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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

U.S. House Speaker Addresses British Parliament. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 20, 2026 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:52]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. We are learning more details about who's received an invitation to join President Trump's so called Board of Peace that will oversee the reconstruction of Gaza. Among the names, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin says that Putin is now reviewing that invitation and is hoping for more information from the U.S.

French President Emmanuel Macron was also asked to participate, but a Foreign Ministry spokesperson says that France has decided not to take part. Just a short time ago, President Trump had this reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, nobody wants him because he's going to be out office very soon. So, you know, that's all right. What I'll do is if they feel like Costco, I'll put a 200 tariff on his wines and champagnes and he'll join. But he doesn't have to join.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: We've learned that President Trump, who will chair the board for rebuilding Gaza, has also invited Israel to join as a founding member state.

In Michigan, crews have cleared a busy section of Interstate 196 after a massive pileup of more than 100 vehicles on Monday morning. Intense lake effect snow led to whiteout conditions in the area. Authorities say that as many as 40 semi-trucks were involved in the crash. At least 10 injuries have been reported so far, all of them minor. The interstate was shut down in both directions for miles. The National Weather Service warned of snow and blowing snow with totals near 14 inches in parts of western Michigan. Officials have urged drivers to stay off the roads due to the dangerous conditions.

OK, let's take you to London now where U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is preparing to address the British Parliament. Let's listen.

LINDSAY HOYLE, HOUSE OF COMMONS SPEAKER: A fellow speaker to the mother of parliaments. Yesterday we had a chance to chat over a cup of tea. Our first trade dispute was over tea at the Boston Tea Party. We've only just about forgiven you for that trade dispute, so I'll say no more about any others.

Mr. Speaker, our journey from adversaries to close allies is a testament to the resilience and mutual respect. Let me take you back in time. Our Cross Atlantic relationship began more than 400 years ago. Just down the road from here, the Founding Fathers set sail on the Mayflower for the London port of Rotherhithe in 1620 for the new World.

Their courage built a bridge across the Atlantic of ideas and shared values which continue until today. In fact, the Pilgrim's military advisor, Myles Standish, was from my very own constituency of Duxbury in Chorley. We've got to get Chorley.

St. Lawrence's Church Chorley, where his family worship still stands, as does the pew they sat in and the crypt that his family is buried in. Interestingly, that same church still bears the U.S. flag that was presented by the United States Army Air Force in 1945.

After tens of thousands of American servicemen passed through Washington Hall in Chorley during the Second World War and showed their Thanksgiving events, baseball games, sweets, nylons, rations with local people and local wives now living in America. The streets in my constituency, such as Myles Standish Way, Washington Lane, are a testament to our long connection.

As I prepare for this occasion, I've been reflecting on events which led up to and followed the Declaration of Independence and the ways in which the vision of the Founding Fathers and the Constitutional Convention have led to our two countries to share values, but very different systems.

The War of Independence effectively began in 1775, a year before declaration was made. It was not officially ended until the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1787, the Constitution was agreed, stating the ideals of liberty and self-government. The U.S. founded in struggle against Britain. That struggle resulted in constitutional government and your federal system. Even the very early stage of this struggle took time.

[04:35:10]

I have to tell you of all people, Mr. Speaker, that the U.S. constitutional history did not end in 1787. Indeed, your great Pelican state of Louisiana became the 18th state in 1812. The point I want to make is that the U.S. fought for freedom and for the right to make its own constitutional arrangements and to make its own decisions about how those arrangements might change. Those arrangements are very different from ours.

As Speaker, I parted with the political party to sit in the chair. As speaker, you are very much a part of your party. Your role is very different than mine. The way in which powers are allocated and exercised in each country differs widely. The U.S. Supreme Court has the assistance of a written Constitution where we have a rag bag of statutes, standing orders, constitutional conventions. But we do have a Supreme Court too. But the difference between us should not hide deep similarity.

While the United Kingdom does not have a codified constitution, we have seen history of struggle and change to achieve the ideals of liberty and self-determination. Whether it is through the Charterists or the suffragettes, successive groups have come forward to assert that government must have the consent of the governed and that everyone has the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

There are universal values which underpin democracy. And if the cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate, we can be proud that we also share deep educational links. Over 20,000 British-American students choose to study in each other's countries.

