Mike Johnson does a Trump impression at RNC event

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)
Greg Nash
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) conducts official business during the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) did an impression of former President Trump at a Republican National Convention event Thursday while telling a story about a previous conversation with the GOP nominee.

Johnson recounted a conversation he had with the former president in November after two of the Speaker’s sons nearly drowned while swimming off the coast of Florida. Johnson joked with the audience at the Faith and Freedom Coalition event as he did an impression of Trump’s voice and waved his hands as he spoke.

“But we left and went back to Louisiana to recover. And President Trump heard the story. So he called me in the next night and he said, ‘Mike’ — I’m not going to do it in his voice, because that’s how I hear it, sorry,” he said as the audience laughed.

“Oh you sound disappointed!” he added.

Johnson told the audience he “should not” do the impression, before agreeing to do it once the audience continued to laugh.

“I’ll give you one line OK, he goes — this is the first thing I think of — ‘Mike, Mike! Those beautiful perfect American boys. We almost lost them Mike! What happened?’” he said, impersonating Trump.

The impression continued as the Speaker recounted the conversation he had with Trump. He said the former president continued to ask about his sons in the weeks following the November incident.

“He brought this up at the beginning of every conversation. He was so moved by the fact that we almost — he said, ‘You wouldn’t have even had Thanksgiving, Mike. You’d never have another Thanksgiving,” Johnson said, continuing to mimic Trump’s voice.

The Speaker has previously opened up about the incident involving his two sons, saying Trump was “so moved by the idea we almost lost them.”

A riptide had pulled his 18-year-old and 13-year-old sons out to sea after they were swimming off the coast of Palm Beach, he said. Lifeguards went out on Jet Skis to save them, and they had to spend several hours in the emergency room following the incident.

Johnson said Thursday his two sons are doing fine now. He said Trump told him Sunday that he was saved by God after escaping an assassination attempt Saturday, when a gunman took aim at the former president and grazed his ear with a bullet.

“He said, ‘God saved your boys. He saved me. I almost didn’t make it there,’” Johnson said Thursday.

Tags Donald Trump Mike Johnson Republican National Convention

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