Speaker of the House Mike Johnson looks on as President Trump speaks at a Kennedy Center meeting in the White House, March 16, 2026. Aaron Schwartz/Pool/CNP/Zuma
Apparently House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn’t believe that Congress needs any oversight of President Trump’s actions.
During a Tuesday press conference honoring law enforcement officers as part of Police Week, Johnson dismissed a question about the Justice Department potentially settling Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service—essentially the federal government handing a $10 billion ransom in taxpayer dollars directly to the president.
“One of the things that is not in my purview is the Department of Justice, okay?” Johnson said, asked whether a settlement with Trump by an agency he runs represents a conflict of interest. “I haven’t thought about that or read into it.”
“Go ask the executive branch about it, alright?” Johnson concluded, before reminding everyone to celebrate Police Week.
The speaker’s response was yet another instance of his perennial shrugging off of legislative responsibility to appease Trump. Johnson had a key role in passing cuts to essential health and food assistance programs—in large part due to accusations of “fraud and abuse”—but appears more than willing to let Trump raid government coffers on a multibillion-dollar scale.
