House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to talk about a big story this week about President Donald Trump asking for a $230 million settlement from the Justice Department. When reporters asked Johnson about the report on Tuesday, the Louisiana Republican said he had not read it. “I’m not gonna comment on something I haven’t read, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Johnson told reporters.
According to MSNBC, Trump is asking the Justice Department to pay him roughly $230 million as a settlement for the federal investigations he faced during the Biden administration. The report said that Trump is “negotiating, in essence, with his subordinates.” As per Justice Department rules, settlements over $4 million must be approved by the deputy attorney general or associate attorney general.
In this case, those officials would be Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s former personal lawyers, and Stanley Woodward, who represented a Trump ally in the classified documents case. There is almost no way the speaker of the House was not told about a major headline in one of the country’s biggest newspapers, but when it comes to Trump, this has become the norm for Republicans.
Johnson Takes The “See No Evil” Approach To New Heights
For years, Republican senators and representatives have avoided talking about Trump’s actions by saying they “haven’t seen the tweet” or “didn’t hear his comments.” But Johnson has taken this game plan even further in recent months. He has said he knows nothing about topics like Trump’s crypto deals to the president’s reported relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Last Friday, Johnson was asked about a report on 170 U.S. citizens, including 20 children, who had been held by Trump’s federal immigration agents. Some had been kicked, dragged or kept in detention for days. Johnson said he had not seen the report. “I don’t know what you’re talking about with the children,” he told a reporter.
On Tuesday, news came out that a January 6 rioter pardoned by Trump earlier this year was arrested again last week for allegedly threatening to kill Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. When asked if Trump made a mistake by pardoning the rioters, Johnson said he didn’t “know any of the details of this at all” and that he didn’t “know who has been alleged to have been involved.”
Trump talked about the report on Tuesday, telling reporters the government owes him “a lot of money.” When the Times asked the Justice Department if Blanche or Woodward would step aside because of their ties to Trump, a spokesperson said officials follow the guidance of career ethics officials.
The spokesperson did not say anything about the fact that the top ethics adviser was fired from the Justice Department in July. Trump wants $230 million from the Justice Department for past investigations, a move that has raised questions about possible conflicts of interest.
Published: Oct 23, 2025 06:00 pm