{"id":2500795,"date":"2025-10-19T19:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T23:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/johnson-spars-with-abc-over-santos-commutation-and-pentagon-press-policy\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T19:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T23:46:07","slug":"johnson-spars-with-abc-over-santos-commutation-and-pentagon-press-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/johnson-spars-with-abc-over-santos-commutation-and-pentagon-press-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnson spars with ABC over Santos commutation and Pentagon press policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjohnson-spars-with-abc-over-santos-commutation-and-pentagon-press-policy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2500795&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>House Speaker Mike Johnson engaged in a heated exchange with ABC News&#8217;s Jon karl regarding President Donald Trump&#8217;s recent commutation of former GOP Rep. George Santos&#8217;s prison sentence and new Pentagon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/european-parliament-suspends-quincy-author-over-unregistered-work-for-qatar-and-morocco\/\" title=\"European Parliament Suspends Quincy Author Over Unregistered Work for Qatar and Morocco\">press policies<\/a>. Johnson described the idea of &#8220;redemption&#8221; as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/7-of-the-most-cringeworthy-religious-mishaps-from-leading-leftists\/\" title=\"7 Of The Most Cringeworthy Religious Mishaps From Leading Leftists\">personal belief<\/a> and expressed hope that Santos will make the most of his second chance. When questioned about Santos being among many former congressmen who have received pardons or clemency,Johnson contrasted Trump&#8217;s openness positively against former President Joe Biden&#8217;s mass pardons. Johnson denied that Trump&#8217;s praise of Santos for always voting Republican was the reason for the commutation. Santos expressed gratitude and interest in prison reform following the commutation. Additionally, Johnson defended War Secretary Pete Hegseth&#8217;s new Pentagon press policies, disputing suggestions that Hegseth is avoiding press questions, highlighting his public speeches and transparency, while Karl pointed out that such <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >events limit press access<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Johnson spars with ABC over Santos commutation and Pentagon press policy<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2376040\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>House Speaker <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mike-johnson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike Johnson<\/a> (R-LA) feuded with ABC News&rsquo;s Jon Karl on Sunday over President <a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>&lsquo;s recent commutation of former GOP Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/crime\/3855728\/trump-commutes-rogue-ex-house-republican-george-santoss-sentence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">George Santos<\/a>&lsquo;s prison sentence as well as the Pentagon&rsquo;s new press policies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Regarding Santos, Johnson said &ldquo;redemption&rdquo; is a &ldquo;personal belief&rdquo; of his, and expressed hope that Santos &ldquo;makes the most of his second chance.&rdquo; Karl noted how Santos is one of many former congressmen to either be pardoned or receive clemency, prompting Johnson to point to former President Joe Biden&rsquo;s mass pardons and commutations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3853860\/restless-house-republicans-defy-johnson-shutdown-recess\/\">Restless House Republicans begin to defy Johnson&#8217;s shutdown recess<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3855610\/house-republican-bill-trump-congressional-gold-medal-nobel-peace-prize\/\">House Republican unveils bill to award Trump Congressional Gold Medal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3854869\/hakeem-jeffries-threatens-swift-legal-action-mike-johnson-adelita-grijalva-swearing-in\/\">Jeffries threatens &lsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/correction-taylor-swift-has-not-announced-her-retirement\/\" title=\"Correction: Taylor Swift has not announced her retirement\">swift&#038;rsquo<\/a>; legal action if Johnson doesn&rsquo;t swear in Grijalva<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;He pardoned his own family. The only thing he signed, by the way, with his own pen. Everything else is autopen, but categories of hardened criminals that they just released from prison. At least President Trump is fully transparent,&rdquo; Johnson said on <em>This Week<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 640px; max-height: 360px; min-width: 320px; min-height: 180px; overflow: hidden;\">\n<div style=\"position: relative; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/share.grabien.com\/share?id=3190638&amp;userid=11311&amp;loginid=9421&amp;playercolor=%23000000&amp;playersize=auto&amp;code=323c5569431de7617b886ddfd556baac\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0px;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Karl pressed Johnson on Trump&rsquo;s statement announcing the commutation, specifically when the president said &ldquo;at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN.&rdquo; Johnson denied this is why Trump commuted Santos&rsquo;s sentence, and this comment is only &ldquo;one snippet&rdquo; among many Trump has made about the ex-lawmaker.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Santos said on Sunday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3856355\/george-santos-trump-commutation-prison-reform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he is &ldquo;very grateful&rdquo; for the commutation<\/a>, and expressed interest in getting involved with prison reform. He said this would be &ldquo;a great road to follow&rdquo; going forward.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson also addressed War Secretary Pete Hegseth&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3850222\/understanding-pentagon-dispute-media-press-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new press policies at the Pentagon<\/a>, which the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> and multiple other news outlets have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3849119\/new-york-times-associated-press-newsmax-pentagon-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declined to sign<\/a>. Johnson rejected Karl&rsquo;s suggestion that Hegseth is afraid to answer questions from the press, though Karl noted Hegseth has only had two briefings as war secretary.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3854869\/hakeem-jeffries-threatens-swift-legal-action-mike-johnson-adelita-grijalva-swearing-in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>JEFFRIES THREATENS &lsquo;SWIFT&rsquo; LEGAL ACTION IF JOHNSON DOESN&rsquo;T SWEAR IN GRIJALVA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Johnson shot back by saying Hegseth is &ldquo;very transparent,&rdquo; pointing to his public speeches, which have included addressing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-harris-releases-bizarre-video-claiming-her-family-has-celebrated-kwanzaa-since-her-childhood\/\" title=\"Kamala Harris Releases Bizarre Video Claiming Her Family Has Celebrated Kwanzaa Since Her Childhood\">large gathering<\/a> of military leaders at Quantico.<\/p>\n<p>Karl concluded the back-and-forth by pointing out that those large-scale events shield Hegseth from reporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Johnson clashes with ABC on Santos pardon and Pentagon press rules<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2632,"featured_media":2500796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP25290576151032.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[7261,4162,52935],"class_list":["post-2500795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-abc","tag-johnson","tag-santos-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/AP25290576151032.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500795"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2500799,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500795\/revisions\/2500799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2500796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}