Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson attempted to minimize the impact of former President Donald Trump’s camp labeling President Joe Biden as a cocaine user, describing the comments as mere jest. During a conversation with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Johnson was questioned about the appropriateness of such accusations.
Collins challenged Johnson, highlighting the disparity between his usual demeanor and the nature of the comments made by Trump’s team. “Knowing you and how you conduct yourself with decency, some of the rhetoric is out of line, when people from Trump’s team are suggesting and Trump himself, that Biden is going to be on cocaine when he’s on that debate stage Thursday night,” she said.
Johnson responded by suggesting that the remarks were not to be taken seriously. “Look, there’s a lot of things that are said in jest,” he explained. “Of course, no one expects that Joe Biden will be on cocaine, but they do ask questions — and I think they’re objectively… I mean I think it makes sense why — people are asking, ‘Will [Biden] be on some sort of energy drinks or something, okay?”
He further commented on expectations for Biden’s performance during the upcoming debate, recalling Biden’s energetic presentation at the State of the Union. “Look, his energy levels, you can see vary depending on what format he’s in and what forum — and we expect that he’ll do what he did at the State of the Union; he had a lot of energy that night, so that’s the Joe Biden I expect to see.”
However, Johnson expressed skepticism about Biden’s ability to match Trump’s stamina in a debate setting. “The question is: Can he stay for 90 minutes on that stage and go toe-to-toe with President Trump, who has, you know, goes to rallies and talks for two hours on end without any break and any notes? So it’ll be a very interesting thing to see,” he added.
Collins pressed on the issue of drug allegations, stating, “I mean, the allegations just about drugs have just been frankly ridiculous and obviously are baseless as well.” These comments came in the wake of Trump’s remarks at a recent rally in Racine, Wisconsin, where he joked about cocaine being found at the White House and mocked Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop incident.
“Who left it,” Trump quipped to the crowd. “Somebody left it. I wonder, let’s see. Somebody left the laptop in the office of a gentleman who was supposed to fix the laptop from hell. He never picked it up, and somebody didn’t pick up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine. I wonder who that could’ve been. I don’t know. Actually I think it was Joe ha-ha.” The crowd responded with laughter, illustrating the divisive nature of political rhetoric leading up to the debate.