Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Monday that he doesn’t think the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol was an “armed insurrection,” while pointing out that the Democrat’s rhetoric was hypocritical.
He underscored that the violence was perpetrated by “groups of agitators,” not the tens of thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“The hundreds of thousands of people that attend those Trump rallies, those are the people that love this country. They never would have done what happened on Jan. 6,” Johnson said. “That is a group of people that love freedom. That is a group of people ... we need to unify and keep on our side.”
“When you hear the word ‘armed,’ don’t you think of firearms? Here’s the questions I would have liked to ask—how many firearms were confiscated? How many shots were fired? I’m only aware of one, and I’ll defend that law enforcement officer for taking that shot. It was a tragedy, but I think there was only one,” Johnson said.
“If that was a planned armed insurrection, man, you had really a bunch of idiots,” he added.
He said Trump and other Republicans received “attacks” and scrutiny for doing things that were previously done by Democrats.
“To my mind, while the house managers are making their case ... okay you’re accusing Donald Trump of all this stuff, but what about Hillary Clinton telling [President Joe] Biden ... never to concede the race, you know. How about all the folks that, you know, never condemned the [Black Lives Matter] and Antifa peaceful protest turned to riots that burned down dozens of buildings in Racine,” Johnson said, adding that some of these lawmakers were supportive of the “defund the police” movement.
“So you’re sitting in that trial, you’re listening to all this, and you understand, it’s just dripping with hypocrisy.”
The Wisconsin senator said that while he learned new details about the Jan. 6 incidents from the House’s case, there were still many unanswered questions from the day that Americans would like to know. He added that he has sent letters to the Sergeant at Arms of both the House and the Senate and has not received any responses.
