During an appearance on FNC’s “The Story,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) dismissed claims by Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign that Republicans wanted to repeal the Affordable Care Act based on his remarks caught on video.
According to Johnson, the campaign was acting out of desperation.
“Obviously, this has become an issue over the past 24 hours based on an exchange that you had where a questioner said, no Obamacare,” host Martha MacCallum said. “And you responded, no Obamacare. The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work and we have a lot of ideas on how to do that. You want to respond to the way you’re portrayed in that ad and what you said two days ago, I believe?”
“Yes, Kamala Harris herself this afternoon said, I wanted to repeal the ACA,” Johnson said. “It’s nonsense. That’s not what I said. We have the full tape and the transcript, the audio of what was said at that setting in Pennsylvania. What we were talking about is we are on a continual quest to lower the cost of health care for people, to protect those with preexisting conditions. That’s all a very important provision of the law, but to expand access to care and the quality of care. Every member of Congress should be committed to that. That’s what I was talking about.”
“They’re lying,” he continued. “This is what people in a flailing campaign do. Kamala Harris is lying about Donald Trump. She’s lying about me and our positions and things that I’ve said. And of course, Pat Ryan is lying about Alison here. That’s what they do because they can’t run on their policies. They can’t run on their record. They have to run on these falsehoods. And I think people can see through that. The American people are very smart. I’m very bullish about the election in five days, Martha, and I’m convinced that Donald Trump’s going to be elected president. We’re going to take back the Senate, and I believe we’re going to grow the House majority because we have extraordinary people like Alison out here with us that are going to make this happen.”
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