Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki slammed the newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), calling him a "wolf in a suit jacket" while warning that he may be "more dangerous" than Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
Johnson was elected to the role of House speaker on Wednesday, bringing an end to the House of Representatives's search for a new speaker that lasted more than three weeks. Psaki, who served as the White House press secretary for President Joe Biden until May 2022, has expressed concern about Johnson taking on the role of speaker over his past actions as a congressman, including his Christian beliefs and his support for former President Donald Trump.
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"Johnson is a true Trump believer," Psaki wrote in an op-ed piece. "He was an architect in the House of Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and served as one of the former president's impeachment lawyers. He is opposed to any form of abortion access. He once supported criminalizing gay sex."
Psaki went on to claim that Johnson is a "Christian fundamentalist" who believes that Christian values ought to be reflected in the United States's "interpretation of the Constitution." She also stated that Johnson's ideas for what the U.S. should be "are completely out of line" with the current state of the country.
"He doesn’t have a questionable record as a former wrestling coach, or an unnerving tendency to yell," Psaki wrote. "But harmless? Just the opposite."
Psaki, who has a show on MSNBC, is not the only anchor from the network to express concern about Johnson becoming speaker. Joe Scarborough, a co-host of the network's Morning Joe, claimed on Friday that Trump has "the anti-democracy guy sitting in the speaker’s chair.”
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Johnson won the gavel by a vote of 220 to 209, beating out House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to become the 56th speaker of the House. It comes after the House voted on Oct. 3 to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the role of speaker, with eight Republicans joining all of the Democrats to remove McCarthy from his position.
The newly elected speaker will virtually deliver his first international remarks to an audience at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship's inaugural conference in London on Monday. In prepared remarks shared with the Washington Examiner, he will express his eagerness to serve as speaker and argue that Congress and the United States "has re-emerged now as a beacon of liberty for the world" after the debates over the speakership.