Mike Johnson tries to stop Republicans battling each other in primaries: ‘Cool it’

House speaker tells CNN he’s ‘vehemently opposed to member-on-member action in primaries’

US House speaker Mike Johnson asked fractious fellow Republicans to “cool it” and stop fighting each other in displays of “member-on-member action” during primary elections as he seeks to maintain some sort of control over a caucus at the mercy of the far right, controlling the chamber by a mere two votes.

“I’ve asked them all to cool it,” Johnson told CNN in remarks published Sunday. “I am vehemently opposed to member-on-member action in primaries because it’s not productive. And it causes division for obvious reasons, and we should not be engaging in that.