'Playing with a loaded gun': Democrat calls out Mike Johnson's election fraud lies

A Democratic lawmaker called out House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for spreading baseless claims of election fraud just days after helping to save his job.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) Friday shamed Johnson — who claimed this week he knew "intuitively" that undocumented immigrants vote illegally — for parroting election lies similar to those made before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

"These false claims of widespread election fraud echo the Big Lie that inspired the January 6th attack," Beyer said. "Repeating them on the Capitol steps - where that attack unfolded - as we head into the 2024 election is like playing with a loaded gun."

Beyer was condemning Johnson's voting 'integrity' bill to stop immigrants from voting, as is already banned by federal law, despite multiple studies that show noncitizen voting is rare.

The Democrat also noted he'd voted days earlier against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-GA) motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership.

"Marjorie Taylor Greene wanted to punish the Speaker for preventing a shutdown and allowing a vote on Ukraine assistance, both good decisions that I support," Beyer said in an online statement. "We believe in leading responsibly."

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Beyer said he and other Democrats who voted to table the motion to vacate to avoid the "chaos" that would have accompanied Johnson's removal, but he was already having second thoughts about protecting his leadership position.

"My support for tabling attempts to remove Speaker Johnson is not open-ended," Beyer posted. "The Speaker wisely chose to marginalize extremists in his conference and govern in a bipartisan way leading up to that vote. That must continue. I viewed the Speaker's press conference echoing false claims of widespread election fraud with deep concern."

The Virginia Democrat was disturbed that Johnson elevated election denialism at the site of the deadly Jan. 6 riot, and worried that his statements would lead to future political violence.

"No matter who wins in 2024, Congress will play its normal constitutional role in certifying the results," Beyer wrote. "There must be no repeat of the political violence or the attack on our democracy we saw in 2021, which resulted in a number of deaths including several of my constituents."