Transcript: the president of the Mike Johnson house in

The following is the transcription of an interview with the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, which was issued in “Fac The Nation with Margaret Brennan” on September 14, 2025.

Major Garrett: The president of the house, Mike Johnson, who joins us this morning from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mr. President, it is good to see it. I appreciate your time. The speaker’s charges are always multiple. You know it. The previous speakers that I have covered know what, but they feel particularly heavy after this week’s events. I just want to ask him, Mr. Speaker, how is he?

President Johnson: I’m fine, older. Thanks for asking. There is no doubt, it was a difficult week for the country. Certainly, he felt in Capitol Hill. There is a mixture of, you know, anger, sadness and fear, frankly, by many people. He launched a great shadow throughout the country and the capital of the nation. But what I know, greater, is that my good friend Charlie would not want any of us to be consumed by despair. He would want to advance boldly, that was his message, and that we did in love. And I think, I hope, it is the message that continues in the next few days.

Major Garrett: It is not common for this program to withdraw from something said by the young Connecticut Democrats and the young Republicans of Connecticut, but present a statement that has received a lot of attention on the Internet, saying the following: “There is no place in our country for such acts, regardless of political disagreements.” Do you think that in Capitol Hill there will be a method to forge any type of bipartisan memory of Charlie Kirk?

President Johnson: There will be. You know, we had a moment of prayer and silent reflection on the floor on Wednesday within an hour of his death. There will be, I participated in a great vigil here in Baton Rouge in LSU, my Alma Mater, on Friday night. Tonight, we will have a great vigil of prayer and bipartisan reflection in Capitol Hill at the Kennedy center. There will be a moment of reflection and prayer of the members that I will lead Monday night. This will continue. I think the country needs to see leaders in Congress and leaders with platforms throughout the country who speak truth and provide calm to the situation. We should appeal, as Lincoln reminded us of the best angels among all of us. And I think this is a real moment for America [TECHNICAL DISRUPTION] – Affirmatively. And I think that one of the ways of doing that, Major, is to adopt the form of Charlie Kirk because, although he loved the vigorous debate and believed in the market free of ideas, and advance in the truth boldly, he was also motivated by love for his neighbor because he never hated the person on the other side of the table. And I think everyone would do well to remember that model.

Major Garrett: Mr. Speaker, you mentioned the word fear ago. It is on the lips of the members of the Congress of ways that I had never experienced before. They are talking openly. They already have canceled events. Other members are talking about whether or not it is appropriate in their family conversations to seek re -election. How do you feel this particular space of anxiety for your membership, Republican and Democrat?

President Johnson: Yes, well, I have been talking to many of them in recent days about that and trying to calm the nerves, to ensure that we will, we will make sure that everyone has a necessary security level, that the resources will be there for their residential safety and personal safety. We are evaluating all the options for that. But also, to be, you know, he recalled that a certain measure of courage is needed to leave and lead. I mean, our first to respond do so every day, our Army members do it every day and political figures as well. But I think that if we all adopt these practices together and reject rhetoric, we, you know, we leave this idea that, you know, political disputes are somehow an existential threat to democracy or the Republic, we stop calling each other. I mean calling people and fascists is not useful. Look, there are some people upset in society and when they see the leaders who use that type of language, so often now, more and more, it drives them to action. We have to recognize that reality and address it properly. And I am glad to know, important, and see that many of my colleagues on both sides of the hall are taking a step forward and saying that and adding it. I think this could be a turning point, frankly, using the Charlie term, for the country, and I hope it is true.

Major Garrett: That turning point, from his point of view, Mr. President, because I know he had a long conversation with President Trump, extended to White House itself?

President Johnson: Well, of course. Look, the president knew Charlie very well. It was like a member of the Trump family. Many of us felt that close association with him, and admired Charlie’s approach for public debate. And you have heard that publicly say. He was: Charlie was a good man, and I think that the best way we honor his memory is to continue doing that, and not avoid the debate, to keep the market free of ideas, but work in the tone of those debates. Because I think, I think that is the best of our principles, our Judeo -Christian heritage as a nation, our civil discourse, and we have to return to that.

Major Garrett: Mr. President, several pending issues before Congress, among which is to maintain the open government. I know that it prefers a clean CR of seven weeks, but there is a press for other problems. Extend the tax subsidies of Obamacare. There has been an impulse this weekend for the sanctions of Russia backed by Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, in the Senate. Any of those, from their point of view, will enter something to maintain the open government?

President Johnson: Well, listen, we have been working very hard at home to restore regular order in the government’s financing process, and that is something that nobody has really seen for a long time in Capitol Hill. But it encourages me that, in a bipartisan manner, our Assignments Committee of the House of Representatives has approved the 12 annual assignments bill through the Committee. We have three from the floor of the house. The Senate approved some, and then last week, we voted to move on to a conference [TECHNICAL DISRUPTION] –

Major Garrett: – Well, Mr. Speaker, I think there is a technical failure that has forced us to lose its audio. We are going to take a fast break and we will return to the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at one time.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Major Garrett: Welcome again to face the nation. Because the technical gremlins stalk everywhere, they filed between my conversation with the president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. Mr. President, I’m glad to have him back. I was in the midst of responding to Obamacare’s tax subsidies, possible sanctions against Russia and a government financing mechanism. Continue.

President Johnson: Yes, sorry for the interruption there. Listen, we are very encouraged that we could restore regular assignments, the regular order process –

Major Garrett: – Correct, but are we going to do this? Will these other two things be added to the process, Mr. Speaker?

President Johnson: We will have to see. I have to build a consensus around everything, but I think we will need a short -term financing measure. A clean CR that will allow more time to solve all this. We certainly hope that the Democrats continue with that, because, if not, they really have no excuse. If they close the government, it would be their unilateral decision to do it.

Major Garrett: And when Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, says, as he did this weekend, now it is the time for the sanctions of Russia. President Trump opened the door on tariffs against India and China as a way of creating economic influence to end the war in Ukraine. Where do you stop in all that?

President Johnson: Listen, I think that desperate times require desperate measures, and I think that appropriate sanctions to Russia are very late. I mean, I think there is a great appetite for that in Congress, so we are willing to work with the White House and our Senate colleagues in the camera to do it and I am anxious to do it personally.

Major Garrett: Are you waiting for the president to give you green light or could he act with Congress about this for his own will?

President Johnson: Well, Congress really cannot do this for its own will because, of course, the president would need to sign what we do by law. Therefore, it has to be an association, but we differ to the commander in chief. I mean, the president is a strong and bold leader on the world stage. He has negotiated peace throughout the world and other conflicts in a way that no one before he could do, so we trust that he can use that same force and that same approach to cause, finally, the end of this war in Ukraine. All in the United States want this blood spill to end, and President Trump is forcing that, and certainly [TECHNICAL DISRUPTION]-

Major Garrett: Okay. Mr. Speaker, they tell me that technical difficulties continue to emerge, so a little prematurely we will end our conversation here to save him and prevent our audience from continuing Cayhem by technical Gremlins. Mr. President, I appreciate the time. Thank you for joining us in Face The Nation.