House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) responded to a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter's threat to kill the House Democratic leader by saying that violence was "triggered" by the recent No Kings protests opposing President Donald Trump.
At a Tuesday press conference, a reporter noted that the man accused of threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) had been pardoned by Trump for crimes committed on Jan. 6.
"Did President Trump make a mistake by just offering a blanket pardon for every single person that was convicted?" the reporter wondered.
"I don't know any of the details of this at all," Johnson replied. "I will say that anybody, anybody who threatens political violence against elected officials or anyone else should have the full weight and measure of the Department of Justice on their head."
"We are intellectually consistent about that, obviously," he continued. "The violence on the left is far more prevalent than the violence on the right. ... All of these assassination, the assassination culture that's been advanced now, this is the left in almost every case that is advancing this and not the right."
His assertion was not backed up by evidence.
Johnson insisted that violence was not a "partisan issue" before attacking the protests against Trump — which were overwhelmingly peaceful despite attracting millions of people.
"And the rhetoric that you saw on display on Saturday, we highlighted yesterday, it plays into this, okay?" he argued. "There are people that get triggered. There are deranged people in society when they hear elected officials participating in a rally that was paid for by Soros and sponsored by communists."
"They call every Republican a fascist now, they're calling for the death of elected officials," the speaker complained. "Please, enough of that. We've got to stop it. Stop the rhetoric, stop all the nonsense, and stop the violence."
