President Trump says he will release MRI test results
President Donald Trump said he would release the results of an MRI scan at the request of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson said he wouldn’t have used those words, but suggested Trump’s reaction was spontaneous.
- Walz criticized President Trump’s language and his characterization of Minnesota’s Somali community.
- Trump later doubled down on his comments to reporters, questioning whether his wording was at fault.
House Speaker Mike Johnson looked a little confused on Dec. 2 when a reporter asked him what he thought about President Donald Trump’s recent use of the “R” word to describe Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
President Trump used the slur in a post on the social media platform Truth Social on Thanksgiving Day, accusing governors of letting “refugees from Somalia” take over the state and commit fraud. Three days later, when asked by reporters about the word, President Trump replied, “Is there a problem with that word?”
The word was introduced as a medical term in 1961, but has evolved over the decades to become a slur used to denigrate people with and without disabilities. Disability advocates are trying to end its use.
A confused Mr. Johnson appeared to give Mr. Trump some leeway after the president’s comments on December 2nd.
“Well, that’s not the word I would choose. I think his reaction to the enormous amount of fraud that was probably announced there was a spontaneous one,” Johnson told reporters at a news conference in Washington. “We think it could probably be $2 billion.”
Johnson said the amount came from Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emmer.
“There’s a lot to look into because they’re said to have been funding terrorist organizations in Somalia,” Johnson continued. “How absurd and insane that is, and it’s incumbent on Congress to immediately investigate, and so is the administration, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. It looks like Governor Walz has a lot to answer for. So it was really stupid.”
The president ordered federal immigration authorities to reexamine green cards issued to people from 19 countries deemed “high risk,” including Somalia. The move expands on the administration’s controversial immigration crackdown, which comes days after a suspected Afghan gunman shot dead two National Guardsmen, leaving one guard dead and another seriously injured.
Walz slams Trump for doubling down on his remarks
Walz, Minnesota’s Democratic governor and 2024 vice presidential candidate, criticized Trump’s use of derogatory language and his characterization of the state’s Somali community, the largest in the United States.
Walz said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Nov. 30 that President Trump’s use of the R-word was “harmful” and that the president “normalized this type of hateful behavior and language.”
“Firstly, I think it’s just because he’s not a good person. But secondly, it’s to distract from his incompetence,” he said.
Walz also said that President Trump’s “demonizing an entire group of people who fled civil war and came here and built vibrant communities” is missing the point, and that he believes it will make the state and country better.
“But that’s Donald Trump. He deflects and demonizes and doesn’t come up with any solutions. He does nothing to solve the problem of fraud,” Walz said. “Oh my god, there’s a big difference between fraud and corruption. And corruption is something he knows.”
The president later appeared to double down on his comments about Walz to reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to the nation’s capital.
“Yeah, I think there’s something wrong with him, absolutely, definitely. Do you have a problem? You know? I think there’s something wrong with him,” Trump told reporters. “Anyone who does what he does, who allows those people to enter the country, who pays Somalia billions of dollars…well, there’s something wrong with Walz.”
Contributed by Kathryn Palmer of USA TODAY
