House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) addressed criticism that he only works to appease President Donald Trump, telling Politico’s Dasha Burns he frequently tells the president, “no.”

In a clip from The Conversation with Dasha Burns podcast, she began, “You know the criticism of you, that people think that you’ve ceded basically all congressional authority to President Trump.”

“But, like, do you ever tell him no?” Burns asked. “Because [Sen. John] Thune has had to do that publicly a lot more.”

“I do it privately, that’s the whole point,” Johnson scoffed, adding, “I roll my eyes at these ridiculous headlines” saying Trump regularly steamrolls him.

Burns continued, “Can you tell me, like, when’s the time you’ve told him no, or you’ve walked him off the ledge or something? I know these are private conversations, but is there an example?”

“Sometimes I talk to the president four times a day,” Johnson said. “He’s an ideas guy, as you know. He’s constantly pitching, discussing, taking ideas, processing them, coming up with ideas of his own.”

“You ever say, ‘Mr. President, that’s a crazy idea. Don’t do that?'” Burns asked.

“Yes!” Johnson exclaimed, “We have a very close relationship, and I talk him out of it, but I don’t make — that’s the, look — every president, every commander in chief needs people around him who will say what he needs here, not just what he wants to hear. And I’m that guy. And so we — there’s many times when we disagree.”

“You’re that guy?” asked an incredulous Burns.

“Yes! But we’re in the same party. The voters delivered to us again unified government,” Johnson said. “They expect us to work as a well-oiled machine because we have so much to fix. I don’t air grievances with the president in public; I do it behind closed door. I think that’s the most efficient and effective way to do it. One day I could write a five-volume set about the things we’ve disagreed on.”

Watch the clip above via The Conversation with Dasha Burns podcast on YouTube.

The post ‘I’m That Guy’: Mike Johnson Claims He Tells Trump ‘What He Needs To Hear’ Several Times a Day first appeared on Mediaite.

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