U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson

national security experts for his attack on First Amendment-protected speech and protest after he lashed out at next week’s “No Kings” rallies, which are expected to attract millions of Americans across the nation.

“The theory we have right now,” Speaker Johnson told Fox News on Friday, “they have a hate-America rally that’s scheduled for October 18 on the National Mall. It’s the pro-Hamas wing and Antifa people, they’re all coming out.”

Calling the protests against authoritarianism an “outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes,” Johnson later said attendees would include “the Antifa crowd, and the pro-Hamas crowd, and the Marxists.”

Other Republicans on Friday went even further, with one, House Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer, baselessly invoking a “terrorist” claim.

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Emmer told reporters that the “terrorist wing” of the Democratic party, “is set to hold … a hate-America rally in D.C. next week.”

The Steady State, a group that includes more than 330 former ambassadors, inspectors general, flag officers, Defense and Homeland Security officials, and senior intelligence officers, blasted the Speaker’s remarks.

“Johnson is branding the planned No Kings rally a ‘hate America rally,’ warning that all the ‘Antifa people’ will be there,” the group wrote. “He calls it ‘serious business’ and claims it’s ‘hurting real people.'”

“But Johnson, a constitutional lawyer, knows better,” they said. “Peaceful protest is not only protected under the First Amendment—it is a core democratic right and a cornerstone of American freedom.”

The No Kings coalition, responsible for the upcoming rallies, also responded to Speaker Johnson.

“After a few moments of laughter, the No Kings coalition issued the following statement: ‘Speaker Johnson is running out of excuses for keeping the government shut down. Instead of reopening the government, preserving affordable healthcare, or lowering costs for working families, he’s attacking millions of Americans who are peacefully coming together to say that America belongs to its people, not to kings.'”

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