House Speaker Mike Johnson is still staying silent on President Donald Trump’s recent insult of the late actor and director Rob Reiner, despite many of his Republican colleagues already speaking out against the remark.
On Monday evening, CNN reporter Manu Raju approached Johnson at the U.S. Capitol to ask about Trump’s comments, which were made just hours after the president called Reiner “very bad for our country” and accused him of having “Trump derangement syndrome” during an Oval Office press conference.
“Mr. Speaker, do you condemn Trump’s post about Rob Reiner?” Raju asked. Johnson, walking quickly away from the reporters, didn’t engage. “I don’t do ongoing commentary about everything that’s said by everybody in government every day,” he replied.
Raju persisted, pointing out, “He’s the president of the United States.” “We’re trying to bring down healthcare costs for the American people,” Johnson responded, shifting the conversation to other matters, such as important votes and issues.
As Johnson continued to walk away, Raju mentioned that several of his fellow Republicans had criticized Trump’s comments. “I gave commentary this morning, and you all heard it,” Johnson said, referring to a previous remark he had made earlier in the day.
The “commentary” he referred to was likely his earlier comments about recent tragedies, including the shooting at Brown University and a separate mass shooting in Sydney, Australia. Johnson had expressed his prayers for the Reiner family, but he did not address Trump’s comments about the actor-director.
“It’s another reminder of just the senseless violence and evil that’s so rampant in our society,” Johnson said earlier on Monday. “So our prayers go out to the Reiner family.” However, he refrained from commenting on Trump’s remarks about Reiner directly.