Biden had no idea he signed natural gas export pause, Johnson says

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Friday recounted a meeting with President Biden from early last year when the president appeared to forget he signed an executive order pausing the export of liquified natural gas (LNG).

Johnson said that Biden's staff finally relented after some pressure from the media and invited him to the Oval Office to meet with the president. Johnson, however, said the meeting did not start as expected.

"I show up and I realize it's actually an ambush 'cause it's not just me and the president," Johnson said. "It's also Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem, you know, The CIA Director."

Once Biden and Johnson were alone in the Oval Office, the speaker asked the president about his pause on LNG exports. 

"I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana," Johnson recalled telling Biden. "Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. 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 recounted how a stunned Biden replied: "I didn't do that."

Johnson said that when he reminded the president of the executive order he had signed just weeks ago, Biden denied that what he had signed was a pause on LNG.

Johnson said he argued that the pause would do "massive damage to our economy, national security," and he even suggested that the president's secretary print out a copy of the order so that the two of them could read it together.

"He genuinely did not know what he had signed," Johnson said. "And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, 'We are in serious trouble-who is running the country?' Like, I don't know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn't know."

Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady and Eric Revell contributed to this report.