Johnson confronted by activist at airport
Senator was grilled on false elector paperwork
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson was escorted by police to an emergency stairwell in Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport late Friday morning after a self-described progressive political strategist confronted him about his effort to give former Vice President Mike Pence false elector paperwork ahead of the certification of the 2020 election.
Lauren Windsor, a liberal activist known for her hidden camera exposés targeting Republicans, began videotaping Johnson after he got off a plane from Washington, D.C.
She asked the Oshkosh Republican to respond to his statements from Thursday in which Johnson said he communicated with Wisconsin attorney Jim Troupis about delivering the false elector paperwork to Pence. Johnson also claimed the documents came from Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly — an allegation Kelly's office denied.
“First of all, we'll see what actually transpired,” Johnson responded. “Obviously, we believe it came from his office. I never spoke with the congressman. I never said I did.”
He added: “He's gotta find out with his staff who might've talked to my staff. That's all I have to say.”
Windsor referenced Johnson's chief of staff 's text messages to a Pence aide on Jan. 6, 2021, that indicated Johnson wanted to hand Pence slates of false electors from Wisconsin and Michigan moments before Congress met to certify Joe Biden's win.
Johnson previously said he was “basically unaware” of the exchange.
“So you're saying that your chief of staff normally acts in this way that they would not make you aware?” Windsor asked Johnson, who was surrounded by four officers after the pair exited the plane in Milwaukee.
“We believe he talked to somebody in Mike Kelly's office,” Johnson responded.
When Windsor tells Johnson he was “playing a role in the overturning of our election, Johnson responded, “I played a two-minute role,” before then saying: “I did not. Please go away.”
Windsor also told Johnson that Sean Riley, the senator's chief of staff, “clearly knew what was in that packet of documents.”
“These people are incredible, aren't they,” Johnson quipped to an officer.
“Mike Kelly was lying or you're lying,” Windsor said as the officers escorted Johnson through an emergency door — a scene witnessed by a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter.
Alexa Henning, Johnson's spokesperson, shortly after the events told the Journal Sentinel the senator “is always respectful to those who approach him with questions.”
“What is unfortunate is that Democrat leaders have encouraged this type of disrespectful encounter,” Henning said.
“Democrat leaders bear the responsibility to condemn this behavior before it turns violent.”
Thursday's airport interaction wasn't the first between Johnson and Windsor, executive producer of the liberal web-based program “The Undercurrent,” which features oftencovert videos of prominent Republicans.
Windsor in August 2021 posed as a conservative during a Republican event in Wauwatosa, videotaping Johnson saying “there's nothing obviously skewed about the results” of the 2020 election in Wisconsin.