Donald Trump was grinning from ear to ear when he picked up this surprising endorsement

Donald Trump’s campaign is continuing to build momentum heading into 2024.

One powerful Republican put all his cards on the table.

And Donald Trump was grinning from ear to ear when he picked up this surprising endorsement.

Former President Donald Trump has picked up a number of endorsements from elected Republicans, but it appeared that GOP leadership in Congress was staying out of it.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) despises the former President and hasn’t endorsed anyone in the Republican Primary.

New Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) was a wildcard after his rise from obscurity to being elected as the top Republican in the House.

He was an ally of Trump before he became Speaker, but being in leadership could have changed his loyalties.

Donald Trump gets major endorsement from Speaker Mike Johnson

Johnson came out with a full-throated endorsement of Trump during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Co-host Joe Kernen pointed out that Johnson is known as a Trump ally but said that he hadn’t made an endorsement in the Republican Presidential Primary.

“I have endorsed him wholeheartedly,” Johnson said. “Look, I was one of the closest allies that President Trump had in Congress.”

Johnson, a constitutional law attorney, worked on the former President’s defense team against both of the impeachment hoaxes brought by Democrats.

“He had a phenomenal first term. 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 and I’m all in for President Trump,” Johnson continued. 

The Speaker predicted that the 2024 election would be the end of the line for President Joe Biden.

“I expect he’ll be our nominee, yeah, and he’s gonna win it and we have to make Biden a one-term President,” Johnson added.

Johnson also dismissed the four Democrat-led criminal indictments against Trump by calling them politically driven “lawfare.”

Trump is leading the Republican Primary by a sizable margin in state and national polling over his closest challengers, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Johnson became the highest-ranking Republican elected official to back the former President’s 2024 bid.

This is a stark contrast to his predecessor, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who refused to endorse Trump but had a friendly relationship with him.

McCarthy recently appeared on Squawk Box and said that Trump is “stronger today than he was in 2016.”

Donald Trump urged Republicans to support Mike Johnson in Speaker battle

The endorsement from Johnson comes after Trump stopped short of an endorsement in the Speaker’s race but gave House Republicans a “strong suggestion” to support his candidacy.

“I am not going to make an Endorsement in this race, because I COULD NEVER GO AGAINST ANY OF THESE FINE AND VERY TALENTED MEN, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson.”

Donald Trump is building a relationship with Mike Johnson that could pay off in getting his agenda passed during a potential second term.