House Speaker Mike Johnson, reflecting on the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump one year ago as he campaigned in Butler, Pennsylvania, said Sunday on Newsmax that there has been "no political leader in American history" who has endured what Trump has, including attempts on his life, and remained "strong and resilient."
"The president called me early this morning, and we reflected upon this for about a half-hour conversation," the Louisiana Republican told Newsmax during its special coverage Sunday of the Butler anniversary. "We talked about the moment I was with him right after the second assassination attempt, just 64 days after the Butler, Pennsylvania tragedy, where they caught the gunman with the muzzle pointed out of the bushes on the golf course in Florida."
Johnson noted that he and his wife, Kelly, sat with Trump for almost three hours after the second attempt while security officials were clearing the perimeter around his Mar-a-Lago estate, and "we just talked about this, how clearly God had saved his life, spared his life for a purpose."
And Trump, he added, "talks about it openly now, and he understands the weight of history upon him, the legacy that he will leave and the responsibility that he's been given to help save the country. And it's a very serious thing and a profound thing to be a part of."
Meanwhile, there were several errors that took place that allowed for the Butler attack, said Johnson.
"We put together a House task force, a bipartisan task force that worked on this very thing, investigating it on the House side," he said. "They released their report many months ago. They found an egregious list of errors, and they made over 30 recommendations to ensure that those were addressed."
The Secret Service now has new leadership that Trump "hand-selected," Johnson added.
"We have some of the most patriotic, faithful people who serve in that agency but their job is critically important," he said. "They have to make sure that these lapses never occur again. And we're watching that with very careful oversight from the House and Senate side, both, and we have to we've got to make sure that there is accountability for the things that happen."
The investigation into the Butler shooting, meanwhile, is in the hands of the FBI and the DOJ, as Congress has "done everything we possibly can to investigate it," the speaker added.
And now, it's time to "turn the rhetoric down, turn down the heat, get to the facts, and make sure that we're protecting our president and other elected officials to the best of our ability," said Johnson. "Congress is very serious about this, the responsibility that we have, to ensure that that happens and will continue in that quest."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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