House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday got angry that he was asked to respond to the news that a judge granted a restraining order against a GOP House lawmaker, with Johnson saying he has more important things to concern himself with.
When reporters asked Johnson whether he was concerned about Mills’ alleged behavior—allegations that span from acts of violence to threats of revenge porn—Johnson got angry rather than condemn his colleague.
“Look, you have to ask Rep. Mills about that. He’s been a faithful colleague here. I know his work on the Hill. I don’t know all the details about all of the individual allegations and what he’s doing in his outside life. You have to ask him about that. Let’s just talk about the things that are really serious,” Johnson said as he moved on from the line of questioning.
Mills was accused by an ex-girlfriend, who is also a Republican and a former Miss United States winner, of threatening to release sexually explicit videos of her as well as threatening to beat up any men she dates in the future. Those allegations led a judge to grant her a restraining order, saying that Mills’ explanation for why he would send the woman threatening messages did not pass the smell test.
Mills has also been accused of physical violence against another woman, this one in Washington, D.C. Mills avoided charges for that incident after one of President Donald Trump’s goons intervened to have the case against Mills dropped.
What’s more, Mills has also been accused of stolen valor and violating ethics rules—making him an all around stand-up guy.
In other words, it should be easy for Johnson to condemn Mills’ alleged behavior. Johnson is, after all, supposedly a good Christian who believes it is a sin to commit adultery and lie—all things Mills, who is married to another woman, is accused of doing in spades.
House Speaker Mike Johnson loves to play dumb.
Instead, Johnson played dumb. After all, punishing Mills could cost Johnson a vote in his narrow House majority.
Ultimately, not criticizing the alleged behavior of one of their own is par for the course for elected Republicans.
Hell, Republicans are refusing to condemn overtly racist and antisemitic comments from a Young Republicans group chat that were exposed on Tuesday. Politico reported that leaders of various state Young Republicans groups regularly fantasized about the gas chambers Adolf Hitler used to exterminate millions of people in the Holocaust, and called Black people monkeys, among other vile comments.
But Republicans are blowing off those comments, too.
Vice President JD Vance dismissed the despicable remarks as a “college group chat“—even though the chats were made by adults, some of whom seemingly hold elected office and work for GOP politicians.
“JD Vance had a chance to condemn his ‘I Love Hitler’ supporters. Instead, yesterday, he sided with them,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, wrote in a post on X. “But yes, we should stop calling them Fascists!”
