House Speaker Mike Johnson faced some unexpected pushback when talking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham about the government shutdown.
Appearing Tuesday on The Ingraham Angle, Johnson repeated a popular MAGA talking point claiming that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was forcing the government to shut down for political purposes.
“He wants to give free health care to illegal aliens,” Johnson said, a claim President Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly made.
Ingraham responded, telling Johnson, “He [Schumer] says that’s not true. Democrats say it’s expanding Medicaid, getting dollars back from Medicaid.“
She then added, “It leaves some room for unauthorized immigrants—I call them ‘undocumented Democrats’—but they’re unauthorized immigrants in some cases, and there’s discretion to use the money toward individuals who are not here lawfully.”
Johnson then claimed Ingraham was “wrong” and went on a similar spiel to that of Trump.
In a post made to Truth Social last week that contained a number of factual errors, Trump wrote, “The Democrats want Illegal Aliens, many of them VIOLENT CRIMINALS, to receive FREE Healthcare.”
He also claimed that Democrats want to leave deceased individuals on Medicaid and Social Security rolls so that “criminals can continue to be allowed to receive that payment and steal their money.” Democrats are in support of “so many other things that will destroy America,” he added.
“We cannot let this happen!” the president concluded.
While disagreements over health care do lie at the center of the government shutdown, they relate to Democrats’ attempts to push for federal subsidies that would enable more Americans to afford healthcare. A reversal of cuts to Medicaid introduced by Trump is also among the discussions.
Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid, and Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill further limited the number of legal immigrants who are eligible for health-care subsidies earlier this year.
Republicans have continued to use false claims about immigrants to condemn the Democrats, however, with Trump going so far as to post an AI-generated video of Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries soundtracked by mariachi music and featuring Jeffries sporting a sombrero and mustache.
When confronted by Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean, Johnson himself said the video “wasn’t [his] style,” though he argued with Dean over whether the intent of the video was indeed racist.
Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night, Johnson said that the president posted the video as a joke.
“I told her I disagreed with her perspective on it, but I tried to bring her back to the real issue. The fight tonight is not about social media posts. The fight is about where they‘re going to keep the government open for the American people,” Johnson told Collins.
