Sen. Ron Johnson
Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonRon Johnson says the attack on the Capitol ‘did not look like an armed uprising’ Three years later, Parkland’s father shooting the victim calls for a significant school security reform Senate Party ready to turn the page on Trump MORE (R-Wis.) In a new interview he said he did not think the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill looked like “an armed uprising” and praised the old one President Trump
Donald TrumpMichigan Democrat Dingell on violent rhetoric: ‘I had men in front of my house with assault weapons’ McConnell does not rule out getting involved in the Republican primaries 75 percent of Republicans want Trump to play a prominent role in the Republican Party: poll MOREProsecutors in the Senate impeachment process after his acquittal.
Johnson made the comments to 1130 WISN radio talk show host Jay Weber on Monday after his vote on Saturday to absolve Trump. The comments he made on the episode were first reported by the Wisconsin State Journal.
“It will cause me problems, but I don’t care,” said Johnson. He argued that “agitator groups” are to blame for the Capitol riot and not “tens of thousands of Trump supporters”.
“The group of people who supported Trump, the hundreds of thousands of people who attended Trump’s rallies, these are the people who love this country,” Johnson told Weber. “They would never have done what happened on January 6. This is a group of people who love freedom; this is a group of people that we need to come together and keep on our side.”
Johnson, who did not say whether he would run for re-election in 2022, condemned the violence in the interview, but said that “it did not look like an armed uprising”.
He accused the House’s impeachment managers of editing the videos they presented as evidence in the Senate impeachment trial.
The videos, many of which had not been made public before the trial, provided new distressing details of the attack last month, including highlighting links between lawmakers and the crowd. On a security camera video, Sen. Mitt Romney
Willard (Mitt) Mitt Romney North Carolina Republican Party votes to censor Burr to vote on Trump’s sentencing Ron Johnson says attack on Capitol Hill ‘didn’t look like an armed uprising’ Petition for Romney’s censorship circulating among Utah Republicans MORE (R-Utah) only loses the crowd when Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman runs over to him and instructs him to run in the opposite direction.
Johnson said in the interview that the videos were “edited in a highly selective manner” and that the trial did not have due process. He also questioned whether the group was really an “armed” uprising.
“When you hear the word ‘armed’, don’t you think of firearms? Here are the questions I would like to ask – how many firearms have been confiscated? How many shots have been fired? I am only aware of one, and I will defend that one police officer for shooting, it was a tragedy, but I think there was only one, “said Johnson.” If that was a planned armed insurrection, man, you really had a bunch of idiots. “
Johnson, Trump’s staunch ally, argued that the defense “disemboweled” Democratic prosecutors and “blew up his case.” After voting to absolve Trump, Johnson clashed with Romney on the Senate floor about your vote to condemn.
Johnson seemed irritated with reporters on Saturday, who later questioned him about his conversation with Romney.
“These are private conversations. These are private conversations,” said Johnson.