Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin faced charges of racism and demanded his resignation after telling a radio host that he did not feel threatened by the pro-Donald Trump crowd that stormed the Capitol in January. , but would have been worried if the invaders were antifa activists or Black Lives Matter.
“I never really felt threatened,” Johnson told Wisconsin radio host Jay Weber. He said the insurgents were mostly “people who love this country, who really respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law.”
“If the table had been turned around and President Donald Trump had won the election and there had been thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I would have been worried,” Johnson continued.
Five people died in the January 6 riot at the Capitol, including a police officer, and dozens were injured. Prosecutors have charged more than 300 people with crimes and nearly as many people had been arrested. Forty people have been arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers.
“It didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me,” Johnson told the radio host. “I mean‘ armed ’, when you feel‘ armed ’, don’t you think of firearms?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked Johnson to resign in an editorial. “If he is running for office again, Johnson must be opposed to both the primary and general elections by people who care enough about democracy to support and defend it,” the newspaper said. .
“No, Senator Ron Johnson,” he tweeted to Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Accountability and Ethics in Washington, “the truth is that the January 6 rioters broke the law, hurt and went they killed police officers and tried to overthrow the elected government of the United States.
“To say the opposite is true of this group of insurgents, but that you would have been worried if they had been Black Lives Matters protesters, is racist, dangerous, and unfit for a U.S. senator.”
Former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer agreed.
“Everyone in the country and in the world saw insurgents beating, injuring and killing law enforcement at the Capitol and watching them break the law over and over again as they smashed windows and soiled the citadel of democracy,” he said. tweet. “Everyone but Senator Ron Johnson. He has to go.”
A two-term senator, Johnson would run for re-election in 2022. He was one of Donald Trump’s most vocal advocates through the two former president’s impeachment trials and supported Trump’s efforts to overthrow the 2020 election.
Days before the Capitol invasion, Johnson broadcast lies about election fraud on national television and called for a “full investigation and investigation authority” to audit the election. Trump’s justice department found no evidence of election fraud and dozens of courts dismissed Trump lawyers ’allegations of fraud as unfounded.