Johnson says ‘little secret’ with Trump is get-out-the-vote effort, not ‘diabolical’

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday said the “little secret” that former President Trump teased at his Madison Square Garden rally is a get-out-the-vote effort, not a “diabolical” plan to toss out Electoral College results if Trump loses the presidential election.

“It’s nothing scandalous, but we’re having a ball with this. The media, their heads are exploding. ‘What is the secret?'” Johnson told a crowd of about 90 people on Monday at a rally to support GOP congressional candidate Ryan Mackenzie, after a person in the crowd asked about the comment. 

“It’s thing we have about — it’s a get-out-the-vote. It’s one of our tactics on get-out-the-vote,” Johnson said.

“But they are convinced,” he added, dramatically rubbing his hands together as if he was coming up with an evil plan.

Trump at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday teased a “little secret” he had with Johnson that could have a “big impact” on keeping control of the House.

"We can take the Senate pretty easily, and I think with our little secret, we're going to take the House, right?” Trump said on Sunday. "Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a secret. We'll tell you what it is when the race is over.”

The comment spurred theories that Trump and Johnson were planning to try to overturn the results of the 2024 election if Trump again loses the presidential race.

“I suspect Trump's little secret plan with Mike Johnson is that when he loses, he tries to go to the House to throw out the Electoral College and have the House under Mike Johnson overturn this election,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said on CNN Monday.

Others theorized that Johnson could have Congress conduct a “contingent election,” in which each state casts a single vote for president.

In an interview with The Hill after the Monday event in Pennsylvania, Johnson said those theories were “absolute, utter nonsense.”

“I'm a lifelong constitutional law attorney. We're going to respect the law. We're going to follow the constitution to a T,” Johnson told The Hill. “I’ve proven that over and over and over. So all this conjecture is actually hilarious to us, that people are apoplectic about this. It's a — it's one of our get out the vote strategies. That's what we're talking about. And it's almost a tongue-in-cheek thing.”

Asked about Johnson’s revelation about the “secret,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Hill: “President Trump has done countless telerallies reaching millions of Americans across the country in key regions that also helps bolster Republicans in congressional races.”

The Speaker has drawn scrutiny over how he previously handled election certification issues amid Trump’s stolen election claims. He led amicus brief in support of a lawsuit challenging President Biden's 2020 victory in four states, and voted against certifying the election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Johnson said on NBC’s Meet the Press earlier this month that he will certify “a free and fair and legal election.”

In Pennsylvania, Johnson told the crowd that he talked to Trump earlier in the day about reaction to the “secret” comment, and asked if he should beat down the theories. But Trump said “no, no, no,” with Johnson adding they are having “sport” with the press.

In a statement to the New York Times earlier in the day, Johnson had declined to directly refute worries about overturning the election or to divulge the “secret,” and turned the scrutiny back on Democrats — a pivot he again made when speaking to The Hill, accusing Democrats of “keeping secrets as a habit.”

“[Vice President] Kamala Harris knew about Joe Biden's diminished mental state and condition way before the American people did. She kept that secret,” Johnson told The Hill. “The FBI knew that the Hunter Biden laptop was real, and they kept that secret, when all the intel officials were telling us otherwise.”

Harris told NBC News this month that “of course” she was honest with the American public about what she saw from Biden as he was taking heat for his poor debate performance against Trump. Johnson also referred to a letter from former intelligence officials in 2020 who said they suspected stories about the contents of Hunter Biden’s purported laptop were misinformation.

“He really does call it our secret,” Johnson also told the crowd in Pennsylvania about the get-out-the-vote effort. “It's not diabolical. It’s actually very good. It’s going to help us with the turnout. All this is blowing their minds. They just can't — They cannot fathom that Trump and Vance have the support that they do around the country like they do from — from new demographics of people.”

Johnson went on to say that the Republicans will see record support from Hispanic and Latino voters, from black voters, and from Jewish voters.