Even Barack Obama’s former Homeland Security secretary is blaming Democrats for the government shutdown—a stunning admission that underscores just how disastrous the party’s obstruction has become. Jeh Johnson, who led the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, appeared on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins and openly broke with his party, warning that Democrats are making a “mistake” by filibustering the CR and shutting down the government.
Collin began by playing a clip of a past exchange between her and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who placed the blame squarely at the feet of Democrats for the Reductions in Force (RIFs) that are being implemented now. Leavitt told her the situation “would not be happening right now if the Democrats did not vote to shut the government down,” and Collins got a bit of a surprise when Johnson effectively confirmed Leavitt’s point: Democrats are the ones prolonging the shutdown and putting workers in jeopardy.
Collins brought Johnson on as her lead guest, touting his experience running “the third largest federal agency.” But Johnson immediately undercut the Democrats’ preferred narrative and said he was “going to break from the party line” and explicitly aligning himself with independent Sen. Angus King and Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman—both of whom have publicly urged their party to stop blocking the government’s reopening.
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“The problem I see here,” Johnson explained, “is that to pass a budget, it needs 60 votes in the Senate. And what is happening each year now—and what I fear is going to happen in the future—is the minority party wants to link that to some other very, very important issue.” He acknowledged that while issues like health care are “critical,” they should not be used as leverage to hold the government hostage.
Johnson didn’t mince words about where the real blame lies. “I believe that Congress should vote to reopen the government,” he said, noting that “apparently, you need seven Democrats to make that happen in the Senate.” He went on to call it “a mistake” that his own party is tying government funding to unrelated political fights.
Johnson’s remarks dismantle the Democrats’ narrative that Republicans are to blame. Even CNN’s Collins couldn’t help but note that TSA workers and military members are now missing paychecks, and they are the very people Democrats claim to champion. Johnson, for his part, seemed deeply frustrated with his party’s priorities. “The most basic function of Congress,” he reminded viewers, “is to fund the government, turn the lights on, keep the government working.”
Jeh Johnson says Senate Democrats need to end the shutdown and stop hurting federal workers for their pet issue
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) October 11, 2025
"I’m gonna break from the party line here on this. I’m a Democrat. I’m with John Fetterman and Angus King... The most basic function of Congress is to fund the… pic.twitter.com/70Xmcp2CKW
For all the talk from Democrats about “protecting workers” and “supporting the middle class,” it’s their obstructionism that is keeping paychecks from the very federal employees they say they care about. When even Obama’s own DHS secretary is calling them out, you know the narrative is collapsing.
Democrats created this shutdown, and even their former top security official can see it. “I’m worried about the precedent,” Johnson admitted. Americans should be too—because the longer Democrats keep playing politics, the more damage they’ll do to the country they’re supposed to serve.
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