House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is pointing fingers — not at the man accused of threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), but at anti-Trump protesters.
At a Tuesday press conference, Johnson was asked about the man behind the threat, who, notably, had been pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Reporter: “Did President Trump make a mistake by just offering a blanket pardon for every single person that was convicted?”
Johnson deflected.
“I don’t know any of the details of this at all,” he said — a surprising admission for the highest-ranking Republican in Congress responding to a threat against his Democratic counterpart. Still, Johnson quickly pivoted, saying, “Anybody who threatens political violence against elected officials or anyone else should have the full weight and measure of the Department of Justice on their head.”
Then came the familiar pivot: “The violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right,” Johnson claimed. “All of these assassination, the assassination culture that’s been advanced now, this is the left in almost every case that is advancing this and not the right.”
He offered no evidence to support this.
But instead of reckoning with the fact that a Trump-pardoned insurrectionist had allegedly threatened to kill the House Minority Leader, Johnson turned his fire on a protest that took place days earlier: the “No Kings” rallies, which drew tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators to cities across the country to denounce Trump’s efforts to return to power.
“And the rhetoric that you saw on display on Saturday, we highlighted yesterday, it plays into this, okay?” Johnson insisted. “There are people that get triggered. There are deranged people in society when they hear elected officials participating in a rally that was paid for by Soros and sponsored by communists.”
The speaker didn’t name which officials or protests he was referring to, nor did he offer any proof that George Soros or “communists” were behind the events. Still, he doubled down on his argument — that anti-Trump rhetoric is somehow to blame for pro-Trump violence.
“They call every Republican a fascist now, they’re calling for the death of elected officials,” Johnson said. “Please, enough of that. We’ve got to stop it. Stop the rhetoric, stop all the nonsense, and stop the violence.”
The reporter tried to follow up, but Johnson abruptly ended the press conference.
“I’ve said enough,” he said, turning and walking out.
To be clear, the man accused of threatening Jeffries wasn’t some random protester “triggered” by Democrats — he was a Trump loyalist who stormed the Capitol, was convicted, then pardoned by Trump. And yet, Johnson, instead of confronting that reality, is blaming protesters who showed up to say “no” to authoritarianism.
It’s a bold move — and a dangerous one — to shift the blame for political violence away from those committing it and toward those peacefully protesting against it.
Watch the full clip below:
