House Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s not playing ‘gotcha game’ of who won the 2020 election

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Republicans being asked who won the 2020 election is a “gotcha game.”

“This is the game that is always played by mainstream media with leading Republicans,” Mr. Johnson, Louisiana Republican, said on ABC News’ “This Week.”

“It’s a gotcha game. You want us to litigate things that happened four years ago when we’re talking about the future,” Mr. Johnson said. “We’re not going to talk about what happened in 2020. We’re going to talk about 2024 and how we’re going to solve the problems for the American people.”

Denial of who won the 2020 election has been a prevalent topic since former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, first said the election was stolen from him.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz asked Mr. Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, if Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election during a debate last week. After Mr. Vance didn’t say yes or no, Mr. Walz called it a “damning non-answer.”

Special counsel Jack Smith last week released a massive legal filing from his election interference case against Mr. Trump that alleged the former president committed crimes ahead of and after the 2020 election.

That same day, Mr. Trump posted, “I didn’t rig the 2020 Election, they did!” on his Truth Social account.

Mr. Johnson said Sunday that he wasn’t going to “engage” in the game.

“Joe Biden has been the president for almost four years. Everybody needs to get over this and move forward. That’s what we need to talk about,” he said. “What happens on Nov. 5 and the days after that.”