Trump predicts Johnson will remain speaker if he nixes 'traps' set by Democrats in spending bill

President-elect Donald Trump predicted on Thursday that House Speaker Mike Johnson will "easily remain speaker" in the new session of Congress if he gets rid of "the traps being set by Democrats" in the spending bill that was unveiled on Tuesday night. 

"If the speaker acts decisively and tough and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will, economically, and in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker," Trump said during an interview with Fox News Digital. 

He also said any GOP lawmaker that votes for a spending bill now that doesn't address the nation's debt ceiling should receive a primary challenge. 

"Anybody that supports a bill that doesn’t take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible," Trump said.

Johnson released the full text of the spending bill, which would run through March 14, after bipartisan negotiations commenced. The bill included a pay raise for members of Congress, about $100 billion in disaster relief funding, about $10 billion in federal aid to farmers and a provision allowing members of Congress to opt-out of Obamacare.

The bill was greeted with opposition from the conservative House Freedom Caucus and other GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate. Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance later released a statement against the bill.

Vance met with Johnson about the spending bill situation on Wednesday night. Congress has until midnight Friday to pass a funding bill to avoid a partial government shutdown.