Rep. Louie Gohmert tells Newsmax TV he can't say whether GOP lawmakers will retain House Speaker Paul Ryan or vote to replace him.
"I don't know, I think a lot depends on this election," Gohmert, a Texas Republican, said Friday on "America Talks Live."
"If [Donald] Trump didn't get elected then I know there would be an awful lot of people that would be so upset."
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Gohmert — the powerful vice chair of House subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security — threw his hat in the ring to replace former House Speaker John Boehner two years ago, but got nowhere.
And while he still believes he'd make an excellent House Speaker, he admitted he's likely burned to many bridges to get enough support.
"Realistically I've made so many people mad, I gave myself up as the sacrificial lamb to try to get a more honest, honorable, sober speaker of the House," he said.
Ryan, who assumed the speaker position with great fanfare and hope of unifying the fractured GOP, has been criticized by Trump supporters — and Trump himself — for his backhanded support of the billionaire real-estate tycoon. While Ryan said he would support Trump at the polls, he declined to campaign with him or defend him.
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