House Speaker Mike Johnson dragged the office to a new low on Friday by using his platform to attack a rival MAGA star in a pointless battle over disgraced congressman George Santos.
In the hours before Trump commuted the sentence of the convicted fraudster, Johnson and Marjorie Taylor Greene were re-litigating their own roles in his exit from the House.
“I try not to react to what Marjorie Taylor Greene says every day,” said Johnson, reacting to MTG. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
Greene, a formerly loyal Trump defender who recently started to criticize the president, told Axios on Friday that Johnson had ousted Santos.
“They expelled George Santos, Mike Johnson did. He was Speaker and oversaw George Santos being expelled,” she said.
Greene also cast stones at Johnson over the shutdown for not having “a single conference meeting about any sort of plan to deal with the ACA tax credits expiring.”
Johnson denied ousting the disgraced former New York congressman, without addressing her comments on the shutdown.
“She accused me of ousting Santos, which, of course, is the exact opposite of the history,” he said. “I opposed his expulsion from Congress. I voted against it. I advocated to my colleagues not to do that.”
“I talked to George Santos about redemption and about God’s mercy and grace,” Johnson added. “So look, I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
Johnson also claimed that Santos praised him in a “very friendly social media post,” saying it was about how he’d “been such a great friend to him and a help to the guy.”
Santos was serving just over seven years in prison for fraud before Trump stepped in. He posted on X right before starting his sentence in July that Johnson had “blocked” a presidential pardon for him.
However, under the Constitution, the House Speaker does not have the authority to block a pardon.
Santos, who fabricated his life story to gain political clout, was convicted of stealing from donors and lying about his campaign fundraising.
The Daily Beast reached out to Greene and Johnson for comment.