We recently celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Scholarship, established by an act of Parliament in 1953 to recognize the generosity of the Secretary of State George C. Marshall and the U.S. assistants under the Marshall Plan.

I also note the work of the Fulbright Commission which fosters educational exchanges on both sides of the Atlantic. These are just two of our many links and with trade ties are similarly deep. There is 1.2 trillion invested in each other's economies, supporting over 1 million jobs in both countries.

I understand, Mr. Speaker, as you stand here in the U.K. in Louisiana's fifth largest export market, may that go to fourth. Likewise, the U.K. and the U.S. share a unique defense bond forged in history from standing shoulder to shoulder in two world wars fighting together in Korea, the Gulf and Afghanistan as well. This enduring partnership underpins NATO and remains the cornerstone of our collective security.

I commend U.S. support for Ukraine and the efforts to secure its own constitutional future and everlasting peace. As we face new global challenges. The U.K. and the U.S. will need to continue to stand together as partners and allies and friends to bring peace to the Middle East and peace to Europe and to support democracy across the world.

And it is a dangerous world we live in. This is about the democratic world versus the undemocratic world. We must not allow the undemocratic world to gain even more ground. They have already. We must spike the values of democracy across the world through peace and conversations.

Let us go back 50 years. Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, made a historic visit to Philadelphia to mark the bicentenary of America's independence. That visit, described by Her Majesty, is the joyous celebration of British American friendship. In 1976, the late Queen brought with her the Bicentennial Bell, a gift from the people of Britain to the people of the United States, inscribed, Let Freedom Ring.

They celebrated the common cause of freedom, uniting our two countries and was cast in the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, the same foundry that created the original Liberty Bell and our own Big Ben. Our shared values and our shared language has transformed our relationship from one conflict to one of close friendship and cooperation.

Although, of course, our language is not universally the same and can be confusing. You know, I still say Caribbean. You may say Caribbean. We've got history on our side. So while I wish your football team, the LSU Tigers, lots of luck with the next season, my soccer team, Bolton Wonders, continue to strive for a higher place in league one.

[04:40:14]

However, I think both teams have coaches under pressure to get their teams back to form. But of course, the true sport is rugby league.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I offer you my hand in friendship, ongoing friendship between our two nations, the United Kingdom and the United States, united in our democratic foundation to belief in freedom. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that you and your wife Kelly have enjoyed your visit to Parliament and the platform it offers you to speak to our parliamentarians.

Mr. Speaker, the floor is yours. Thank you, everybody.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sincerely, thank you, Mr. Speaker, Lord Speaker, Ambassador Stevens, members of the House of Commons, members of the House of Lords, and so many esteemed guests. It is a great honor for us to be here. A tremendous pleasure to be with you all. Speaker Hoyle, thank you for those kind words. Your gracious invitation to be here today, my friend, it means so much to us. It's a real detriment to follow Speaker Hoyle. I don't like to do this.

At the G7 speakers meetings, I just want you to know, when he gets wound up and going, it's just like Churchill, and it goes on and on. And I try to speak before him at all times. I don't want to follow. But really, really grateful to here. He has become a dear friend. And all of you, we've met so many great friends. My wife, Kelly, and I are truly touched by how warmly we've been received here and having met so many of you in the past couple of days.

We walked away with this sense that we do have close and dear friends here across the pond, and we have this shared heritage, and we treasure that. It is a profound honor to be speaking in Parliament today, to be the first U.S. speaker of the House ever given this honor. And I take it very seriously.

As proud Americans, it is as though we have returned to the spiritual birthplace of our own nation. And the history here, the weight of it is palpable. As you know, it gives you a certain sense of just being serious. I was going to roll on with a bunch of jokes this morning, but it doesn't feel right to be in this place at this time. We have returned at a pivotal moment, obviously in the great histories of our countries, to mark this anniversary that we have in our nation and to celebrate what we've achieved together in the past and importantly, to face and overcome together the challenges of our present day. And I want to tell you, my friends, we will do that together. That's what I bring you, that message.

