President Trump said Friday he asked Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to withdraw as his pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations because he did not want to risk losing her congressional seat, calling it “politics 101.” “We don’t want to take any chances, so I went to Elise and I said, ‘Elise, do you mind?’” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We don’t want to take any chances. It’s as simple as that. It’s basic politics. It’s politics 101. She’s very popular. She’s going to win." “I really appreciate her doing it,” Trump added. “She’s doing me a big favor when she does it, because she was all set to go to the United Nations, and she would have dealt with Putin, and Zelensky and everybody else, and she would have been very effective. But we don’t want to take any chances, because it is tight.” Trump’s announcement has thrown Stefanik’s future into flux and has raised questions about how concerned Republicans should be if her solidly Republican district is at risk. Trump won Stefanik’s district by 30 percentage points last November. Stefanik has represented her district since 2015. Republicans have a historically tiny House majority, where every vote matters as they aim to advance Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda on taxes and spending cuts along party lines. Currently, there are 218 House Republicans and 213 House Democrats, with four vacancies — meaning House Republicans can only afford to lose two Republicans on any party line vote, assuming full attendance. Stefanik’s confirmation was expected to move soon after a pair of Florida special election races on April 1 in Republican-leaning districts, vacancies that were created by former Rep. Mike Waltz becoming national security adviser and former Rep. Matt Gaetz abruptly resigning after Trump initially picked him to be attorney general, before Gaetz withdrew days later. But a closer-than-expected race in Waltz’s district that is normally safely Republican has spooked some in the GOP. Two vacancies in Democratic-leaning districts, though, will not be filled for months, giving House Republicans a bit more breathing room. In his statement announcing the move, Trump said the congresswoman would “rejoin the House Leadership Team.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) echoed that plan, saying he would “invite her to return to the leadership table immediately.” But it is unclear where Stefanik will fit in after relinquishing the position of House GOP conference chair, which she held for nearly four years, upon her nomination to the Cabinet. ...read more read less