With U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett in Mason, House Speaker Mike Johnson says Iran War is ‘epic success’

At an endorsement event Wednesday for U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Iran War had been an “epic success” and is winding down, so Congressional votes aimed at restricting the war can wait until after the November election.

Several law enforcement officials and Johnson met at the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office in Mason on Wednesday to reiterate endorsements of U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett and criticize his opponent, William Lawrence.

A pair of campaign volunteers surrounded the suited and uniformed law enforcement officials, kneeling at a law enforcement memorial and holding poster-sized versions of since-deleted tweets from when Lawrence called for defunding police in 2020.

Lawrence does not support defunding police and has criticized Barrett for votes including the One Big Beautiful Bill, which reduced some community violence intervention funding in mid-Michigan, according to his campaign. In a debate with Barrett on Tuesday, Lawrence distanced himself from some of his old tweets, saying he would “think out loud” online in the past.

Barrett said Lansing was one of the ten most violent cities in the country at the time and “instead of calling for calm, for enforcement of our laws, my opponent said we shouldn’t just defund our police; we should abolish them altogether.”

Barrett said he has brought $2 million in public safety dollars, primarily to Lansing and East Lansing, and said he would redouble those efforts if re-elected.

“The voters of this district have a choice: do you want somebody with a record of service like I have, in our military, supporting our law enforcement and doing the right thing to keep our community safe, or are you going to turn your back on our police officers and seek to have them defunded, take away their dignity and abolish them altogether,” Barrett said.

The first-term congressman has worked to create distance between himself and the increasingly unpopular Trump administration in recent weeks. Barrett has brought almost half of Trump’s cabinet – seven secretaries and several cabinet-level members – to the mid-Michigan area since April, including visits this week from two cabinet-level officials, U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler and Government Services Administrator Ed Forst. Johnson previously visited Lansing with Barrett less than two months ago, a signal that the mid-Michigan district is valuable to senior Republicans as well as the Trump administration.

Leaders from the Police Officers Association of Michigan and Fraternal Order of Police reiterated endorsements for Barrett outside the Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s important he get re-elected and that we protect that majority,” said Jim Tignelli, president of the Police Officers Association of Michigan.

While many law enforcement leaders from Barrett’s district came and endorsed him, including Livingston Sheriff Mike Murphy and chief prosecutors from both Clinton and Shiawassee counties, there were two glaring absences.

Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus was not invited, according to a spokesperson for the department, which is the largest law enforcement agency in Barrett’s district.

Barrett was asked about Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth, a Democrat, who was not present at the event that was held just outside his office’s front door.

Barrett said reporters should ask the sheriff why he wasn’t there.

City Pulse has reached out to Wrigglesworth.

The event was hosted on pavers that are part of a memorial to law enforcement officers just outside the Sheriff’s Office building, which was opened in 2023 and carries the name of Wrigglesworth’s father, Gene Wrigglesworth.

Beth LeBlanc, a Detroit News reporter, asked if the location was appropriate for a political event.

Barrett said the location is public property and is permissible for campaigns.

“Obviously the location is intentional, based on the connection to law enforcement,” he said.

Johnson was asked if he would bring Congress back before the election to help Barrett by allowing a vote on two bills the congressman sponsored, one about Flock cameras and the other an Authorization for Use of Military Force bill from May, which calls for limits on the Iran War.

Johnson dismissed Congress early in September, in part to avoid a vote on impeaching the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“Both of those bills will be processed in the lame duck right after the election, when everyone returns to town,” Johnson said, referencing Barrett’s Iran and Flock camera bills.

Jason Cabel Roe, a spokesperson for Barrett’s campaign, said Congress is in recess until after the election and momentum for an Iran War vote is building on its own.

He said the Barrett’s Authorization for Use of Military Force bill regarding the Iran War referenced a 90-day period that has already expired.

The speaker was asked if the increasing number of Republicans pushing for some restraint on the Iran War made votes on the war a priority.

“Iran is in a stage; we’re turning a corner, the effort has worked, ” Johnson said. “Operation Epic Fury was an epic success; we had no choice in the matter. I’m on the Gang of Eight. I get the highest level briefing in the federal government.” He said Iran was dangerously close to getting a nuclear weapon. “Operation Epic Fury was an epic success and now it’s winding down,” he said.

Barrett said in a statement prior to the event that “Tom Barrett’s entire campaign strategy is to stand at the side of extreme Trump administration officials, just like he voted for the Trump agenda 99% of the time. Barrett’s latest guest, Trump’s Speaker Mike Johnson, is against same-sex marriage, stalled the release of the Epstein files, tried to overturn an election, and thinks our communities’ concerns about data centers are a ‘Chinese psyop.’”

In a hot mic moment immediately after the press conference ended, U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain, who represents the Thumb area and is the highest-ranking Republican woman, expressed frustration at LeBlanc’s question.

“She would know this is public property; she’s smarter than that, she can’t be that stupid,” McClain said, although it is not clear who she was speaking to at the moment. “Thank you for what you’re doing; we’ll even protect the whackadoodles.”