ABC’s Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos held back-to-back exclusive interviews Wednesday with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) for reaction to President Trump’s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress. To the shock of likely no one, Stephanopoulos badgered Johnson while barely lifting a finger toward Jeffries.
“Probably the issue in the last election was inflation, high prices for most Americans. The President imposed those tariffs yesterday. Prices likely to go up. How is that good for consumers? How does that square with his campaign promise,” Stephanopoulos began in his first question to Johnson.
Johnson argued “they’re very effective and it’s a tool to level the playing field with our international trading partners, but lemme say, George, the speech went overwhelmingly well” and was delivered “for the American people,” “not...for the mainstream media.”
The Speaker also brought up the left’s hijinks: “It was very well-received in the House except by the Democrats of course, who resorted to this sort of pettiness...I even had to eject a member from the chamber. I think that was the first time in history. Pretty sad reflection, I think on the members who did that.”
Stephanopoulos interjected to defend the booted lawmaker, Congressman Al Green (D-TX): “[I]n past State of the Union addresses, joint addresses to the Congress, Republicans have taunted Democratic presidents, yet they were not thrown out. Why did you throw out Congressman Green?”
Johnson calmly schooled him on the difference between Green and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) in 2009 with Wilson having made a one-liner while “Al Green was trying to interrupt the entire proceeding.”
He also called out Stephanopoulos’s fellow leftists for refusing to abide by the usual pomp and circumstance with Biden addresses having featured moments when Republicans stood in applause. This led the ABC host to wonder why Republicans trust Elon Musk, claiming he’s “an unelected bureaucrat” (click “expand”):
JOHNSON: [W]e’ve got to keep decorum in the chamber. This used to be a celebrated event. You know, pomp and circumstance. And both sides would applaud for the president. You know, we — we did that for President Biden on — on the lines that were there. But last night, the Democrats could not even stand for the Americans that President Trump was recognizing in the gallery. I mean, you had the families of Jocelyn Nungaray and Laken Riley and Corey Comperatore, Americans who had lost their lives. They couldn’t stand and applaud for the capture of the terrorist mastermind of Abbey Gate. It was a really sad affair.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The President also had Elon Musk in the — in the chamber even as he was saying the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over. Isn’t Elon Musk an unelected bureaucrat?
JOHNSON: Absolutely not. He’s a patriotic American who is allowing us to do something that Congress has not been able to do for decades and that is actually find the data from the bureaucrats who hide a lot of — a lot of this misuse of taxpayer dollars, and the President went through a long list of it last night. That’s why I think the American people responded so well. They’re tired of the nonsense. And we needed someone like Elon Musk with his algorithms and his expertise to comb to the data and to find these abuses. And we will eliminate them, so he’s doing a great service for the country, and he ought to be applauded.
Stephanopoulous wound down with two questions about government funding (with one lecturing him for calling Democrats “unreasonable”), but not before touting the town halls: “[M]any of your members of Congress — Republican members of Congress at town meetings are facing protests over Elon Musk and those cuts and what it means for veterans and other federal workers.”
Johnson wasn’t having any of it: “[S]ome of those protesters are paid by George Soros and other organizations and, you know, this is a planned event. Democrats are professional protesters in some of these places and they show up early for the town halls, they fill all the seats and so, the actual constituents of these members of Congress are not able to get into the venues.”
Jeffries was a snoozefest. Stephanopoulos worked backwards, starting with two on government funding. Here was the first: “You just heard the Speaker there, Mr. Jeffries. What’s your response to him saying what — you’re making demands that are unprecedented to keep the government open?”
Stephanopoulos treaded lightly with Green: “How about — were are you comfortable with Al Green — Congressman Al Green and his interruption of the president and other moves you saw from Democrats yesterday? You heard Speaker Johnson there say the Democrats were not showing decorum.”
The ABC host moved onto three brief questions, one of which wasn’t even a question but a statement (click “expand”):
STEPHANOPOULOS: You heard Speaker Johnson there. He said that tariffs have worked in the past, they’re going to work again.
JEFFRIES: Tariffs against our North American allies and others that are being applied in a ham-handed fashion are going to further erode the economy, and we’re seeing the consequences of Trump’s inattention, inaction, and now his direct assault on a stable economy by enacting these tariffs. Costs are going to continue to go up, and the American people will be hurt.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Did the Democrats hear anything from the President last night that they can support?
JEFFRIES: I was struggling to hear anything relative to what the President had to say in terms of bringing the country together. That was one of the most partisan and divisive speech is ever delivered by an American president and that’s unfortunate. We will continue to try to solve problems or everyday Americans. We want to make life better for every single American in every community in every corner of this country, but it’s unfortunate that our Republican colleagues see more determined to pass some massive tax cut for their billionaire donors while at the same time cutting Medicaid, perhaps in the largest possible fashion ever in this country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He also heard the speaker say that these protest that many Republicans and some Democrats are seeing in their districts to the cuts by DOGE and Elon Musk are by paid protesters.
JEFFRIES: Republicans are proposing the largest Medicaid cut in American history, George. Children will be devastated. Families will be devastated. People with disabilities will be devastated. Seniors will be devastated. Nursing homes will close and hospitals will shut down. The American people are upset about the effort to take away their health care. These aren’t paid protesters. These are concerned citizens. The Republicans can try to run away from their extreme budget. We will not let them hide.
To see the relevant ABC transcript from March 5, click here.
