The following is a transcript of an interview with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Oct. 13, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we go now to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who joins us from Benton, Louisiana. Good morning to you, Mr. Speaker.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE MIKE JOHNSON: Hey Margaret, great to see you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sir, we know there have been these two devastating hurricanes just in the past 16 days. You have visited some of these disaster zones yourself. And Punchbowl News quotes you as saying that Congress may eventually have to pass an aid package that could reach as high as $100 billion. Last Sunday on this program, Thom Tillis, the senator from North Carolina, said to us he’d like for Congress to provide some certainty by voting now on aid and then come back after the election to do more. Lawmakers aren’t scheduled to come back for another month. Why do you think it can wait?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Well, it can wait because remember, the day before Hurricane Helene hit, made landfall in Florida, and then went up through the states and wound up in Senator Tillis’s state of North Carolina, Congress appropriated $20 billion additional to FEMA so that they would have the necessary resources to address immediate needs, and so we put that into the coffers. I just checked Margaret as of this morning, less than 2% of that funding has actually been distributed, right around 2% of it, so we need FEMA to do its job. That- those funds, that money is provided so that storm victims can have the immediate necessities met. And then what happens after every storm is that the states have to assess and calculate the actual needs, and then they submit to Congress that request. As soon as that is done, Congress will meet and in bipartisan fashion, we will address those needs. We’ll provide the additional resources. But it would be premature to call everyone back now, because these storms are so large in their scope and magnitude, it’s going to take a little bit of time to make those calculations. In North Carolina, I was there in the worst hit areas around Asheville with Senator Tillis and Senator Budd, Chuck Edwards, the congressman that represents that area, the devastation is broad, and people were still being rescued 13 days out from the storm. That was just a few days back. So they still have a lot to do. It’s going to take a long time to make those calculations, but Congress is ready to act, and we will.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the FEMA Director says there’s only $11 billion left from that $20 billion that was allocated. So that’s a different accounting than this 2% you say was distributed.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Yeah. So they’ve obligated some funds, but they’ve only distributed 2%, and when I was there on the ground, and you should go, I mean, bring the cameras and talk to the people there, they’ll tell you, don’t- don’t take politicians words for this or the administration’s word, talk to the people there on the ground they had not been provided the resources almost two weeks out from the storm that they desperately needed. And when I was there 13 days, post- you know, post the storm hitting that state, people are still being rescued. They’re stuck in the higher elevations in the mountains because the roads are down and all the rest. So they need every- every available resource and all hands on deck. The rescue and recovery efforts are still going on, and then we address the rest of it. But FEMA was slow to respond. They did not do the job that we all expect and hope that they will do, and there’s going to be a lot of assessment about that as well in the days ahead.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But hurricane season, as you know, last through the end of November, you’re from Louisiana. You’ve dealt with this before. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is forecasting this could be one of the busiest seasons on record. So why not get ahead of this? Isn’t it a bit of a gamble to wait?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: No, it’s not. Margaret, as I just said, Congress can’t meet and just send money on a guess or an estimate of what the damages are. The way supplemental disaster funding is provided is that, you know, the state sends in actual needs. It’s assessed by Congress and then handed out that way. But again, remember, they have billions, tens of billions of dollars that were already sent to FEMA, one day before Helene made landfall. So they have plenty of resources. And in fact, the administration Secretary Mark- Mayorkas said himself, DHS, FEMA is division- division of Homeland Security. He said just a few days ago on his telecast to the media that they have what they need right now. Everyone understands and knows more will be necessary. But if we meet in a few weeks, right after the election, when Congress is set to go back, that is about the right amount of time where we’ll be able to handle those needs.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And that $100 billion is a correct assessment that you made?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Well, look, that’s my guesstimate. You know, I was on the ground in the worst hit areas in Florida. I went where Helene made landfall. Whole communities are wiped out there. It’s devastating. It goes all the way inland. The agricultural areas are devastated by it as well. And then you go up to the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, it is a broad scope. As Governor Kemp said, in Georgia, it was as if a 250 mile wide tornado ripped through his state. So this is going to take some time to recover from. You mentioned, I’m from Louisiana. We’re still dealing with the after effects of Katrina almost 20 years later. So these are big ones.
And it’s going to take a lot of work, but the good news is, you know, the heartening thing about this Margaret, when you’re there on the ground, you talk to the people, you’re reminded of the American spirit, and people pull together, communities, pulling together, churches, nonprofits, Samaritan’s Purse, all the rest, they’re doing extraordinary work there, and it it makes you encouraged to be among the people, even in despite of that devastation, they’re pulling together, and that’s that’s the great thing about all this.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We have some new CBS polling out this morning, and it shows a majority of voters do trust their state’s election system. Only a quarter of voters think there will be widespread fraud in this upcoming 2024 election, but half of Donald Trump voters want him to challenge the election results. If Harris wins, most of the Vice President’s backers want her to accept the results no matter who wins.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are the Speaker of the House, which means you are one of the officials with some say about the security situation leading up to January 6th and election certification. Can you assure the country, we will not see the violence that this country experienced in 2021? What are you doing to stop it?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Yes, I don’t think we’ll see anything like that. I certainly pray and hope that’s true. There’s a lot of great work that’s been done at the federal, state and local level to prevent the chaos that ensued after 2020. The Covid election year, when all the states were changing their laws and regulations without the legislatures approving that. That brought up constitutional questions. There were all sorts of concerns about fraud and irregularity and all those things. The good thing is, and I think everybody should be encouraged, that since that time, most of the state legislatures went to work to shore up their systems to ensure that those kinds of things didn’t happen in the future. And I think that that’s going to give us a high degree of certainty, and certainly hope that this will be a free and fair and legal election. I think everybody on both sides should be praying and hoping for that, and that’s what I hope and expect. And so when we get to January 6th, as you know, the Constitution, our laws require us to get this done on a certain timetable, and we will. Congress will follow the Constitution. I guarantee you that I’ve made a career of that. You know, I’ve demonstrated it over and over and over throughout my life, and as Speaker of the House. And we will take care of this so everybody can can have a sense of certainty about that. Now look, there are members on both sides of the aisle who may object to slates of electors. That is commonplace now. In fact, Democrats have objected to slates of electors after every single Republican presidential victory this century. So there’s nothing really irregular about that. And when people say that they’ve got to watch it closely, they’re saying that they’ll do their job. So–
MARGARET BRENNAN: but back in–
SPEAKER JOHNSON: We’re going to have the peaceful transition of power. Yeah, I believe President Trump’s going to win, and this will be taken care of.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But back in 2020 you supported a legal challenge to the outcome of the election. The Supreme Court rejected that attempt to challenge it. Since then, the Electoral Count Reform Act has been passed. Are you certain that at the nation’s capital, the lawmakers who you work with, won’t be challenging the outcome?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Look, we’ll see what happens. I can just tell you that we’re going to follow the law, and we will ensure that our colleagues follow the law. The Electoral Count Act and the Constitution itself requires. The reason for the objection in, you know, the last election cycle in 2020 was what I referenced earlier, is that we had all sorts of changes to election laws in the states and choosing electors the mechanism by doing that under article two, section one, clause two says that only the state legislatures can choose those systems. So when elections officials and secretaries of state and some state court judges and whomever the governors, when they changed their rules because of Covid, they did it in an unconstitutional manner. And that was an important legal question. The Supreme Court never addressed it, because, remember, they just rejected all that on standing. But we’re not re-litigating–
[CROSSTALK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: But 62, no I’m not
SPEAKER JOHNSON: We’re talking about 2024-
MARGARET BRENNAN: Exactly, and 62 legal challenges, as you know, failed with the Trump challenges to
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Yeah but not on that basis, Margaret. Margaret, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Not on that basis. That legal question is, I think, objectively proven to be true. Obviously, everyone knows the legislatures weren’t meeting in 2020 because of Covid. So it’s article two, section one, clause two, everybody google it and read it says only the legislatures can make those rules. But look, I’m comfortable to tell you that this year–
MARGARET BRENNAN: – But on the security picture
SPEAKER JOHNSON: That’s not an issue, right?
MARGARET BRENNAN: On the security picture at the nation’s capital, what measures are you taking?
[CROSSTALK ENDS]
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Yeah. Look, we have an all hands on deck approach on this. The Capitol Police and the Architect of the Capitol and everyone have done extraordinary measures. They’ve hardened the facilities around the building to prevent anything in the future from foreign terrorists or anyone else who might want to, you know, try to invade the Capitol, okay. That’s taken care of. But I think the greater issue and the bigger story is that you’ve had really great work done in most of the states to shore up their systems and to make sure that that we have a free and fair election. Now look, as President Trump says all the time and I agree, our side, what we say at the rallies you’ve heard is we’ve got to make it too big to rig. I think that’s really important. I think there is going to be some cheating in this election. I think noncitizens are going to vote. Look, case in point–
[CROSSTALK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know that it is against–
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Glenn Youngkin, the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia
MARGARET BRENNAN: The law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections that’s established law.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Of course it is, of course it is, but of course it is. But here’s the problem, there’s a number of states that are not requiring proof of citizenship when illegals are noncitizens register to vote. We know that’s happening. Look, Glenn Youngkin in Virginia, I was going to say he issued an executive order to clean up their voting rules heading into the election. Less than 30 days out, a couple of days ago, the Obama, I mean, the Biden administration, Department of Justice, Biden Harris administration, sued the governor and the state, the Commonwealth of Virginia, to try to prevent them from cleaning up their voter rolls. Their voter rolls. See, that kind of thing creates a lot of doubt and concern in the minds of a lot of the American people. Why would they do that?
MARGARET BRENNAN: But respectfully, Speaker –
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Everybody should want the law to be followed
MARGARET BRENNAN: Absolutely. respectfully, Speaker, you both, in the course of this interview, said that you do believe that states have taken measures that will help the integrity of this election
SPEAKER JOHNSON: That’s true-
MARGARET BRENNAN: – and then you just also seem to undermine confidence in the integrity of the state elections–
SPEAKER JOHNSON: No, no. Margaret. Hold on. Wait a minute. Wait, wait just a minute. It’s not me undermining it. It’s the actions of the Biden-Harris administration and some of these states. Noncitizens are not allowed to vote under federal law
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right
SPEAKER JOHNSON: But the states have prohibited it. We passed the SAVE act. You know, in the house, the SAVE Act says you gotta have proof of citizenship before you register to vote. And Chuck Schumer and the Democrats blocked that in the Senate. We could have prevented this, the questions that people have about that, but the Democrats chose not to. They opened the border wide. A lot of people theorize that that was so that they could have non citizens to vote. These are realities, Margaret. I wish it weren’t true, but that’s what’s, that’s the concern that people have. And Wisconsin–
[CROSSTALK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: – But, but. People can have lots of concerns, but it is already law that noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: It is a law. That’s correct, but we have to make sure the law is followed. And that is the whole point. That has always been the whole point of the SAVE Act and all the measures that we’ve tried to ensure. I believe, by my count, we have about 16 million illegal aliens in the country since Mayorkas and Harris and Biden opened the border wide. And because of that, there’s concern, because those people are distributed all around the country, as you know, there’s concern some of those people will try to participate in the elections. Look, some of our House races. I believe the Republicans are going to win the house, grow the house majority, win the Senate and the White House. But in some of our House races, I mean, I have a colleague who was elected by six votes in 2020. Some of these are decided by hundreds or a few 1000s of votes. So if you have non citizens participating against the law, and you have no mechanism in some states to stop it. That is the root of so much of the concern. And of course, you know, in California, they have ballot harvesting right? Ballot harvesting is notorious for opening the door for fraud in Wisconsin, they’re going to put—
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Mr. Speaker, you seem to be
SPEAKER JOHNSON: – In some counties unmanned ballot boxes in public parks, again
MARGARET BRENNAN: Contradicting yourself. The states are run by the state government–
SPEAKER JOHNSON: No. I’m stating the facts, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: – Not the federal government.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: That’s right. That’s correct. And that’s yeah we hope and pray-
MARGARET BRENNAN: So if your issue is with certain governors, shouldn’t you be talking to them?
SPEAKER JOHNSON: We have been- we have been and the Republican governors have done heroic work. They’ve done their own audits of the voter rolls to try to ensure and do their best duty to make sure that this is a free, fair and legal election. We’re calling on all the governors to do the same thing, Democrat governors as well, and Democrat led states in the legislature, they need to do the same thing. A lot of good work has been done since 2020, but there’s still questions out there. So what we have to do, and we have been at the congressional level, is try to force as much as possible, voter integrity measures. Try to encourage that that would be taking place in every state. Because you’re right, your point is well taken- these elections– are are handled by the individual states–
MARGARET BRENNAN: – But you’re not convening Congress until after the election, you said, Sir, so you won’t be able to do any of what you are talking about in theory.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Hey, Margaret, Margaret, we’ve been doing this for almost four years since the 2020 debacle, that’s what’s been happening. And the Republican led states and the Republican governors have done an extraordinary job. Some of the Democrats have not. It has not been seen as their top priority, and that’s the reason for the controversy and the concern. But again, I’m going to reiterate what I said in the outset. In spite of all that, I think it’s going to be too big to rig. I think we’re going to have a free and fair and legal election across the board. I certainly hope and pray that’s true. And I think every member of Congress joins in that- that- that hope and concern.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, thank you for your time. We’ll be right back with a lot more Face the Nation. Stay with us.