When I met with Prime Minister Starmer at Downing Street yesterday, I told him that I thought his national address a few hours earlier was well done. He noted, of course, that the U.K. and the U.S. are close allies and that our strong, constructive partnership all these years has been built on mutual respect and focused on results.

I thought that was exactly the right message and the right tone. And because of that, we have always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends, and we will continue to do that. I want to assure you this morning that is still the case. I spoke to President Trump at length yesterday and I told him that I really felt that my mission here, even though we planned this back in the fall, we didn't know how the events would develop over the last few days.

But I told the President that I felt that my mission here today was to encourage our friends and help to calm the waters, so to speak. And I hope to do so.

As the Prime Minister said yesterday, let us look to agreement, continue our dialogue and find a resolution just as we always have in the past. And in that process, I am confident that we can and will maintain and strengthen our special relationship between these two nations, send a message of unity and resolve to our allies around the world, and remind our adversaries and the terrorists and tyrants everywhere that our nations that are dedicated to freedom and justice and order and human dignity are stronger and more resolved now than ever before. I think it's a very important message.

Of course, we do gather here at a unique and consequential moment in American history. This year, as noted, is the time we mark our 250th anniversary of our independence. Now, I know this is not a long span of time in the scale of human history. I get that. We were touring the thousand year old Windsor Palace a day or so ago and that really put it all, set it into reality for us.

[04:45:06]

At the dinner we had here last night, Speaker Hoyle and Lady Catherine graciously hosted for us, it was not lost on me that there at my table were items of silverware older than my country. It puts it in perspective. But this year in particular, we remember just how far we really have come, how our nations have evolved and grown and strengthened in so many ways together.

America's founders embarked on what was a radical experiment, of course, a government of, by, and for the people, ruled by laws and based on the self-evident truth that all men are created equal and free. That experiment transformed 13 disparate distant colonies from the world's largest empire into what became the world's freest and most successful self-government in human history.

For Americans, this year is not simply a celebration. It is an invitation, an invitation to come together and to ask what we are doing in our own time to preserve and fortify that experiment and all of the blessings of liberty and opportunity and security that we enjoy today and frankly sometimes too often take for granted.

We have a stewardship obligation to maintain these blessings, and all of us in the West, all of us together, are facing real challenges today that we must acknowledge and confront, and we do that best together.

Across the pond, Congress and the Trump administration have been working very hard. We're trying to usher in a new golden age for our country, as we say. We're marshalling every resource we have to make America safer and stronger and more prosperous than ever before, and I'm very bullish on the prospects of doing that. We must do this because we know those hostile to the West and to our shared values are engaging in increasingly sophisticated forms of subversion and espionage.

We see China, Russia, and Iran grow more aggressive and emboldened as they intensify their efforts to exert economic, political, and military influence around the world. We see a callous disregard for basic human rights, new provocations, and even the theft of intellectual property on a scale like we have never seen before.

Clearly, President Trump is taking seriously the modern and dynamic threats that China and Russia pose to our global security, especially in focus the last few days as it relates to the Arctic. And while we can have thoughtful debate among our friends about how best to counter these threats, we all certainly agree they must be countered. We ignore these threats at our peril.

And I want to hasten to express our gratitude to the U.K. and to all of you for joining us in some of our most recent actions to deter these hostile regimes, including the recent seizure of a black market vessel seeking to circumvent oil sanctions. That was a big help to us. That kind of open dialogue and partnership is a great example of how we can work together to ensure our collective defense around the world.

It is an objective and obvious truth that a strong America is good for the entire world, and a strong U.K. is as well. At the same time, it's also obvious that we have to take care of our own houses, so to speak, before we take care of the neighborhood. And let's be honest, among friends here and both of our nations, there is a need today to fortify our houses against internal challenges as well.

In the West, if we make an honest assessment, we must acknowledge that our long-term prosperity and security are currently being undermined by, let's call it a crisis of self-doubt. It's been developing now for years. Elite institutions today tell the young and impressionable that our story is one of oppression and hypocrisy and failure.

