White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson has “defined himself” as a “MAGA extremist.”
House Republicans unanimously elected Johnson with 220 votes in a Wednesday floor vote. Johnson took the gavel after a long intra-party struggle that left the House speakerless since Oct. 3, when every congressional Democrat and eight Republicans voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander asked Jean-Pierre on Thursday whether President Joe Biden views Johnson as a “MAGA extremist.”
“Look, I would have to let the speaker speak for himself, obviously. I think he has defined himself as that way, so he’s gonna have to answer that question for himself,” Jean-Pierre responded. “What we can say we want to move forward on making sure that we get the work done on behalf of the American people. The president is willing to do that in good-faith fashion as we have been able to do that on many bipartisan laws now that the president was able to push through Congress with Democrats and Republicans. That’s what we want to see.”
Alexander cited remarks Biden made in September accusing congressional Republicans of pushing an “extreme agenda” that threatens “American democracy.” The NBC News reporter then asked whether that statement applied to Johnson, given that he voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election. (RELATED: Here’s What You Need To Know About GOP Speaker Nominee Mike Johnson)
“The speaker has spoken to it himself publicly about where he sees his views ideologically. I’m not going to get ahead of that, and also I’m not gonna prejudge,” Jean-Pierre answered. “I’m just not gonna prejudge what the relationship is going to be like now that he’s speaker.”
“The president wants to make sure that we get the business of the American people done. There is so much to get done,” she added.
Johnson has a socially conservative track record in Congress and has a history of being a close ally to former President Donald Trump. As the White House has pushed Congress to allocate more aid to Ukraine, the new speaker has voted against two appropriations bills in the past year that included funds for Ukraine.
Johnson also differs from the White House by being a major skeptic of gun control measures supported by the Biden administration, having voted against bills that would have banned “assault weapons,” expanded background checks, raised the minimum gun purchasing age to 21 and implemented red flag laws.
The speaker is strongly pro-life and celebrated the overturn of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, while Biden administration grieved the end of Roe and has attempted to make abortion more accessible.