Johnson: Fencing, troops unneeded
Police warn U.S. Capitol could face attack soon
MADISON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson contended Friday that fencing and troops aren't needed at the U.S. Capitol and are in place to make Republicans appear threatening, even as police warn Congress could face another attack soon.
Speaking at a Republican Party event in suburban Milwaukee, the senator from Oshkosh argued Democrats want to create a police state after supporters of Donald Trump invaded the Capitol on
Jan. 6 to try to prevent Congress from confirming that Joe Biden won November's presidential election.
He made his comments a day after the acting U.S. Capitol Police chief told members of Congress that those involved in the Jan. 6 attack want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many lawmakers as possible during Biden's first congressional address.
Johnson didn't acknowledge that warning during his 20-minute speech at a dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Milwaukee County in Glendale. He talked to the crowd three days after using his time during a committee hearing Tuesday to read an account of the Jan. 6 attack in the conservative Federalist magazine that described the gathering as a mostly festive event that was disrupted by a small group of militants.
Johnson, who in recent weeks has questioned whether the attack qualified as an armed insurrection, told the crowd Friday that Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had criticized his version of events “because it didn't fit in the narrative that they want to make sure they freeze in place for all of America.”
“The reason we still have 7- or 8-foothigh fencing, not only around the Capitol, but I mean blocks around the Capitol, tipped with concertina wire, 5,000 National Guard troops, it's not because we need them,” he said, according to a recording of his speech obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“The reason we have that, the reason they're attacking me for entering an eyewitness account into the record, for saying, just questioning — it didn't look quite like my version of an armed insurrection — is because the narrative of the media and the narrative of the Democrats that they are just pushing and they are dedicated to maintaining is that 74 million Americans that voted for Donald Trump are suspected domestic terrorists or potential armed insurrectionists and they need to use a police state — (attorney general nominee) Merrick Garland, Department of Justice, the FBI, all their police power, maybe they'll have to pass a whole new Patriot Act, not to defend America against Islamic terrorists but defend America against us.”
Winning applause from the crowd,
he added, “And what’s disappointing to me is among Republicans I’m a pretty lone voice in terms of pushing back on that narrative.”
Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat from rural Dane County, said Johnson has latched onto conspiracy theories that don’t befit a senator. He said his notion that Democrats want to pass a new Patriot Act — the measure that increased policing powers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — takes Johnson’s recent claims to “a whole new level of crazy.”
“I will agree with him he is a lone voice in the Republican Party, spouting things that are usually best saved for the dark web and fringe online talk programs,” Pocan said Saturday.
Pocan said he and other Democrats want to see security levels at the Capitol relaxed as soon as it is safe.
“No one wants the fencing and the Guard to stay,” he said. “It isn’t what our country is about, but neither was Jan. 6.”
Democrats weren’t the only ones to criticize Johnson’s remarks at the recent hearing.
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said the material Johnson quoted was “entirely counter to what I know to be true from law enforcement.” Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois called Johnson’s comments disgraceful and dangerous, saying he was spreading disinformation.
But some other Republicans are hitting on the same themes as Johnson.
For instance, Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from northern Wisconsin, posted a video on Twitter on Friday calling for the fence to be taken down and the troops sent home.
In his Friday speech at the Republican Party event, Johnson, without citing evidence, claimed there were “anomalies” in the election that he labeled “bizarre.” In the weeks after the election, judges around the country threw out five dozen lawsuits challenging Biden’s victory.
Despite questioning how the election was conducted, Johnson acknowledged in his speech that Biden had won — and had done so because Democrats worked harder than Republicans.
“We lost Wisconsin because the Democrats outworked us on low-propensity voters. They’re relentless,” he said. “Send out absentee ballots, they make sure every last one of those absentee ballots is voted on. We have to be as relentless.”
He said he felt good about what would happen in 2022, when Republicans hope to take control of the Senate, House or both. Johnson’s term ends in 2022, but he hasn’t said if he will run for a third time.
Friday’s event also featured Jim Troupis, a Wisconsin attorney who led Trump’s legal challenge to Wisconsin’s results, and Kevin Nicholson, a former U.S. Senate candidate who is considering a run for statewide office in 2022.
Few wore masks despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to a photo posted on Twitter by Nicholson’s group No Better Friend Corp.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.