'Let me answer!' Mike Johnson takes out frustration on Fox News reporter
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media, flanked by House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-MI) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), after the U.S. Senate voted to end a partial government shutdown that has snarled airports across the country, though it did not resolve a dispute over immigration enforcement that prompted the six-week standoff in the first place, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on March 27, 2026. REUTERS/Leah Millis

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was exasperated as he lashed out at a Fox News reporter on Friday.

Johnson spoke to reporters and called the DHS funding bill passed by the Senate "a joke" when Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram asked Johnson a question. Johnson snapped back at the reporter and was visibly frustrated in front of the press, blaming Democrats and, at one point, his Senate Republican colleagues over the government shutdown and the DHS funding bill, which another reporter had pointed out.

That's when Johnson got heated.

"I wouldn't call John Thune, the engineer of this," Johnson said. "Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have forced this upon the Senate. I have to protect the House. Let me answer the question, Chad. I have to protect the House, and I have to protect the American people. That's our responsibility. Our colleagues on this side understand this is not a game. We are not playing their games."

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