The head of the House Democratic Caucus warned Tuesday that voters should have no faith in Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to certify this year’s presidential election results because of his role in promoting former President Trump’s false claims about the 2020 contest being “rigged.”
“He doesn’t have a track record that would indicate to the American people that he should be believed,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said during a press briefing in the Capitol.
The charge came shortly after Johnson, appearing at the same pressroom podium, had vowed to back the certification of the winner of this year’s contest between Trump and Vice President Harris — if the elections are “free, fair and safe.”
It’s only a line of succession if the top spot is gone.
If Biden is gone then Harris becomes president, but the VP spot remains open.
If Harris is gone then the VP spot remains open.
A new VP is then filled by someone nominated by the President and approved by the Senate. (It’s possible things could freeze here, but not by Johnson.)
AFAIK there is nothing that would make Johnson the acting VP.
Only if Biden & Harris die in a short window, moving him to President, would he be a problem.
No it’s like the nemesis system in the Lord of the rings games and everyone moves up one slot! /S
Sadly they still have a patent on that, so Democracy will have to wait.
The 25th Amendment says that a VP replacement has to be confirmed by both Houses of Congress. Johnson could absolutely fuck shit up there.
Ah my bad.
I did a little digging and it looks like the certification process is actually handled by the President of the Senate, not the Vice President. It just so happens that the President of the Senate is also the Vice President. However the President pro tempore acts as the President of the Senate if the Vice President is unavailable.
So if we had no Vice President, we would still have a President of the Senate, so things would continue as normal.