House Speaker Mike Johnson Defends Trump's Attacks on Biden and Harris

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"Has He Missed an Opportunity to Promote Unity?" House Speaker Mike Johnson Defends Trump's Attacks on Biden and Harris

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00:00House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Republican National Convention this week, and Speaker

00:05Johnson joins me now live.

00:07Welcome to this week, Mr. Speaker.

00:10Former President Trump said he was going to use his acceptance speech to come together,

00:16to promote unity, and you echoed that, saying, treat one another with dignity and respect

00:22and that the discourse should not be personal or targeting people.

00:26But after truly his emotional and very compelling first part of his speech, he turned to grievances,

00:33and I want you to take a listen to him last night at his rally.

00:38I call her laughing Kamala.

00:39You ever watch her laugh?

00:41She's crazy.

00:42She's nuts.

00:44She's not as crazy as Nancy Pelosi, crazy as Nancy.

00:48These are Biden indictments.

00:49These are a sick, weak, pathetic man who can't run an election.

00:55So he indicts his opponent thinking that's going to win this stupid president that we

01:00have.

01:01Stupid.

01:02He's a stupid person.

01:04Has he missed an opportunity to promote unity?

01:08No, he hasn't.

01:11Look, there's campaign rhetoric on both sides.

01:13There has been.

01:14Remember, it was less than a week and a half ago that President Biden said we had to we

01:18had to put Donald Trump in the crosshairs effectively and put him in the center of the

01:23bullseye, he said.

01:24Now, he retracted that statement.

01:26And President Trump has said some things about unity that President Biden has said.

01:31But we are in the midst of a heated campaign.

01:33And it's beyond dispute that President Trump has been the most attacked and maligned public

01:38figure in the history of the country.

01:40But you yourself said that the discourse should not be personal or targeting people.

01:45Have you just changed your mind?

01:47Is this now the campaign you want?

01:49No, look, I I articulate things in a certain way.

01:53And Donald Trump does as well.

01:55But but his grievances, as you said, are because he has been the subject of so many attacks.

02:01He was speaking there in that clip about the lawfare that he's had to endure.

02:04I mean, they have turned the justice system against him because he's a political opponent

02:09of the sitting president.

02:10I mean, these are objective facts.

02:11Some of these cases are being dismissed now.

02:13And they've drug he and his family through hell, literally for years now.

02:18They tried to impeach him.

02:19They've tried to attack him in every way.

02:20They now have turned the justice system against him.

02:23So, I mean, I think the American people understand his frustration.

02:27And I think I think he is echoing what many of them feel.

02:30Look at the size of the rallies.

02:32I mean, they have long waiting lines outside the perimeter of these events because people

02:36long to hear his message.

02:38They want change.

02:39Mr. Speaker, first of all, I will dispute.

02:42Those aren't necessarily objective facts that you are saying.

02:45But I want to turn to what is happening with President Biden.

02:49As of this morning, it does not look like he is going anywhere.

02:53But if he does step down, you said this week the Republicans are likely to bring legal

02:57challenges against any attempts to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket.

03:02How would that work?

03:04Well, these elections are handled at the state level.

03:07Every state has its own system.

03:09And some of these, it's it's not possible to simply just switch out a candidate who

03:14has been chosen through the Democratic small d democratic process over such a long period

03:19of time.

03:20Fourteen million Democrats voted to make Joe Biden the nominee.

03:24So it would be wrong and I think unlawful in accordance to some of these states rules

03:28for a handful of people to go in a back room and switch it out because they're they don't

03:33like the candidate any longer.

03:34That's not how this is supposed to work.

03:35So I think they would run into some legal impediments in at least a few of these jurisdictions.

03:40And I think there'll be a compelling case to be made that that shouldn't happen.

03:44And so I think they've got legal trouble if that's their you know, that's their intention

03:49and that's their plan.

03:50So we'll see how it plays out.

03:51We don't know.

03:52I know the Democrats are in total disarray and I know the Republican Party is united

03:55like never before.

03:57So we're looking forward to November and this election cycle.

03:59It's going to be an interesting time for the American people.

04:02Republican election law expert Rick Hasen said there's no credence to that notion that

04:06since Biden isn't the party nominee yet, but we'll see how that all plays out.

04:10Our most recent poll shows a huge majority, 61 percent, wanting Joe Biden to step down.

04:15But our polls have also shown that the race is still a dead heat nationally between registered

04:20voters, 46 percent to 46 percent.

04:23What do you make of that?

04:25Well, look, we can I can cite to you a number of polls who say the opposite, that it looks

04:30like it's you know, Donald Trump may be headed for a landslide.

04:33Now, don't take my word for it.

04:35Take the word of some of the top leading Democrats and elected Democrats around the country who

04:40are in panic mode.

04:41That's the headlines that we've been reading for weeks.

04:43And I think that's true.

