Watch Nicolle Wallace explain Rep. Mike Johnson's role in the election lies that “cost Fox News $800 million” in Dominion lawsuit
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From the October 25, 2023, edition of MSNBC's Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON: The allegations about these -- these voting machines, some of them being rigged with the software by Dominion, look, there's a lot of merit to that. And, when the president says the election is rigged, that's what he is talking about, that it was -- the fix was in. You know, I could give you example after example in all these states. I don't know how much time you all have this morning, but there's some -- some of these lawsuits have a lot of merit, and we need to exhaust all the legal remedies.
In every election in American history, there's some small element of fraud, irregularity, error. We just know that. You just accept that that's the case. But when you have it on a broad scale, when you have, you know, a software system that is used all around the country, that is suspect because it came from Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.
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NICOLLE WALLACE (HOST): Your new speaker, ladies and gents. So, that's what bill Barr technically coined "bull-bleep." And that is exactly what cost Fox News $800 million. That's who the Republicans chose, Charlie Sykes.
CHARLIE SYKES (GUEST): Yeah, that's Kraken-level big lie stuff. Look, the bottom line here is -- and Adam Kinzinger by the way texted me this morning that Mike Johnson is Jim Jordan in drag. But this -- this is a huge victory for Matt Gaetz because the center did not hold. I mean, there was a moment where it looked like there might be a run of normies or so-called moderates in the party that were going to say no to Jim Jordan.
But the squishes ultimately did what squishes do. They caved in. And what is extraordinary is that as extreme as Mike Johnson is, the vote was unanimous. Not one Republican voted against him, despite the role that he played in the coup attempt. I mean, the reason why Tom Emmer is not the speaker and Mike Johnson is, is because Tom Emmer voted to certify Joe Biden's win and Mike Johnson was one of the leaders of the coup attempt.
I mean, not just a garden variety election denialist, but as you just played, somebody who was in fact spreading the kinds of lies that cost Fox so much money, and that Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell are now admitting in Georgia courtrooms were lies, were part of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the election.
By the way, how about this, for a split screen. They are -- they are pleading guilty to criminal offenses for saying and doing the same things that Mike Johnson has now used as a ladder to rise to the speakership. But keep in mind, though, that this dysfunction in the Republican Party is going to continue.