Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat, has represented his area of Georgia in the House of Representatives for more than 15 years.
Over the course of those years, Johnson has made some questionable statements from claiming Guam will “capsize” due to too many people to comparing Jewish Israeli settlers to “termites.”
Here are some of Johnson’s wildest statements since he took office in 2007.
DEMOCRATS SCRAMBLE TO DEFEND BIDEN’S HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED MATERIALS, POINT FINGERS AT TRUMP
Probably Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson’s most famous statement was sharing his worry that the U.S. territory of Guam could "capsize" if too many people were on the island.
(Reuters)
Guam will ‘capsize’
Probably Johnson’s most famous statement was sharing his worry that the U.S. territory of Guam could “capsize” if too many people were on the island.
Johnson made his widely-ridiculed claim during a 2010 House Armed Services Committee hearing on a planned military buildup in the territory that featured now-retired Admiral Robert Willard, who at the time commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
“My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize,” Johnson said, his face straight as he gestured the island tipping over.
“We don’t anticipate that,” Willard responded after a short pause. “The Guam population, I think, is currently 175,000.”
“And again, with 8,000 Marines and their families, that’s an addition of about 25,000 more into the population,” the admiral continued.
Johnson would later claim he was joking when he made the statement.
Comparing protesting parents to January 6 rioters
Education is becoming an increasingly hot-button issue for voters, especially parents, as critical race theory and gender ideology are uncovered in schools across America.
Critical race theory (CRT), as well as gender ideology in schools — which has seen pornographic material in school libraries, including at the Pentagon — have galvanized parents who do not want to see their child’s educational potential whittled down to the color of their skin or pornographic books accessible in class.
Johnson claimed during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in September of last year that “MAGA Republicans” descended on school board meetings similarly to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot during a committee hearing.
Rep. Hank Johnson, left, claimed during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in September of last year that "MAGA Republicans" descended on school board meetings similarly to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot during a committee hearing.
(Getty Images/The Recording Academy)
“January 6, 2021, will never be forgotten, an infamous day in American history. MAGA Republicans descended upon the Capitol, engaged in an insurrection. They occupied the Capitol. Five people were killed, hundreds injured, including hundreds of Capitol Hill police officers attacked and bludgeoned. It was a day that we’ll never forget,” Johnson said.
“And people on the local level at affected school board meetings, they won’t forget the MAGA Republicans descending on their school board meetings after January 6, like January 6, disrupting meetings. It was a coordinated attack happening across the country. Americans won’t forget about it. School board members, teachers, administrators, subjected to violence, threats of violence, harassment, intimidation,” he continued.
Johnson made this claim during a hearing to discuss a House bill requiring President Biden to “provide certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to the October 4, 2021 memorandum issued by the Attorney General entitled Partnership Among Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Law Enforcement to Address Threats Against School Administrators, Board Members, Teachers, and Staff.”
In October, Attorney General Merrick Garland originally sent a memorandum on ongoing protests at school boards regarding coronavirus guidelines and critical race theory. Garland’s memo was in response to the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) letter that likened these protests to “domestic terrorism,” leading to intense backlash from parents and Republican lawmakers. By February, Fox News exclusively reported that the head of the NSBA had advanced notice of the memo, suggesting coordination between the NSBA and the federal government against protesters.
Biden’s ‘planted’ classified documents
Most recently, Johnson has been playing defense for Biden amid the classified documents’ scandal that has rocked the West Wing.
Johnson was asked by Fox News’ Hillary Vaughn about Biden’s Obama-era classified documents being found in unsecured locations in and outside Washington, D.C., which Johnson claimed the documents may have been “planted.”
“I’m also aware of the fact that things can be planted on people … things can be planted in places and then discovered conveniently,” Johnson said. “That may be what has occurred here. I’m not ruling that out. But I’m open in terms of the investigation needs to be investigated.”
Several batches of Obama-era classified documents have been found by Biden’s attorneys, including in his Penn Biden Center think tank in the nation’s capital as well as in his Wilmington, Delaware, home’s garage next to his Corvette.
The Georgia Democrat also said he was “suspicious of the timing” surrounding the classified document batches’ discoveries.
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., was asked by Fox News’ Hillary Vaughn about President Biden’s Obama-era classified documents being found in unsecured locations in and outside Washington, D.C., which Johnson claimed the documents may have been "planted."
(CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
Johnson attempted to highlight “big differences” between Biden’s document scandal and the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid of former President Trump, claiming it was “refreshing to see the Department of Justice restored from its politicization during the Trump years” and that he applauded “Attorney General Garland for acting swiftly in appointing a special counsel to investigate the Biden document discoveries.”
“Based on what we know, there is a big difference between the Trump and Biden document cases,” Johnson claimed.
“At first, Trump lied about their very existence, while his lawyers asserted that there were no more documents. When Trump finally admitted that he knowingly took and possessed the classified documents, he refused numerous requests to return them. He even failed to comply with a subpoena,” he continued. “Classified documents were actually seized from Trump’s own desk. Moreover, there is no documentation supporting any claim that any of the Trump documents were declassified.”
“The Trump document case is an open-and-shut case and should proceed without delay to a final and just resolution,” he said. “There remains much we don’t know about the Biden document discoveries, and it’s too early to reach any conclusions. I am confident, however, that the process has begun to ensure that we get to the truth, and that justice will be done.”
The ‘racist Senate’ and Chip Roy’s ‘White power’
Last year amid progressive Democrats’ voting overhaul push that did not make it to print in the face of a bipartisan Senate majority, Johnson claimed that, “in some respects,” the U.S. had a “racist Senate” presiding over it.
He accused Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy of pushing “White power” and “White privilege” for objecting to his claims.
“Voting rights is not going away even though the Senate last night failed to do what it should have done and in some respects, we can call it a racist Senate,” Johnson said during a January 2022 House Judiciary Committee remote hearing.
Johnson accused Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy of pushing "White power" and "White privilege" for objecting to his claims that America was presided over by a "racist Senate."
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“The same way we can talk about racism when it comes to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle making statements today about Black people and Democrats race-baiting,” Johnson said. “It’s like, you know, when you mention about how much racism still exists in the soil of America they want to plant their heads in that soil and refuse to acknowledge what’s in the soil.”
The Georgia Democrat was referring to his Texas GOP colleague Rep. Chip Roy’s earlier statement in the hearing, who used the term “race-baiting” to describe Democrat claims of “voter suppression” and the party’s unsuccessful efforts to push the federal election overhaul.
REP. HANK JOHNSON COMPARES PROTESTING PARENTS AT SCHOOL BOARDS TO JAN. 6 RIOTERS
Johnson went on to say that Republicans have become “emboldened” due to former President Trump and what Johnson called his “Make America White Again” movement while also using the terms “White power” and “White privilege” to describe Roy.
“I’m just blown away by where we have fallen in our discourse on this committee,” Johnson added after accusing Roy and the Senate of racism.
Later in the meeting, Roy addressed the “White privilege” label that Johnson had placed on him and explained that his grandmother was raised by a single mom in West Texas in a house with a dirt floor and no indoor plumbing. Roy also detailed the struggles his family has had to endure including family members growing up “dirt poor” during the Depression and his father working himself through college while also suffering from polio.
“I would question the assertion of my ‘privilege’ and ‘White power,’” Roy said.
Rep. Hank Johnson took heat in 2016 when he at a U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation event when he compared Jewish Israeli settlers in disputed areas with Palestinians to "termites" eating homes.
(CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
“Democrats have nothing left to play but the race card given a year of devastating crime, open borders, appeasement of our enemies, and failed COVID policies,” Roy told Fox News Digital in a statement. “So you accuse the grandson of an orphaned poor West Texas farmer who lost his farm in the Depression of ‘white privilege’ and you go back to race-bating. Par for the course.”
Calling Jewish Israeli settlers in disputed areas ‘termites’
Johnson took heat in 2016 when he compared Jewish Israeli settlers in disputed areas with Palestinians to “termites” eating homes at a U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation event.
The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is an anti-Israel organization that promotes the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.
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“There has been a steady [stream], almost like termites can get into a residence and eat before you know that you’ve been eaten up and you fall in on yourself, there has been settlement activity that has marched forward with impunity and at an ever-increasing rate to the point where it has become alarming,” Johnson said.
Johnson also claimed that “Jewish people” steal property and land from Palestinians.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s media request on Sunday.
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Lindsay Kornick contributed reporting.