'You run the damn House!' Ex-RNC chair calls out Mike Johnson for lying about shutdown

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) continues to blame Democrats for the government shutdown, but former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele called him out for his "baloney" around the shutdown.

"People say, 'Why aren't you negotiating with Democrats?' I literally don't have anything to negotiate," said Johnson when speaking to MSNBC. "I didn't put any of my Republican priorities on the [continuing resolution]. So, I can't pull those off and say, 'Gee, is it better now? Can you vote for it?' I sent over to the Senate exactly what they voted on the last time, and now suddenly they want to have a political fight.'

Steele, an MSNBC host, called it false, noting that it also proves that Republicans "aren't serious" about ending the shutdown.

He explained that the shutdown has "nothing to do with partisanship or anything like that. You run the damn House. You're the ones who sent the members home early in August because you didn't want to deal with the Epstein situation. Then, when they came back, you sent them home again!"

The "Epstein situation" deals with the discharge petition that would require a vote on a bill demanding that the Justice Department release the investigation files around Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy sex offender who had ties to influential people around the world.

"Now you're saying that, 'Oh, I'm sorry. Unless you give me everything that was in the package before,' knowing that what was in the package before undoes or just, you know, just breaks apart the whole health care construct for the American people," said Steele.

Democrats are demanding that Republicans restore subsidies to the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at the end of the year. The slashing was from the so-called "one big beautiful bill" law that Republicans passed in the summer.

"And so the Speaker goes on our network and other networks, and he says, 'Oh, not for me. I don't know what else to do. I've done everything I can,'" Steele said, paraphrasing Johnson. "No, you haven't! Bring your members back."

He also wants to see the newly elected lawmaker from Arizona sworn into office, which Johnson has also refused to do. Steele said the reason for that is that she would be the one vote required to mandate a vote on the Epstein files.

"So, this whole sort of, 'Oh my God! I have no control over any of this! The Democrats are the bad actors here,'" mocked Steele of Johnson's comments. "It's just a lot of baloney because you're the Speaker. You control the schedule. You control whether the doors of the House are locked or open. And if you want to negotiate, bring everybody back and sit in the room and negotiate."