Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) has been deemed a “chief architect” and "intellectual architect" of the push to overturn the 2020 election, and his efforts included repeating lies that Dominion voting machines “rigged” the election for President Joe Biden. Those same lies cost Fox News $787 million, yet on Wednesday, Fox’s evening lineup failed to mention his history.
In November 2020 Johnson stated “there is a lot of merit” to the “allegations about these — these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion.” He continued, “It was set up for the Biden team to win.”
Johnson also served as Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) “silent but pivotal partner” in “the congressional effort to fight the results of the 2020 election.” He recruited colleagues to support a lawsuit trying to overturn the results, and he drafted a memo of talking points to use on the House floor on January 6, then voting against certification.
Johnson's claims in the interview mirror claims made on Fox News and cited in the Dominion lawsuit.
The hosts of Fox News’ highest-rated cable show, The Five, completely ignored the news, failing to mention the new speaker, despite airing their grievances over the fiasco.
On Fox News’ flagship show Special Report with Bret Baier, senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram noted only that Democrats are “already tying Johnson to former President Trump and his vote against certifying the 2020 election,” omitting the central role Johnson played and his penchant for election conspiracy theories.
Later in the show, anchor Bret Baier failed to mention Johnson’s spread of Dominion conspiracies, instead baselessly suggesting that Johnson’s election denial was equivalent to House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) questioning of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Guest panelist and Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway dismissed some of Johnson’s extremism as the representative simply caring “deeply about the Department of Justice and how it's been weaponized to go against conservatives.”
On The Ingraham Angle, Laura Ingraham also failed to report on the new speaker and his election lies, with the only mention of Johnson coming from guest Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who praised the speaker for wanting to pass an Israeli aid package without additional Ukrainian funding.
On his prime-time show, Jesse Watters briefly mentioned Johnson, admitting that while he’s “never heard of” him, but suggesting promising qualities include that he is a “border hawk who thought the last election was fishy and he just voted against more Ukraine funding.”
After his failed attempt to puppeteer the speaker election, host Sean Hannity opened his show by praising Johnson for having a “strong conservative record” including “protecting your children from woke predators.”
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, appearing on Hannity, later agreed that Johnson was a “very solid person” who combines “a solid conservative set of principles with a very moderate and reasonable approach to people.”
Beyond his election denial, Johnson has a history of draconian anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion positions.
Hannity’s praise concluded the coverage of Johnson for the night following breaking news of a mass shooting in Maine.
