We have stated many times that there is limited value in providing known liars with platforms on the Sunday talk shows that do little beyond allowing them to gaslight Americans. That being said, from time to time, even someone like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will say something illustrative… even if it is unintentionally.

That’s precisely what happened on Sunday when Johnson tried to twist himself into a pretzel in an effort to explain how Donald Trump directing the Department of Justice to indict one of his perceived enemies, in this case former FBI Director James Comey, isn’t a problem.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him whether, generally, it is acceptable for a president to instruct the attorney general to prosecute a political opponent — and even firing a US attorney who thought the case was too weak.

Obviously, that’s not the kind of question Johnson wants to answer because it is so glaringly obvious that what Trump did is a classic authoritarian move.

Therefore, instead of responding, he tried to deflect and explain why this unprecedented abuse of presidential power was perfectly fine.

“I’m glad you brought up the principle. That is exactly what’s at issue here,” Johnson said before explaining that Comey (allegedly) lied to Congress and therefore needs to be held to account.

“A grand jury that is not — a nonpartisan, nonbiased grand jury that that was assembled looked at the charges, and they agreed, they voted to bring an indictment of James Comey, not President Trump, not the DOJ, but a grand jury,” Johnson said.

Great point, Mr. Speaker!

Setting aside the fact that he didn’t answer the question of whether it was appropriate for a president to get involved, and for DOJ to do his bidding, let’s sum up what Johnson said: A crime was allegedly committed, a grand jury was presented with the evidence that prosecutors had compiled, and then that grand jury voted to indict the alleged criminal.

According to Johnson, there is nothing untoward about any of that.

Which is curious, because he feels quite differently about what happened when Trump was indicted… four times.

In total, four grand juries in four jurisdictions voted to charge him with crimes ranging from offenses related to his attempted coup, obstruction of justice, hoarding classified documents, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and falsifying business records.

While he was able to use legal maneuvers to run out the clock on most of these charges, Trump was convicted of the last one, which means he is the first felon ever to serve as president.

Johnson did not seem to realize that what he was saying blows the GOP’s talking point that DOJ was weaponized to go after Trump out of the water.

That did not stop him from using precisely that talking point in the next breath… and sounding like a total hypocrite.

“What I have qualms with is the total and utter weaponization of the Department of Justice. And Comey was a primary person responsible for that,” he said. “They quite literally for four years under the Biden administration turned the entire apparatus of our judicial system against one person. His name is Donald Trump.”

That’s not just hypocritical but also not rooted in any fact.

Comey wasn’t in government during the Biden administration, and the indictment is about him allegedly lying about something that happened in 2016.

It is also worth noting that there is zero evidence that Biden directed his DOJ to go after Trump or anybody else. In fact, he was frustrated with his attorney general’s failure to hold his predecessor to account for his crimes against democracy more directly.

Oh, by the way, that attorney general, Merrick Garland, also appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents and prosecuted the president’s son Hunter.

The bottom line is that this narrative simply doesn’t fit reality.

It is Trump who has always tried to influence his DOJ, both overtly and covertly, and it is inconceivable that current Attorney General Pam Bondi would investigate Trump for anything, or probe one of his kids for one of their many business schemes.

While CNN host Jake Tapper pointed out that Comey’s indictment had nothing to do with the Biden administration, he failed to ask the most obvious follow-up after Johnson made the case that the fact that a grand jury indicted the former FBI director meant that everything is being done by the book, and that is: “Then what are you complaining about with regard to Trump, who was indicted on 88 counts by four separate grand juries?”

And that is why Johnson’s extreme hypocrisy will likely be lost on most viewers.