“Even if those thousands of people who were marching to Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew that these were people who love this country, who truly respect law enforcement, would never do nothing to break the law, so I was not worried, “Johnson said during the radio show” The Joe Pags Show “. He was discussing his recent comments by minimizing the danger that day and said “he never really felt threatened”.
“Now, if the table had changed – Joe, that could get me in trouble – if the table had changed, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I could have been a little worried, “Johnson continued.
CNN contacted Johnson’s office for comment.
Some conservatives tried to trace a false equivalence between the events of January 6 and the disturbances that occurred during the summer following several police killings of black Americans. Although there were incidents of violence and property destruction last summer, the January Capitol riot resulted in five deaths, including one Capitol police officer, and more than 100 other police officers were injured.
The Justice Department is preparing some of the first offers of pleading guilty to people who were later indicted in the investigation, which was considered one of the “largest in American history”, with more than 400 possible defendants.
Johnson repeatedly made incendiary remarks that mischaracterized the disturbances. Last month, Johnson said he did not believe that what happened on Capitol Hill was an “armed uprising”, although court records indicate that supporters of then President Donald Trump brought dozens of weapons to Washington on the day of the uprising, according to the Department of Justice.
Later, in February, Johnson proposed the conspiracy theory that there were professional bullies within the Capitol crowd. The FBI said there was no evidence that Antifa or any other group of left-wing instigators was part of the January 6 crowd – least of all those who incited violence – and almost a dozen Trump supporters accused in connection with the insurrection said that these groups were not involved in the attack. Many of the prisoners identify with far-right groups such as the Oath Keepers, not with any far-left groups.