‘This gets into some serious extra-constitutional turf. These are strange lands never visited in the American political experience’
By Joe Kovacs
PALM BEACH, Florida – Despite Donald Trump’s landslide victory over Kamala Harris in November, it’s possible he may not become president on Jan. 20 if there’ still no speaker of the House who has certified the election results.
That alarm is being sounded on national TV as Mike Johnson, the current speaker of the House, is facing the threat of not being voted as speaker again this Friday.
On “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel, host Jason Chaffetz quoted Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram who said:
“The House absolutely, unequivocally cannot do anything until it elects a speaker, period. This also means that the House cannot certify the results of the Electoral College, making trump the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 6. What happens if the Electoral College isn’t sorted out by Jan. 20? Well, President Biden is done, so he’s gone. The same with Harris. Next in the presidential line of succession is the speaker of the House.
“Well, there’s no speaker, so who becomes the president? If the House is still frittering away time trying to elect a speaker on Jan 20, [president pro tempore of the Senate Chuck] Grassley, likely becomes ‘acting president.’ I write likely because this gets into some serious, extra-constitutional turf. These are unprecedented scenarios. Strange lands never visited in the American political experience.”