Stumped on ICE killing, Mike Johnson keeps struggling with the basics of current events
By any fair measure, one of the biggest stories in the United States yesterday unfolded in Maine, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Johan Sebastián Guerrero, a Colombian man authorized to work in the U.S. who was also father of a 3-year-old girl.
A day later, a reporter asked House Speaker Mike Johnson for his reaction to the deadly incident and whether he believed some accountability was in order. The Louisiana Republican was stumped — again.
“I don’t know anything about this event,” the GOP’s top congressional leader told reporters. “I was a little busy yesterday.” He acknowledged there “was a tragic shooting” but said he wouldn’t comment “because I don’t know.”
Mindful of how that might sound, Johnson added, “You guys can mock me for not knowing that. I worked about 22 hours in the last few days.”
That work schedule didn’t sound too grueling: 22 hours of work over the last few days suggests the House speaker worked roughly seven hours a day, which presumably left him some time to maybe read a newspaper or watch some news coverage on television about current events.
But putting that aside, that the Republican congressman anticipated the mockery was notable because Johnson apparently realizes this has been an ongoing problem.
What did the House speaker say when asked in December about President Donald Trump’s scandalous pardon for Changpeng Zhao? “I don’t know anything about it,” he said. What was his reaction to allegations that the U.S. military killed defenseless survivors following a strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters? “I was pretty busy yesterday,” Johnson replied. “I didn’t follow a lot of the news.”
Last fall, a reporter asked Johnson about the Trump administration’s personnel purge at ICE and whether congressional oversight might be in order. The House speaker said he didn’t know about that, either.
Five days before that, amid widespread reports that the president was seeking a $230 million payment from the Justice Department, Johnson was asked for comment. He was again stumped. A day earlier, he was asked about the White House importing Argentinian beef, and the Louisiana congressman said he wasn’t up to speed on that, either.
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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