House Speaker Mike Johnson told NBC News on Sunday that Saturday’s shooting incident involving former President Donald Trump is evidence that Americans need to “stop speaking out.”
“We are all Americans and we need to treat each other with dignity and respect,” Johnson said, taking a partial swipe at President Joe Biden, who told supporters on a campaign call last week that it was time to shift the focus of the presidential race away from his age and back to Trump.
The president’s remarks on the call included comments such as, “We can no longer waste time with distractions. My job is one and only: to defeat Donald Trump. … I believe I am the best person to do that” and “It’s time to put Trump at the center of the target.”
“So I know that Biden’s comments did not mean what was implied there,” Johnson said of Biden’s remarks on Sunday, but added that “that kind of language on either side should be condemned.”
“We can have a spirited debate, but it needs to end there,” Johnson said.
Republicans, including Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita and members of the House Judiciary Committee, said Biden’s comments over the past 24 hours were adding fuel to the fire ahead of Saturday’s shooting.
“No person in American history, at least in modern times, has been so vilified and so persecuted by the media, by Hollywood elites, by politicians and even by the justice system, probably since Lincoln,” Johnson told “Today” hosts Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist on Sunday.
“It’s a heated environment when the message is constantly being sent that the election of Donald Trump is a threat to democracy and that the republic will be over,” he added.
Still, Johnson added that he expects Trump to return to the campaign trail soon and draw on his “endless reserves of energy and strength.”
“He’s going to keep fighting,” Johnson added.
