Photo: Alamy
Trump-endorsed Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., slammed the Jan. 6 committee, arguing Democrats “set this thing up to be a political exercise” to distract Americans from the “disastrous result of their policies.”
Talking with the Daily Wire, Johnson said on Tuesday that the highly partisan Jan. 6 committee hearings are a “partisan exercise” distracting Americans from record-high inflation, the ongoing border crisis, and soaring crime under the Biden administration.
“It’s obvious that the Democrats set this thing up to be a political exercise, obviously designed to distract the public from the major problems occurring because of their agenda, their ideology,” the senator told the outlet. “They can’t talk about the disastrous result of their policies, so this is really the only thing they can talk about.”
Johnson also questioned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about her unpreparedness for the Capitol riots.
“One question they’ll never ask, one witness they’ll never call, is Nancy Pelosi,” he added. “Why were we so unprepared? Where was the security manpower? Why wasn’t it visible? Why didn’t we prevent the breach? The breach never should have happened.”
President Donald Trump has also been critical of Pelosi, saying Jan. 6 would have never happened if Pelosi and the D.C. mayor had not rejected Trump’s suggestion of deploying National Guard troops to the Capitol.
Johnson’s criticism comes the same day the House panel accused the senator of engaging in a fake elector scheme after text messages between Johnson’s and Mike Pence’s staff were revealed, according to The Hill.
An aide for Johnson reportedly told an aide to former Vice President Mike Pence that the senator had an “alternate slate of electors” to give him. Pence’s aide replied not to give them to the vice president.
However, a Johnson spokeswoman denied the accusations saying that Johnson “had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office.”
“The senator had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office. This was a staff to staff exchange. His new Chief of Staff contacted the Vice President’s office,” spokeswoman Alexa Henning tweeted.
“The Vice President’s office said not to give it to him and we did not. There was no further action taken. End of story,” Henning added.
Johnson is not the only Trump ally targeted by the Democrat-led committee.
Former Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, was arrested by FBI officials earlier this month after failing to comply with the committee’s subpoenas for documents and testimony. Navarro pleaded not guilty to the two charges of criminal contempt of Congress, as previously reported.
