for a press conference on election integrity at the presumed Republican presidential nominee’s Mar-a-Lago club, a Trump campaign official said.

The joint appearance comes as the embattled Johnson is fighting for his job as House speaker in the face of a threat of ouster from hard-line Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top Trump ally.

Johnson, of Louisiana, told GOP lawmakers at a private meeting early Tuesday he had spoken with Trump the night before, but he shared no details of their talk.

Another person familiar with the planning said Johnson and Trump will have a “joint announcement” on Friday but provided no other details.

The new Republican speaker, once skeptical of Trump, became a key supporter. He led one of the main legal challenges to the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by the mob of Trump’s supporters trying to stop certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over him.

Since becoming the House speaker, after the ouster last fall of Kevin McCarthy, Johnson has tried to keep a close relationship with Trump. The two speak regularly as Johnson works to keep critics at bay.

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