Sen. Ron Johnson and NBC News host Chuck Todd had a heated exchange Sunday about the Republican effort to challenge Electoral College count certification during a joint session of Congress this week.
Johnson, one of at least 12 GOP senators who will oppose the certification Wednesday, answered claims that they are trying to undo the vote that gave 306 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden to President Trump 232.
“We are not acting to frustrate the democratic process, but to protect it,” Johnson said.
“The fact is that we have an unsustainable state of affairs in this country where we have tens of millions of people who don’t see this election result as legitimate,” the Wisconsin Republican told Meet the Press.
In a statement Saturday, Johnson and his fellow Republicans, including Mr. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and four incoming senators, said the election “presented unprecedented allegations of election fraud” and called on Congress to appoint a commission a 10-day audit.
“Whenever someone opposes this and we vote, we propose a solution in terms of transparency, investigation, with a commission,” Johnson said.
But Todd noted the controversy is the result of the president and his Republican allies repeatedly alleging fraud to voters, even when the courts have dismissed a series of lawsuits filed by Trump’s legal team and Republican Party lawmakers.
“He filed a complaint that there was widespread fraud, you could not provide specific evidence of this widespread fraud, but you are demanding an investigation based on allegations of widespread fraud. So you are essentially the arsonist here. President Trump is the arsonist here, ”Todd told Johnson.
“Because you didn’t feel like telling the truth that this election was fair!” it continued.
But Johnson responded and said Todd was the “arsonist” because the mainstream media in January 2017 “set aside any claim to be impartial and chose sides during the election.”
Johnson said the media poured fuel into the fire when they ignored the investigation into Hunter Biden’s business in China and Ukraine.
“Senator, it’s okay, I’ve had enough,” Todd said.
“I’ve had enough, too,” Johnson said, saying the media was biased against Trump.
Todd told Johnson that he and his colleagues “fail to make these accusations that have not been proven true” and asked him who won Wisconsin.
“Vice President Biden has won by 20,000 votes. But there are also problems in Wisconsin, ”Johnson said, continuing to question the voting systems used to count votes in the state.
During a round trip in which the two were interrupted, Todd asked him why he was not holding hearings on the “true 9/11 truths.” There are a lot of people who thought that 9/11 was an internal job. “
“What you’re basically saying is if there are enough people who think there’s a conspiracy theory … how about landing on the moon?” Want to hold hearings on this?
“There are some issues that need to be explored and investigated,” Johnson said of the 2020 election.
Todd, at the end of the interview, thanked Johnson for the appearance because “only two of your colleagues had the courage to say yes this weekend about this conspiracy theory you’re working on.”