Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson (GA) — who is known for his infamous Guam may “capsize” moment from several years ago — imagined a disturbing image during the Democrats’ impeachment hearing on the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday as he spoke about President Donald Trump kidnapping the daughter of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and tying her up with duct-tape in a basement.
Johnson made the remarks while attempting to push back on the notion that President Zelensky was weak, saying, “Well, I’ll tell you that brings to mind the picture of President Trump and President Zelensky meeting in New York in September at the U.N. and a big chair for President Trump, little chair for President Zelensky.”
“Big, six-foot-four President Trump, five-foot-eleven President Zelensky. And they’re standing there, President Trump is holding court, and he says, ‘Oh, by the way, no pressure,'” Johnson continued. “And you saw President Zelensky shaking his head as if his daughter was downstairs in the basement, duct-taped.”
“I mean, there’s an imbalance of power in that relationship. It always has been,” Johnson concluded. “And there’s no way that the nation of Ukraine can stand up to the power, the power of the United States of America. And President Trump used that unequal bargaining position, he leveraged his power in that relationship, not for the benefit of the United States of America, but for his own benefit.”
WATCH:
Deranged. pic.twitter.com/gzrxE7iAiY
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 13, 2019
Shortly after Johnson made the remarks, the White House fired back on social media by writing on Twitter: “JUST IN: Democrats want to impeach the President for [checks notes] being too tall.”
The White House then posted a picture of President Trump and President Zelensky sitting side-by-side at the meeting that Johnson claimed that Trump had a much bigger chair than Zelenky that clearly shows that the two leaders had the exact same chair.
🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/KGY5zyrUGs
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) December 12, 2019
Johnson is well known over remarks he made during a House Armed Services Committee in 2010 when he questioned Admiral Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, about the impact of increasing the number of U.S. troops on the the island of Guam.
“My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize,” Johnson said in a serious manner.
“We don’t anticipate that,” Willard responded.
https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1205288866657292290
Johnson, who claimed this week that he did not support impeaching Trump until Democrats began their impeachment investigations into him a couple of months ago, directly compared the president to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler at the start of the year.
“Americans elected an authoritarian, racist, anti-immigrant strongman to the nation’s highest office,” Johnson said. “Americans, particularly black Americans, can’t afford to make that same mistake about the harm that could be done by a man named Hitler or a man named Trump.”
Johnson also mocked Trump supporters, saying, “Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again followers…are older, less educated, less prosperous, and they are dying early. Their life spans are decreasing, and many are dying from alcoholism, drug overdoses, liver disease, or simply a broken heart.”
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA): "Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again followers…are older, less educated, less prosperous, and they are dying early. Their life spans are decreasing, and many are dying from alcoholism, drug overdoses, liver disease, or simply a broken heart." pic.twitter.com/YYmwopUZDm
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 3, 2019