Our brightest minds are too often taught to view our history only through the lens of its sins. And we see the work of international organizations and transnational bodies hinder the very spirit of creativity and industriousness and daring that our nations were built upon.

We have faced this in America just as you have here, a truly menacing skepticism towards history in our national institutions. And it's even come to the point where even great heroes like Sir Winston Churchill are questioned for their legacy.

What has taken hold is a mindset that defines itself not by what it loves and seeks to preserve, but instead by what it condemns and seeks to tear down. And this growing disaffection we see, particularly among our younger citizens, is a serious threat to the health of both our nations.

If the next generation is never exposed to the deeper wisdom of the Western world or the enduring tradition of the British Parliament or the genius of America's model of Republican self-government, then why would they feel any obligation to defend or preserve them?

[04:50:03]

Fortunately, history teaches us an important lesson. Just over half a century after American independence, our country faced a moment of reckoning. It was 1838, and for the first time in our short history, America's founding fathers, the men who had led us through the turbulent years of our young nation, were no longer there to guide us.

A growing disregard for the rule of law had taken hold at that time, and the cries of mob rule threatened every part of our country. A young legislator at that time, concerned by what he saw as America's deteriorating regard for its past, charged his countrymen with an important choice. Would they uphold their duty and preserve the blessings for which their fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, or would they continue on the path of decline and self-destruction?

The answer was simple, he said. This experiment in liberty could not survive unless the principles enshrined in the Declaration and institutionalized in our Constitution became their shared civic faith. That rising statement, he was just 28 years old at the time, would one day become president, and he would be called to confront the greatest stress test of the American experiment yet.

His likeness stands just a few feet away from here, where we're gathered today, watching over Parliament Square. Abraham Lincoln, of course, wisely understood that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation is the philosophy of government in the next.

He knew that our national renewal would not come from repudiating our past, but rather from renewing and recommitting to our best principles, to appealing to the better angels of our nature. The struggle of Lincoln's time shows us that, though America may be 250 years old, the question of how best to steward this grand experiment has always been with us, and age-old questions require age-old wisdom. In the West today, we see faith in our foundations and our shared inheritance weakening, and what we have to do is channel the wisdom of our predecessors to chart our own renewal. So what does renewal require? Just a few things. Well, first, it requires remembrance.

This is a biblical admonition, in fact. We're to remember our blessings and from where we came. And the great British philosopher G.K. Chesterton warned, every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things, things like the dignity of the individual, the stabilizing role of the family, the human yearning for meaning and purpose, and the indispensable relationship between freedom and virtue.

In short, we have to remember our foundations, and we have to describe what they are, because the generation behind us seems not to understand this. As Chesterton observed, America was founded on a creed that was set forth, he said, with dogmatic and theological lucidity in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That profound acknowledgment of obvious and undeniable truth shook the foundations of Western democracy, and with it the course of human history.

Our founders recognized that all of us are made in the image of God, and because of that, every single person has inestimable dignity and value. And our value is not related in any way to the color of our skin or what town or village we hail from, what our talents are, et cetera.

Our value is inherent because it is given to us by our creator. We built an entire nation upon that premise. And just as our citizens are endowed with God-given and unalienable rights, all nations and all people should adhere to the obvious laws of nature and of nature's God, as our documents say. In his farewell address, the father of our country, George Washington, gave all of his advice that echoes down through his countrymen, even today, and echoes down through the generations in reminding us how we would keep this republic, how we would keep this grand experiment in self-government.

And he said famously, of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. And John Adams was our second president, and he said famously, our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

The late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it even more simply. Freedom, she said, will destroy itself if it has no purpose. Lady Thatcher, just like our founders, understood that free societies that lacked a shared moral and civic foundation inevitably turned elsewhere to compensate.

And that reminds us of another important lesson from history. A healthy renewal requires the participation and stewardship of each successive generation. Here, too, the example of the American Revolution proves so instructive.

