Kaitlan Collins Sounds Alarm on Mike Johnson’s ‘Telling’ Meltdown

CNN host Kaitlan Collins flagged a “telling” reaction from House Speaker Mike Johnson after he was grilled on Donald Trump’s war against Iran.

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On The Source on Tuesday, Collins discussed how the president’s war, which has now lasted for six months, was negatively impacting his Republican voting base.

Collins aired a fiery exchange on Capitol Hill between Johnson and Manu Raju when CNN’s chief congressional correspondent tried to pin the speaker down on his previous statements about the war.

The moment Collins said was “so telling” came after Raju asked the Republican about “the timeline for this war” and “what the American people should expect” in the near future.

Raju pointed out to Johnson that he had “repeatedly” said that the war with Iran was going to be over soon, and that high gas prices would be a “temporary blip.”

“It is more than six months, people are getting hurt still at the pump,” Raju pointed out. “Should the American people not also judge you on your projections here that were fairly off-base?”

“Manu, that is one of the stupidest questions you’ve ever asked,” Johnson snapped. “I have nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe.”

Raju interjected, telling Johnson he was “responsible…you are selling this to the American public, are you not?”

“So should the House speaker be held responsible for duration of a military conflict around the globe?,” Johnson responded, telling Raju, “You answer that question.”

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Raju continued to hold him to account, saying, “You called this a short-term skirmish,” and pointed out it was “costing billions of dollars,” before Johnson walked away.

CNN political commentator Maria Cardona was on The Source, and answered Johnson’s question for him.

“The answer is yes, because guess what, Speaker Johnson? You guys hold the purse,” she said. “You guys have the power to actually give the money to prosecute this war.”

Cardona said part of the Republican Party’s problems ahead of the midterm elections is that Americans are “looking at a Congress that is completely ineffective.”

“They have genuflected at the altar of Donald Trump, given over all of their congressional power—the president and the White House can do anything they want and Congress will just say, ‘Yes, sir, whatever you need.’”

She added that Johnson was “acting as if he’s completely innocent in this because he has no power. Well, I don’t think he has any power. He’s given it all over to the White House, and he’s even saying it publicly.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

The interaction followed Johnson citing religion as a reason the negotiations to end the war have failed.

“The problem has been, and the reason we’ve been frustrated, is that the Iranians simply cannot be trusted,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “They’ll sit at a negotiation table and say something, and they’ll walk away and do the opposite. For some of them, it’s apparently part of their religion that they can just lie to someone they disagree with.”