Report: Mike Johnson Apologized to Joe Biden for Eye Rolls During SOTU

President Joe Biden speaks during the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill, Thursday
Mark Schiefelbein/AP

House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly apologized to President Joe Biden for rolling his eyes at the president’s angry State of the Union address in March.

Johnson’s office did not deny his apology when Breitbart News asked for comment.

The apology is the latest revelation that suggests Johnson’s sympathies lie with the establishment and Washington, DC, elites, rather than with the voters who elected him to Congress and the Republican conference.

Just last week, Biden steamrolled Johnson by allowing Democrats to, in effect, seize control of the House, thereby allowing Biden’s agenda to sail through Congress. It was a sore reminder of how Republicans often decline to use their capacity to push conservative policies popular with the base. Democrats, in contrast, often appear to use their power without qualms.

Johnson’s affinity with Biden appears to have begun shortly after he became speaker. In March, Johnson apologized to Biden for rolling his eyes at Biden’s far-left agenda, Real Clear Politics reporter Philip Wegmann reported. Biden accepted Johnson’s apology and extended Johnson an olive branch for not ripping up his speech like former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did to former President Donald Trump, Wegmann reported:

This past March, Johnson felt he owed Biden an apology. Seated just over the president’s shoulder during the State of the Union address, the speaker couldn’t mask his expressions of exhaustion and exasperation as Biden laid into Republicans. The two next met on Capitol Hill for the Friends of Ireland luncheon where Johnson toasted Biden as “America’s most famous Irishman.” On loan from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, his pint glass was the same one Reagan used during a 1984 visit to Ireland. The Guinness the Southern Baptist speaker drank was non-alcoholic.

Johnson pulled Biden aside to “apologize for the eye-roll memes that went around the world.” The president laughed, then told the speaker he was glad Johnson was better behaved than Nancy Pelosi had been during the speeches of his predecessor: “I’m just grateful you didn’t rip my speech up.” The speaker replied, “Well, Mr. President, don’t think my friends back home didn’t want me to light it on fire.”

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.

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