Comedian Jon Stewart on Monday took aim at House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for repeatedly saying he does not follow news about President Trump when asked by reporters.
In his Monday night broadcast, Stewart flippantly advised Trump critics to “just pretend like you don’t see it, like Speaker Mike Johnson,” before playing footage of Johnson appearing to heed that advice.
Asked how comfortable he is with the president apparently seeking $230 million in compensation for wrongful prosecution from the Justice Department (DOJ), Johnson said, “I don’t know the details about that. I’ve just read it. I didn’t talk with him about that.”
Stewart responded after playing the clip: “See? How hard is that? ‘Uh, I’m just f‑‑‑ing dumb.’”
“By the way, anyone can pull that off when they’re first asked,” the “Daily Show” host added. “A real pro can pull it off when they’re asked the exact same thing the next day.”
The comedian then shared a clip of a reporter telling the Speaker that “you said yesterday you were still trying to get the details of this $230 million,” and asking, “Now that you’ve had some time left to get the details, are you OK with taxpayers potentially on the hook for that kind of money?”.
Johnson said he still had not had the time to review the details of the reporting.
“I’m not trying to dodge the question,” the top lawmaker said. “I haven’t had time to get the details, OK? That’s still on my list, things-to-do list.”
Stewart repeated Johnson’s claim that he “hasn’t had the time” and has “a big list of things to do.”
“He’s got the covering up of the [Jeffrey] Epstein files, and, I guess that’s the only thing on the list, but still, there’s a lot of papers in that volume,” he said.
“It’s pro-level ignorance support. But if you want a relationship to work, you’ve got to put in that kind of effort every day,” the late-night host continued. “You’ve got to show up for that person every day. Mike Johnson does.”
Stewart then played a compilation of moments when Johnson told reporters he had never heard of certain reporting or “just saw a headline” or “haven’t seen the specifics of that” or “don’t know anything about it” and “I’m very busy.”
The compilation ended with an exchange between the speaker and ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, who asked about a clip of the president and his son Eric Trump suggesting Democrats were behind the assassination attempts on the then-GOP presidential nominee.
“Do you support those comments or not?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“I don’t know what Eric was saying because I only heard just a snippet there. I don’t know the context,” Johnson replied.
“You just saw it, sir,” the host responded.
Stewart deadpanned at the camera and mocked Johnson’s reply.
“Did I see it? I haven’t had a chance to see myself seeing it,” the comedian said, poking fun at Johnson. “But seeing myself seeing it is on my list of things not to do. I’m very busy.”
The Speaker’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
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