Johnson avoids Jan. 6 question, talks about foreign wars

CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on former President Trump’s threat of violence following Jan. 6, but the lawmaker instead talked about foreign wars.

Johnson on Sunday joined CNN’s “State of the Union,” where Tapper asked the Republican about Trump’s comments about using violence against his political opponents. Tapper asked Johnson about the Honor and Civility Caucus he created when joining Congress and how it pairs with Trump’s remarks.

“Jake, you know, that’s not what he’s talking about here. What he’s talking about is marauding gangs of dangerous, violent people who are destroying public property,” Johnson said.

Tapper interjected to say Trump was talking about Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and other American citizens. Johnson dismissed the comment and said Trump was not referring to Schiff. The former president has been attacked since “he came down that golden escalator” in 2015, Johnson said.

“He’s been the most attacked, maligned political figure in U.S. history. They’ve tried to kill him twice in the last few months. I mean, this is real, and he feels that acutely,” Johnson said.

Tapper pressed, asking who “they” were. Johnson said he was talking about the assassination threats from Iran.

“The political attacks have been relentless and they have been baseless, and they made up the Russian collusion hoax and they went after him and have been going after him ever since they tried to impeach him twice. I mean, they’ve done real damage to the American psyche,” Johnson said.

The Speaker then argued that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump were in office and spoke about international wars and the U.S.’s role in them.