Speaker Mike Johnson has said he made small talk with Vice President Kamala Harris by asking her if her parents are still alive, causing disbelief and bewilderment online.
Recalling a conversation with Harris at the State of the Union address, Johnson told Sean Hannity in an interview with Fox News: “We talked, for one example, about our parents. I asked her if her parents had been alive, did they survive to see her serving as vice president, and she lamented that they had not.”
The clip posted on X, formerly Twitter, by Aaron Rupar, has been viewed more than 500,000 times. Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki commented: “I just can’t,” in apparent disbelief at his line of conversation.
The Context
Johnson, who has been Speaker of the House of Representatives since late October 2023, was speaking on Fox News following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address to the House chamber on Thursday, March 7.
Johnson also told Hannity that he lost his father, James Patrick Johnson, three days before he was elected to represent Louisiana’s fourth congressional district in 2016.
Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla
What We Know
The mother of Harris, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, died in 2009 from colon cancer. She was 70 years old. Her father, Donald Harris, is still alive, but the status of his relationship with his daughter is unknown.
According to a profile put together by the White House, her parents “were active in the civil rights movement, and instilled in her [Harris] a commitment to build strong coalitions that fight for the rights and freedoms of all people.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.