As Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson defends his role in the fake elector scheme to block Joe Biden’s electoral college victory and throw the election to Trump, we’re revisiting Johnson’s actions in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
Timeline—Ron Johnson and Jan. 6:
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Dec. 16, 2020 — Johnson holds a taxpayer-funded committee hearing focused on undermining trust in the 2020 election.
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Jan. 2, 2021 — Johnson announces he will vote against certification of the Electoral College results, baselessly claiming, a “large percentage of the population don’t view this election as legitimate.”
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Jan. 4, 2021 — Johnson attends a meeting led by conspiracy theorist and Trump ally Mike Lindell focused on strategies for delaying and preventing certification of Biden’s win.
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Jan. 4, 2021 — Johnson said he was coordinating with Trump campaign election lawyer Cleta Mitchell on her legal efforts to interfere with 2020 election results. (Mitchell has since been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 Committee.)
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Jan. 6, 2021 — Misrepresenting the facts, Johnson’s chief of staff tells Vice President Mike Pence’s team that Johnson wants to give Pence documents on Wisconsin and Michigan’s fake “electors.” Those “official-looking documents falsely affirm[ed] former President Donald Trump won Wisconsin and Michigan as Pence prepared to affirm Joe Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6, 2021,” and appear to have been part of a Trump campaign and RNC scheme to block certification of Biden’s victory and attempt to replace duly-elected Biden electors with sham Trump representatives — with the ultimate goal of overruling voters and throwing the election to Trump.
After the bombshell text messages revelation in yesterday’s Jan. 6 hearing, Johnson tried to get out of answering reporter questions by pretending to be on a fake phone call. And when that charade fell flat, Johnson notably did not deny his desire and intention to knowingly hand-deliver the fraudulent “elector” documents to Pence.
Johnson then sought to blame an unknown House office and intern — as if he’s in the routine habit of passing along to the Vice President of the United States any mysterious package that his office receives, without caring about its provenance.
But Johnson’s actions in the runup to Jan. 6, and his efforts to pressure Pence on the fake “electors” tells a different story. Taken together, Johnson’s actions show that he was deeply involved in and complicit in the Trump campaign scheme to overturn the election — and this Pence pressure campaign is just the latest shoe to drop.
Read the coverage:
Wisconsin State Journal: Aide: Ron Johnson wanted to hand Mike Pence documents falsely stating Donald Trump won Wisconsin
CNN: Texts between aides reveal role Sen. Ron Johnson played in pushing ‘fake’ Trump electors
Associated Press: Wisconsin’s Johnson under heat for fake elector revelation
Politico: Ron Johnson tried to hand fake elector info to Mike Pence on Jan. 6, panel reveals
