Kaitlan Collins Gets Mike Johnson To Say ‘I Don’t Know’ After He Claims Angry Voters at GOP Town Halls Were ‘Paid Protestors’
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) baselessly claimed the angry constituents at Republican lawmakers’ town halls were “paid protestors.” After being called out by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, he admitted he did not know.
Over the past week or so, some Republican members of Congress have gotten earfuls from constituents at town halls in their districts. At issue are the thousands of layoffs of federal workers across the country. Johnson and other congressional Republicans have supported the staff reductions by President Donald Trump and his close White House adviser, billionaire GOP megadonor Elon Musk.
Johnson joined Collins on Wednesday’s episode of The Source, where the host asked the speaker about the frustrated constituents, particularly their skepticism of Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” which is initiating the cuts. The speaker alleged the angry constituents in question were “paid protestors,” but offered no evidence for his claim:
COLLINS: And we’ve seen the blowback that some Republicans in your caucus are getting when they go back home to their districts, worried about these cuts or worried about what DOGE is doing. Do you have concerns that that’s anything that Democrats will be able to use to run against those Republicans?
JOHNSON: No, no, I don’t because the videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places. These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats. If the videos had panned out–
COLLINS: You can’t argue they were all paid protestors, though, Mr. Speaker.
JOHNSON: Many of them were. I don’t know.
COLLINS: One Republican acknowledged they were his constituents.
JOHNSON: Uh, one Republican acknowledged they were constituents. That’s fantastic. Ok, but they had Democrats come and fill the seats early, all right? This is an old playbook that they pulled out and ran, and it made it look like that what is happening in Washington is unpopular. But I’m gonna tell you, Kaitlan, the American people are behind what’s happening.
Collins replied by noting that Democrats are voters.
“Those lawmakers do also represent Democrats,” she said. “That doesn’t mean they were paid to show up if they’re upset about this.”
Watch above via CNN.
