By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Home of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson sidestepped a query on Sunday on whether or not he accepted that Donald Trump misplaced to Democratic President Joe Biden within the 2020 election, giving a response just like that from the previous president’s operating mate within the vice-presidential debate.
Trump, who misplaced to Biden in 2020 and falsely claimed the elections had been unfair, is as soon as once more the Republican Get together’s presidential candidate and faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris within the Nov. 5 elections. Polls present a good race.
“You need us to litigate issues that occurred 4 years in the past once we are speaking in regards to the future,” Johnson stated in a confrontational interview on ABC Information on Sunday.
“We’re not going to speak about what occurred in 2020, we’re going to discuss 2024,” Johnson stated.
He added: “Joe Biden has been the president for nearly 4 years. Everyone must recover from this and transfer ahead.”
When pressed additional, he stated: “This can be a gotcha sport that is performed, and I am not taking part in it.”
In Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Senator JD Vance, Trump’s operating mate, additionally sidestepped the query.
Johnson additionally refused to sentence the previous president’s suggestion that the Republican presidential candidate’s political opponents could also be behind makes an attempt to have him killed.
Trump survived an assassination try at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13. He additionally escaped an assassination try in September that was thwarted by a U.S. Secret Service agent patrolling Trump’s Florida golf course. Investigators have discovered no proof of the involvement of Trump’s political opponents within the ongoing probes.
Johnson was additionally requested if he would assist in certifying the 2024 election outcomes if Trump misplaced.
“I’ll comply with the Structure. … Congress has a really particular position and we should fulfill it,” he stated.
Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful try to forestall the congressional certification of the outcomes of the 2020 elections.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Modifying by Mary Milliken and Mark Porter)
