Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said in an interview on Joe Pags’ show that he did not feel threatened during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, but if protesters or members of Black Lives Matter or Antifa had stormed into Congress instead of Trump. followers, I would have been “a little worried”.
Because it is important: Johnson, who promoted false claims of widespread voter fraud after the 2020 presidential election, has repeatedly tried to downplay the severity of the riot, which left five dead.
What are they saying “Even though those thousands of people marching on Capitol Hill were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people who love this country, who really respect the application. of the law, they would never do anything to break the law, so I didn’t worry, “Johnson said on the radio show Thursday.
- Now if the tables had been turned – Joe, this could get me in trouble – if the tables had been turned, and President Trump had won the election and it had been tens of thousands of protesters from Black Lives Matter and Antifa, it could have been a little worried. “
Yes, but: Since then, hundreds of people who marched on January 6 have been arrested and charged for their actions during the insurrection.
Johnson said The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel made the comment due to protests last summer that followed George Floyd’s death while in the custody of a Minneapolis police officer.
- “That’s why I would have been more concerned,” Johnson said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel, adding that 25 people were killed during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations over Floyd’s death.
- The nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project found that of the 25 people whose deaths were related to protests or political unrest last summer, nine were BLM protesters and two were conservatives killed after pro-Trump rallies.
The panorama: Johnson said last month that the riot “did not strike me as an armed insurrection,” even though the Justice Department is charging at least 14 people with bringing deadly weapons onto the Capitol grounds.
- Capitol Police also recovered a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition, although it is unknown how many firearms were taken to the Capitol, according to a report by NBC News.