Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) attempted to create some distance between himself and President Trump when a reporter recently pressed him on his staff’s apparent involvement in a fake electors scheme to help Trump steal a second term.
Johnson, a known Trump ally who has repeatedly boosted bogus claims of widespread election fraud, was asked whether he would testify about the fake electors plot before the Jan. 6 Select Committee in an interview with ABC affiliate WISN, which aired Sunday.
Johnson snapped, calling the notion that his staff was involved in the fake electors scheme “another grotesque distortion” because it was a short-lived episode that lasted for a mere “couple of seconds,” he claimed.
“I had nothing to do with the alternate slate. I had no idea that anybody was going to ask me to deliver those,” Johnson said. “My involvement in that attempt to deliver spanned the course of a couple of seconds.”
Johnson claimed that a few of those precious seconds dedicated to the fake electors plot involved him fielding three text messages and sending two, as well as speaking to his chief of staff about “someone” who wanted him to deliver “something.”
“I knew nothing about it,” Johnson said, adding that the slate of fake electors were never delivered because Pence’s staff did not want them.
Johnson then complained about the Jan. 6 Select Committee drawing attention to his staff’s involvement in the scheme, which he once again insisted had been “blown out of proportion.”
“They blew this up into some massive conspiracy,” Johnson complained. “I had virtually no involvement. My involvement lasted seconds.”
Asked what he would’ve done if the then-vice president’s chief of staff was willing to deliver the fake slates of electors, Johnson tensed up.
“In what way could have I? We did our due diligence. If somebody hands us something, we are supposed to deliver to the vice presidency — does he want it? Nope. OK, end of story.”
Johnson’s latest remarks add to his repeated squirming about the issue. The Jan. 6 Select Committee revealed his staff’s supposed involvement in the plot during a hearing in June focused on Trump’s pressure campaign targeting state officials — all part of Trump and his allies’ broader efforts to subvert the election.
Days after the committee’s revelation, Johnson faked a phone call and blamed an unnamed intern for his staff’s effort to deliver the fake electors to Pence.
“I was not involved in this at all. I don’t know why you’re asking me questions, so why don’t you just leave me alone?” Johnson snapped, when pressed by reporters in June.
Johnson’s latest attempt to distance himself from Trump and his allies’ fake electors scheme comes as he trails in the polls against Democratic rival state Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, whom he will face in the Wisconsin Senate election in November. A poll from the Marquette University Law School released last week shows that Barnes has a 7-percentage-point lead in the Senate race, with Barnes supported by 51% and Johnson supported by 44%.
Frist (“for seconds”).
“And I condemn Donald Trump’s attempt to overthrow a valid and secure election.”
—Not Ron Johnson
He was in it for firsts, seconds, and thirds. He partook of the entire anti-democratic election denying buffet.
Apropos of nothing, RonJon sure has a dark tan for a cheesehead. Like maybe he lives on the golf course or something. Instead of senatoring. Who else do we know that spent a record amount of time on the links, more than any serving president? (not that tfg ever “served” anyone but himself…)
RonJon and the Republican Party in general have learned that they can turn on a dime, change positions without explanation, deny what they’re on videotape as having said or done, and the feckless Base (a good word; check out its other meanings) will never even notice.
Somebody ask Johnson why this person, who had this information, didn’t go directly to Pence.
And if this person couldn’t get to Pence, why did they think Johnson could do it?