When President Donald Trump makes a controversial statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has a habit of defaulting to a four-word explanation, according to MSNBC host Jen Psaki.

On Wednesday, Psaki used the opening segment of her show "The Briefing" to point out to her viewers that Johnson once again went to his go-to phrase when reporters asked him about Trump's call to jail Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D). She began the segment by playing the viral clip of Pritzker looking directly at the camera, presenting his wrists and telling Trump to "come get me." She then played a clip of a reporter asking Johnson whether he agreed with the president.

"Should the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois be in prison? I'm not the attorney general, I'm the speaker of the House and I'm trying to manage the chaos here," Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. "I'm not following the day-to-day on that."

Psaki opined that Johnson's "repeating of the question" was a "real tell" about him scrambling to find a way to take a neutral position on Trump's statement.

"Really? You're the speaker of the House and you aren't tracking that the president of the United States threatened to throw another governor in jail?" Psaki said incredulously.

She then pivoted to Johnson's "familiar refrain" of telling reporters "that's not my lane" when asked to take a position on something Trump said, and played multiple clips of the speaker dodging efforts to get him to criticize the president. This included one press conference in which a reporter asked him about Trump threatening to have immigration advisor Tom Homan arrest California Governor Gavin Newsom (D).

"Look, that's not my lane. I'm not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested," the speaker said in June.

"The president wants to arrest some sitting governors? I'm only second in line to the presidency and the most powerful person in one branch of government!" Psaki said of Johnson. "But nope. Not my lane. Next question. What else you got?"

"The thing is, Mike Johnson has used this excuse on all sorts of issues," she continued, before playing a clip of Johnson using the "that's not my line" explanation to dismiss questions about the Qatari Royal Family's gift of a jet to Trump. She also noted that Johnson told CNN host Jake Tapper "that's not my line" in reference to Republican efforts to redraw red state congressional districts to their advantage five years before the next U.S. Census.

"Again — he is the speaker of the House! I'm just going to keep saying it over and over again. There are few things that are more in his lane than the battle over how House districts are drawn," she said. "Literally in his lane. But still, he took a pass."

Watch the full segment below:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com


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