House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refused to respond to President Donald Trump's proposed plan to use "dangerous" U.S. cities as "training grounds" for military troops.
During a Wednesday interview on ABC, host George Stephanopoulos asked Johnson about a remark Trump told a roomful of the military's top brass he'd made to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"The President also said at the Pentagon yesterday that he wants American cities to be used as training grounds for the American military," Stephanopoulos said. "Is this the highest and best use of the U.S. military, and is this the right way to train them?"
"I don't serve in the Pentagon. I run the House of Representatives," Johnson deflected. "And what we need to be talking about today is real harm that the American people are going to feel because of what Chuck Schumer is doing."
"No, answer the question!" Stephanopoulos shot back. "As Speaker of the House, do you believe it's appropriate to use American cities as training grounds for the U.S. military, calling those people in American cities the enemy within?"
"I'm not going to comment on your characterization of what the president said," Johnson insisted. "I didn't get to see that speech because I was a little busy yesterday."
"Those are quotes. They're not characterizations," Stephanopoulos pointed out.
"Well, you can take his quotes out of context, which you often do, and I don't think that's fair to the president," Johnson replied. "I'll tell you what he's done, though. He's put National Guard troops here in D.C. and cleaned up the crime problem."
"And I think that's probably what he was addressing there," he added.
"Nothing I said about the president was out of context," Stephanopoulos argued. "Those were direct quotes from the president."
"Cherry-picked out of a long speech," Johnson grumbled.
