Former House Speaker John Boehner thinks there is an even chance that Republicans will lose control of the House in 2018.
“Frankly, it’s a 50/50 proposition,” the former Ohio congressman said Friday on NBC. “Once you have a change of presidents, the party out of power always gains seats. It has gone on for well over 100 years.”
Boehner said he believes House Speaker Paul Ryan’s, R-Wis., retirement announcement has nothing to do with the prospective shift in power in the House.
“I believe that because I know Paul Ryan,” he said. “He never wanted to be speaker. I had to beat him to death to take my job. Tax reform was his issue, and he spent all of his political career working on tax reform. When it was finished, I pretty well knew that he would probably move on.”
Boehner added that he would recommend that President Trump not fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or special counsel Robert Mueller if he was still in office.
“It’s a very bad idea,” Boehner said. “These are public servants who have got long careers, stand-up people who are charged with an investigation, and it’s real clear: Either there are facts or there are not … There’s no reason why those investigations should be impeded at all.”
