U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is again accusing the media of twisting his words.
This time it’s because of media reports on a video clip. In it, the Oshkosh Republican said, “Everything you say may be true,” after the person he was speaking with suggested the effort to increase COVID-19 vaccines should be looked at “from a criminal point of view,” Dr. Anthony Fauci should be held “accountable” and the shots caused “vaccine-induced AIDS.”
Johnson’s office said the 90-second clip that circulated on social media was from a two-hour conversation and was selectively edited to distort his comments.
Johnson tweeted late Tuesday that he’s “never stated nor do I believe that the COVID vaccine causes HIV. Even as the media attempts to defame me, I will always fight for transparency and advocate for the vaccine injured.”
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, one of the Dems seeking to run against Johnson this fall, tweeted: “Every time Ron Johnson opens his mouth, he puts people’s lives in danger. We desperately need a U.S. Senator with a firmer grasp on reality — that’s why I got in this race.”
Johnson has made a series of controversial comments, often accusing the media of distorting his words.
Heartland Signal, a progressive media outlet based in Chicago, posted the clip from Johnson’s conversation with attorney Todd Callender, who has falsely claimed that everyone who received the COVID-19 vaccine “was given some form or level of AIDS.”
During the video on Rumble, a conservative version of YouTube, Callender made the false claim that medical professionals purposefully gave people AIDS by administering the vaccine with “criminal intent” and called for criminal prosecutions.
The senator interjected and said, “Let me challenge you there. That’s way down the road. You’ve got to do one step at a time. You’ve got to do one step at a time. Everything you say may be true, OK? But right now the public views the vaccines as largely safe and effective, that vaccine injuries are rare and mild. That is the narrative. That’s what the vast majority of the public accepts. So until we get a larger percentage of the population with their eyes open, to, ‘Whoa, these vaccine injuries are real. Why?’ You’ve got to go step by step. You can’t leap to, you know, crimes against humanity. You can’t leap to another Nuremberg trial.”
See the video here.
See Johnson’s tweet here.
