Speaker Mike Johnson Is The Gift That Keeps Giving To Democrats

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gave a gift to Democrats when he fumbled a question about expelling Rep. George Santos (R-NY)

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Mike Johnson Said What About Expelling George Santos?

The latest attempt to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after a devastating report from the non-partisan House Ethics Committee found that he gained his House seat through criminal activity is scheduled for Thursday.

For the party of law and order, as the Republicans describe themselves, this should be a no-brainer.

At a House leadership press conference about Biden impeachment, Speaker Mike Johnson chose a different path.

Speaker Johnson said:

I'll say this, we had a Republican conference meeting in the last hour. There were opinions shared on both sides. I'll answer it this way, listen, I said that the Republican Party is the rule of law team and we are. We believe in the rule of law. There are people of good faith who make an argument, both pro and con, for the expulsion um, resolution for Santos.

There are people who say you have to uphold the rule of law and allow for someone to be convicted in a criminal court before this this, this, this tough penalty would be exacted on someone. That's been the precedent so far. There are others who say, well, upholding the rule of law, uh, requires us to take this step now because some of the things that he's alleged to have done, the House Ethics Committee having done their job are infractions against the house itself. And so what we've said is the leadership team is we're going to allow people to vote their conscience. I think it's the only appropriate thing we can do. We've not whipped the vote and we wouldn't. I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good faith.

I personally have real reservations about doing this. I'm I'm concerned about a precedent that may be set for that. So everybody's working through that and we'll see how they vote tomorrow.

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What a wishy-washy and completely inadequate answer.

George Santos was found by the Ethics Committee to have committed crimes against the House of Representatives, and Mike Johnson is off in the corner babbling something about law and order and precedent.

Not only was Johnson’s answer bad, it was a huge gift to Democrats, which we will talk about below.