Mike Johnson shares details of recent meetings with Biden on 'America's Newsroom'
Biden’s SOTU was a campaign speech: Mike Johnson
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss President Biden’s remarks on the bipartisan border bill during the State of the Union.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday that "the state of the union is in decline" following the State of the Union address by President Biden.
Johnson joined "America's Newsroom" to explain why he believes America is headed in the wrong direction despite the statements made by the president.
"We cannot have four more years of this. We will lose the Republic," he told anchors Dana Perino and Shannon Bream, arguing that the country is seeing declines in the economy and national sovereignty due to an "open border," along with declining security on the streets and a lowered "stature on the world stage."
EXCLUSIVE:TRUMP REACTS TO BIDEN’S FEISTY STATE OF THE UNION AS 2024 RACE COMES INTO FOCUS
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the Capital building on March 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. This is Biden's final address before the November general election. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
Johnson said he is still "shaking his head" over the president's speech and described it as "hard to sit through."
"A hyper-partisan speech that was just full of information that everyone in the room knew was not true," said Johnson.
Johnson responded to Biden calling out Republicans who did not support the bipartisan border bill.
"That bill did not solve the problem, and everybody knows it."
"We passed H.R.2 our now famous bill, 10 months ago, and it had five separate important provisions. And they all work together. You have to fix the asylum problem, the broken parole system. You got to reinstate Remain in Mexico, and you have to end catch and release. That's what's putting all these dangerous people out into our communities. And then rebuild the wall, continue building the wall. That bill didn't do it. And that's why it never passed the Senate," said Johnson.
Biden mentioned the murder of Laken Riley, though he pronounced "Lincoln Riley," after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shouted at him to "say her name." Biden then acknowledged the "innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal."
Johnson said this was one of the times Biden "went off the teleprompter and said the obvious truth."
"It's a scourge across the country. This is a humanitarian catastrophe," he remarked.
Johnson said the crisis of illegal immigration is happening across all communities and called out Democrats who voted against the Laken Riley Act, named for the slain Georgia student who was allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan migrant.
"170 Democrats voted against it. And it simply said that ICE would actually have to detain and put on a path to deportation, people who are dangerous. I can't believe they voted against that."
Johnson went on to call out Biden for not using executive authority to secure the border and described his closed-door meetings with the president on the issue.
"I've read him the provisions of the law that allow him broad authority. Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act says the president can close the border entirely if he deems it to be in the country's interest.
"At first, he said he didn't have the authority. Now he says he's reluctant to use it. If he would just do one executive order and reinstate Remain in Mexico, the Border Patrol, the people in charge, say it would reduce the flow by an estimated 70%. Then I said, 'Why won't you do it?' He goes, 'Mexico doesn't want to do that.' With respect, Mr. President, we're the United States. They did it before. President Trump did that. Why can't you do it?" Johnson asked.
President Joe Biden speaks during a State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Johnson was asked by Perino whether Biden's address would alleviate concerns by some Democrats about him running for re-election at age 81.
"I think he's a very weak president," Johnson responded. "About 73% of the people in the latest poll, Americans, think the country is headed in the wrong direction."
Biden spoke for a little over an hour Thursday night, delivering a number of highlights and key moments that elicited reactions from the crowd and on social media.
Biden used the first few minutes of the speech to talk about Putin’s aggression in Russia, the war in Ukraine and Sweden’s entrance into NATO.
"What makes our moment rare is freedom and democracy are under attack both at home and overseas at the very same time," Biden said. "Overseas, Putin's Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he will not."
Biden mentioned Trump several times during the speech — which drew criticism from conservative pundits who said the address sounded like a campaign speech — and often referred to him simply as "my predecessor."
"My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth about January 6th," Biden told the audience near the beginning of his speech.
"I will not do that."
Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.
