Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has been something of a disappointment to many Republicans, particularly those on the right, since he replaced McCarthy. However, he appeared on NBC News’s “TODAY” on the morning of Sunday, July 14, the morning after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, and tore into those whose rhetoric led to this, vowing in the process to launch a full investigation of what went wrong.
As background, the main argument that the Secret Service and other law enforcement agents did something wrong is that the rooftop from which the alleged shooter appears to have fired was a mere 150 or so yards from where former President Trump was speaking, and many wonder how the Secret Service didn’t see him in time or didn’t respond with counter-sniper fire in time to sop the shooting.
Speaker Johnson, in any case, said that America can’t continue down this extremely dark path it is on, saying, “America awakens to a rather surreal morning. This is a horrific act of political violence that ought to be roundly condemned. Obviously, we can’t go on like this as a society. You know, our prayers are with President Trump, all the rally attendees, certainly the family of the individual that lost their life and those who were injured.”
He continued, saying that he had spoked to those in charge in an attempt to determine how things could have gone so disastrously wrong. He said, “We have gotten briefings from, law enforcement. I spoke to Secretary Mayorkas last night and asked him some pointed questions with regard to Homeland Security and what happened there.”
Johnson then vowed and investigation of the matter, namely how things could have ended in such disaster, saying, “I’ve already announced that Congress will do a full investigation of the tragedy yesterday to determine where there were lapses in security and anything else that the American people need to know and deserve to know.”
Returning to the rhetoric issue, he said, “But in the meantime, we’ve got to turn the rhetoric down. We’ve got to turn the temperature down in this country. We need leaders of all parties on both sides to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward and and maintain our free society that we all were blessed to have.”
Johnson also pointed out how vilified former President Trump has been by the left, saying, to the “TODAY” hosts, “There’s no figure in American history, at least in the modern era, maybe since Lincoln, who’s been so vilified and really persecuted by the media, Hollywood elites, political figures, you know, even the legal system.”
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Tweeting out the clip of the interview and commenting on the tragedy, Speaker Johnson said, “President Trump showed an incredible amount of strength last night. Our prayers are with him, all the rally attendees, those who were injured, and the family of the individual who lost their life. Congress will conduct a full investigation of the tragedy to determine where there were lapses in security.”