Did House Speaker Mike Johnson warn Republicans that if they lose the midterm elections that Democrats will go after "the rest of you who have committed crimes"? No, that's not true: Video from the event where he made the remarks shows he warned Republicans that the Democrats would be going after the president and people associated with him, saying "half of you in this room will be targeted." He did not say they would go after those "who have committed crimes."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @ML3democrats account on X on Nov. 2, 2026. It read:
Mike Johnson: 'If we lose the midterms, the Democrats will go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors, friends, and the rest of you who have committed crimes.' It's my biggest wish. And you? VOTE
Mike Johnson: "If we lose the midterms, the Democrats will go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors, friends, and the rest of you who have committed crimes." It's my biggest wish. And you? VOTE https://t.co/g5eib9jbe6
-- TheFrenchie (@ML3democrats) November 2, 2026
The 24-second video in the post shows Johnson addressing a crowd and warning them about Republicans losing the majority in the 2026 elections. He warns that if Democrats win back the majority they will be investigating Trump and those around him. He does not say "the rest of you who have committed crimes." This is a transcript of what Johnson says in the video (bold emphasis added by Lead Stories):
If we were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, y'all impeachment's not even the big concern. They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body and they will go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors and friends, half of you in this room will be targeted.
I run the protection program, I'll take care of you, OK? We're going to win. We're going to win the midterm.
Johnson made the remarks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference on June 26, 2026, as video posted by the C-SPAN YouTube account (archived here) shows. The comments in the post begin at the 3:57 mark in the video.