[04:55:10]

Our founders didn't seek to build a new nation on pure abstraction or mere ideology, nor did they abandon the brilliance of the British tradition, even if they opposed the empire itself. Instead, they drew on the joint inheritance of the English-speaking world, inheritance rooted in the wisdom of classical thinkers, asserted in the Magna Carta, embraced in common law in the writings of John Locke, and articulated in the Bill of Rights of 1689.

These principles found, in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence. For Americans, our independence is not a rebuke of our British roots, but rather a renewal of what is best, the best of what Britain had to offer the world.

If renewal requires remembrance and stewardship, it also requires responsible citizens. Strong institutions are essential, of course, but when people are taught that their lives are determined by systems and structures, responsibility quickly disappears, and with it, their purpose and their meaning. In both of our nations, we have too many people on the sidelines, particularly younger generations.

We should want our citizens involved, gainfully employed, and contributing to their communities, of course. Stable and thriving societies need families that raise children. They need churches and communities that form character, and patriotic men and women dedicated to leaving their country better than they found it.

The simple truth is that freedom cannot survive if we outsource our responsibility as citizens. This is a fact that remains true at a national level. We cannot fail in our responsibility to protect our people and their security.

Amongst our allies, we see the U.K. and Europe stepping up as faithful partners here, and I want to declare that today. Whether it's NATO's nation's historic commitment to raise their investment in defense, which we applaud, or the AUKUS alliance deepening its cooperation in submarines and undersea defense, our partnership is proving that nations can prioritize their individual interests responsibly and, at the same time, make strides toward strengthening alliances and preserving the freedom and sovereignty of our nation-states.

And our current U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., Warren Stephens, who sits up here with me today, said it recently very well. He said, America first does not mean and will never mean America alone.

Finally, renewal takes courage. From the defeat of Napoleon to the heroic resistance to the Blitz, to the bravery of our soldiers in the liberation of Western Europe, the British people have given the world some of the greatest demonstrations of courage in human history.

You are the heirs of Burke and Locke and Smith, the home of Shakespeare, the cradle of free speech. You are the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and the nation that helped end the slave trade. And from these shores, you set sail to pioneer a new world built on British custom, British fortitude, and British law.

Together, we, all of us, are the legacy of those ancient ancestors who came before us. Their courage is part of who we are, and we do well to remember that. Today, it takes our courage, clarity, and conviction to defend truth, just as our ancestors did.

And it means being able to say that some things are true and good and enduring and others are not, and to call evil and madness what it is. It means repairing what we see in clear disrepair from restoring, for example, secure borders that protect from the real and measurable harms of mass uncontrolled migration, to pushing back on policies that erode our citizens' most basic liberties, especially the fundamental freedoms of speech and conscience.

History teaches us, we can never go down the road of censoring and silencing unpopular opinions because liberty is kept alive in the free marketplace of ideas. History further teaches us that the best solution to the problem of free speech is always more speech. And those being unjustly persecuted for exercising those freedoms, such as Jimmy Lai, the British national being held in Hong Kong, must be defended. And the U.S. stands with the U.K. as you work to free him.

As we chart our renewal, America has no intention of walking alone. In fact, to do so would be self-defeating. More than ever before, we need the British people to be great and proud and patriotic. And you are to work in close concert with us as partners and friends and to defend the security of the Western world. That means secure borders. It means obviously serious investments in our shared defense and maintaining strategic strongholds around the world. And we will figure this out together.

[05:00:05]

SOLOMON: All right, we've been listening to U.S. House Speaker there, Mike Johnson addressing British Parliament. He said that this trip had actually been scheduled in the fall. It was meant to celebrate America's 250th birthday year. But obviously the timing of this trip a bit more awkward now as Trump threatens to slap tariffs on the U.K. and other European nations. And questions remain about whether those European nations will slap retaliatory tariffs on the U.S.

A few things from Speaker Johnson's comments there. He said, look, we will face and overcome together the challenges of our present day. We will work through our differences calmly. A strong America is good for the entire world. A strong U.K. is as well. He said he spoke to Trump yesterday and told him, my mission here in the U.K. is to encourage our friends and to calm the waters.

Obviously, it is unclear if those waters have been calmed from his comments, but we will continue to watch and monitor his comments.

In the meantime, more Early Starts right now.