Speaker Johnson clashes with George Stephanopoulos over Trump allies blaming Dems for assassination attempt

Speaker Mike Johnson clashed with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos over rhetoric by some of former President Donald Trump’s allies blaming Democrats for the recent assassination attempts.Johnson (R-La.), 52, reiterated his longstanding call to “turn the rhetoric down,” but refused to denounce comments from Eric Trump and others faulting Democrats for the attempts against his father’s life.

“I don’t know the context,” Johnson pushed back after Stephanopoulos, 63, played a clip of the Trump Organization executive’s remarks during the Butler, Pa.rally Saturday.

“I don’t think they’re saying that the Democratic Party tried an assassination attempt,” he countered.“I think what they’re alluding to is what we’ve all been saying.

They have got to turn the rhetoric down.”The Republican House Speaker argued Eric Trump was making a valid point about how for years, top Democrats have cast his father as a “threat to democracy” and suggested that “the republic will end if he’s re-elected.”Eric Trump, 40, had decried the assassination attempts against his father while working to electrify a raucous crowd at the site where his father was nearly killed 12 weeks ago.“They tried to smear us.

They came after us.They impeached him twice, and then, guys, they tried to kill him.

They tried to kill him, and it’s because of the Democratic Party.They can’t do anything right,” Eric Trump chided.

Stephanopoulos repeatedly grilled Johnson on Eric Trump’s rhetoric, but the speaker declined to condemn him, lauding the Trump scion as a “very level-headed and a very intelligent person.”Johnson also contended that Eric Trump was dinging Democrats for the “lawfare” tactics deployed against his father.“Look, we’re in an election cycle.This is a silly season, as they say.

We’re … 30 days out from the most fateful election of our lifetime,” Johnson shot back after repeated questioning from Stephanopoulos.The host then turn...