Speaker Johnson Defends Trump’s Gatsby-Themed Halloween Party as ‘Obligatory Tradition’

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected a reporter’s question about President Donald Trump holding a Great Gatsby-themed Halloween Party on Friday as federal food assistance was set to lapse.

On Friday, Trump threw a bash at Mar-a-Lago amid the ongoing government shutdown and one day before funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was scheduled to run out. An Associated Press reporter relayed that the “theme is Gatsby and ‘a little party never killed nobody.'”

Recipients of food assistance under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were slated to see those benefits lapse Saturday, Nov. 1. On Friday, two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to keep SNAP afloat. Trump responded on Truth Social, suggesting that he would do so, as long as the judges instructed his administration on how to proceed. On Tuesday, the White House said that the administration would be sending partial food benefits to recipients. Last year, SNAP distributed monthly benefits to 41.7 million people.

Johnson held a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, where Eric Michael Garcia, the D.C. bureau chief for The Independent, asked the speaker about the president’s Halloween party.

“What about the split screen of the fact that the Trump administration is administering only part of the SNAP program while President Trump is having a Gatsby party at Mar-a-Lago?” Garcia asked.

“I reject the premise of the question,” Johnson replied. “Let me talk about SNAP. Ok, by the way, the president had an annual Halloween-themed party every year at Mar-a-Lago. That’s what he went back to: his obligatory tradition. And I just discount what you’re trying to do there. The SNAP benefit is a very important question. The White House has bent over backwards, as we’ve recounted here every morning, to make sure that Americans’ pain is mitigated as much as possible, is reduced as much as possible.”

Johnson went on to slam Democrats for withholding the votes needed to pass a funding bill in the Senate, and added, “The president is trying to get the government open again.”

The government shut down on Oct. 1 after the Senate failed to green-light a Republican funding bill to keep the government open. Although Republicans control the chamber 53-47, 60 votes are needed to overcome a procedural hurdle to advance the legislation. Democrats said they won’t support any funding bill unless it contains an extension of healthcare premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which are slated to expire on Dec. 31.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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