President Biden had no clue whether or not he signed a critical executive order during a conversation last year with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who admitted he left the meeting fearing the nation is in “serious trouble.”
An addled Biden insisted to the Louisiana lawmaker that he never issued the order to freeze new liquid natural gas export permits — even though he signed off on it less than a month earlier.
Johnson told the Free Press’ Bari Weiss he didn’t believe Biden was lying, but was left to believe the then-81-year-old leader “genuinely didn’t know what he had signed.”
The troubling encounter happened in the Oval Office in early 2024, when the two met to discuss the latest aid package for Ukraine.
Afterwards, Johnson asked Biden why he had inked an executive order pausing new permits for American liquid natural gas export to European allies — a crucial issue for his constituents in the Bayou State, which in 2023, handled 61% of the nation’s LNG exports, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
“Why would you do that? Cause you understand we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, because they gotta get their gas from him,” Johnson said he told Biden.
Biden was stunned, Johnson said.
“I didn’t do that,” the president said, according to Johnson.
“Sir, you paused it, I know. I have the export terminals in my state. I talked to those people in my state, I’ve talked to those people this morning, this is doing massive damage to our economy, national security,” Johnson said he told the commander-in-chief.
nypost.com
