'Making him squirm': Expert pours cold water on 'desperate' Mike Johnson's new challenge
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is making a "desperate" move with his recent comment that Vice President Kamala Harris can't get on the ballot in all 50 states, one election expert said.
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Friday, election lawyer Marc Elias of Democracy Docket addressed Jake Tapper's CNN interview with Johnson on Monday, in which Johnson invented a conspiracy about the ballot.
"Johnson said both before and after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday that there are legal 'impediments' in some states to a party switching presidential candidates as the Democrats did," CNN reported.
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Johnson even touted his constitutional lawyer expertise when spinning the ABC News conspiracy.
"It would be wrong and I think unlawful in accordance to some of these state rules for a handful of people to go in the backroom and switch it out because they’re – they don’t like the candidate any longer," Johnson said.
CNN investigated by calling election officials in 48 of 50 states who told them it wasn't true.
Wallace couldn't understand why Johnson would make such a claim.
Elias, the expert on election law, gave a more frank reply.
"I think they're desperate," Elias said. "They planned an entire campaign to run against Joe Biden."
He described "victory laps" by top Trump campaign staff assuming they were going to win after the first debate. They even bragged to The Atlantic that they'd "win in a landslide."
"All of a sudden, instead of Joe Biden, they have Kamala Harris," he said.
"We are lucky to have her now and the RNC is scared of her. Donald Trump is terrified of her," he said, noting the ex-president is already "backing out of debates."
"And it is a joy to watch Mike Johnson squirm as he realizes his days in the speaker's chair are numbered," he said.