House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) played dumb when asked about Eric Trump’s suggestion that Democrats were to blame for an assassination attempt on his father at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
“I didn’t hear all the comments, I don’t know the context,” said Johnson, who told ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos that he “just saw the clip” of the former president’s son when it aired on the program.
He later continued, “I don’t think they’re saying that the Democratic Party tried an assassination attempt. I think what they’re alluding to is what we’ve all been saying: they have got to turn the rhetoric down.”
Eric Trump — who along with his brother Donald Trump Jr. has blamed Democrats for being behind the attempted assassination of their father this summer — returned to the site of the rally over the weekend where he again tied the party to the shooting that killed one attendee.
“They tried to kill him, they tried to kill him and it’s because the Democratic Party, they can’t do anything right. They can’t do anything right,” Eric Trump told the crowd in Butler on Saturday.
Stephanopoulos reminded Johnson, who called on politicians to “turn the rhetoric down” in July, of his remarks at the time.
“So is it right for the president and his family to suggest that Democrats are behind the effort to assassinate him?” Stephanopoulos asked.
Johnson, who has endorsed Trump despite his deadly coup attempt in 2021, latched onto a claim that Democrats have “incited” people through their rhetoric while dismissing talk of Trump being a “threat to democracy.”
Stephanopoulos wasn’t having it and read Eric Trump’s remarks verbatim.
“Do you support those comments or not?” the host asked.
“I don’t know what Eric was saying because I only heard just a snippet there, I don’t know the context —,” Johnson said.
“You just saw it, sir,” Stephanopoulos interjected.
“Very level-headed and a very intelligent person — I saw your clip of it, George, I didn’t see the full speech. We need to all look at these things in full context,” Johnson replied.
Stephanopoulos then questioned Johnson and read the comments again.
“What more context do you need? Do you support that statement or not?” he asked.
“George, George, I’m not gonna parse the language of what people say at rallies,” Johnson responded.
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