04:44I can tell you many of my colleagues on Capitol Hill, Democrats who are friends and colleagues

04:48or have lots of of hand wringing over this right now, they don't know what to do and

04:54they don't have a viable plan B. Many of them don't believe that Kamala Harris is a viable

04:59candidate at the top either.

05:01And they're running out of time.

05:02So it'll be interesting to see what happens.

05:04From our perspective, Martha, it doesn't matter who they put at the top of the ticket.

05:08If Kamala is the nominee, so be it.

05:10She is the co-author and the co-owner of the policies of the Biden administration.

05:15And she owns all these policy failures herself.

05:17So we look forward to a vigorous debate about those policies and about the two competing

05:22visions for America.

05:23And I think the American people will side with the Republican Party.

05:27That's what the demographic moves are showing.

05:30There's a record number of Hispanic and Latino voters, a record number of black and African

05:34American voters coming into the Republican Party.

05:37The Jewish community is more energized than I've ever seen a segment of the population

05:41because they feel like Joe Biden and the Democrats have abandoned Israel and in so many ways

05:45they have.

05:46So you see all these factors playing out across the country.

05:49And I mean, I'm traveling nonstop around the nation.

05:51That's what we're seeing on the ground.

05:53So polls are polls.

05:54But I think everybody senses something's happening here.

05:57Mr. Speaker, I think you answered part of my next question already.

06:01But how would the GOP approach this race differently if the nominee does end up being Vice President

06:09Kamala Harris?

06:10Well, you know, the interesting thing about this dynamic, whether it's Biden or Harris,

06:15is that both of these persons have held office.

06:19We had a Trump administration.

06:20We had a Biden-Harris administration.

06:22And people can compare the two that put the campaign rhetoric aside.

06:27How are you and your family doing after the first two years of the Trump administration,

06:31for example, and the first few years of the Biden administration?

06:34I mean, it's it's no contest.

06:35And everybody knows that.

06:36And I think that's why we're in such good position.

06:39I think this election should not be about personalities, but about policies.

06:43People understand, as Obama said many years ago, elections really do have consequences.

06:49President Trump was attacking her personally, as you know, last night.

06:52He wasn't really talking about her policies.

06:54He was talking about her laugh.

06:56He was saying she was crazy.

07:00We could run the tape of the terrible things that Kamala Harris has said about Donald Trump,

07:04of course, and Biden as well, and everybody in the Democrat leadership.

07:08I mean, this is it's we're accustomed to it now.

07:10It's their standard practice.

07:12But what we're what President Trump is trying to do out on that campaign trail is prosecute

07:16the case to put forward his ideas and his vision, as he did in that lengthy speech at

07:21the RNC.

07:22He has a lot to say because he has a lot of ideas there.

07:25There's let me let me stop on one idea, sir.

07:28Mr. Speaker, Ukraine, he says he could end that war in one day.

07:32How could he do that?

07:34Well, look, I have a lot of confidence in President Trump being able to end that conflict

07:39because he will project strength.

07:41We maintain peace through strength.

07:43We have not had that in the three and a half years of the Biden administration.

07:46It's been exactly the opposite.

07:48And that is why our adversaries are acting so provocatively.

07:51OK, but peace through strength, that that that may be what you believe in.

07:54But how could he end that war in one day?

07:59President Trump has the ability to pick up the phone call and make threats and demands

08:04of of adversaries around the world that they pay attention to because they fear him in

08:09some ways.

08:10There's real value in that.

08:11I mean, think of it.

08:13He said it in his speech.

08:14Russia did not invade Ukraine during his administration.

08:17We did not have the conflict in Israel, the war in Israel, as we have because Iran has

08:21been empowered under Biden.

08:22We did not have China acting so provocatively as they are right now around the world.

08:27We've got hot wars around the globe.

08:29Our adversaries are nervous.

08:30We had the NATO summit, you know, two weeks ago in Washington.

08:33And I met with foreign leaders, heads of state from around the globe that are our adversaries,

08:38and they are deeply concerned about the instability that America is projecting on the world stage

08:44because of Joe Biden and his weak leadership.

08:47Mr. Speaker, I want to get quickly to this as a as a quick question.

08:52We're learning more about the details, really startling details about the assassination

08:56attempt.

08:58There were reports that that the Trump campaign asked for more protection, not at that particular

09:03rally perhaps, but over the last couple of years.

09:06And the Secret Service said basically they that was true.

09:11Do you think Kimberly Cheadle should resign immediately or that President Biden should

09:17fire her?

09:19Both, I called on her to resign over the weekend, and when it became apparent that she would,

09:25and I think on Friday, then I called for President Biden to fire her.

09:28The buck should stop at his desk.

09:29We absolutely must ensure accountability so the American people can trust that this job

09:34will be done, that we will protect our presidents and former presidents.

09:38It's the number one job of the Secret Service, not anything else.

09:41And I think Director Cheadle has shown the world and said that she has different priorities.

09:45She needs to go.

09:46OK, thank you so much for joining us this morning, Mr. Speaker.

09:48We appreciate it.

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