Manu Raju/X
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) expressed annoyance at the fact that he is asked to respond when President Donald Trump says or does something noteworthy.
On Tuesday, Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania, where he once again railed against immigrants from “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many other countries.” At that point, a member of the crowd yelled, “Sh*tholes,” a callback to a report from Trump’s first term in 2018, when the president privately complained that people from “sh*thole countries” were immigrating to the U.S.
“I didn’t say sh*thole,” Trump told the audience member. “You did!” The president then admitted that the 2018 report was true, even though he had denied it at the time.
“And we had a meeting, and I say, ‘Why is it we only take people from sh*thole countries?”” Trump explained.
On Wednesday, CNN’s Manu Raju caught up with the speaker at the Capitol and asked about it, after which he posted the exchange on X:
RAJU: He referred to countries like Somalia as “sh*thole countries.” I’m wondering if you’re ok with that kind of language.”
JOHNSON: Look, I’m baited every day with, asking to be made– asked to comment about what the president or other members say or do.”
RAJU: It’s the president of the United States! Don’t you have an opinion on it?
JOHNSON: Yeah, well, of course I have an opinion. That’s not the way I speak, and you know that. But the president is expressing his frustration about the extraordinary challenge that is presented to America when you have people coming in, not assimilating, and trying to take over the country. We had illegal aliens, like 20 million of them under four years of Biden. It’s a crisis for the country, and that’s the frustration you hear in his voice and the language he uses.
During Tuesday’s rally, Trump re-upped his attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a Somali-American, stating, “We oughta get her the hell out.”
