Senator in TV clash with NBC’s Todd
Snipe over vote challenge
Sen. Ron Johnson and NBC News host Chuck Todd got into a fiery exchange Sunday over a group of Republican senators’ plan to challenge certification of the Electoral College tally during a joint-session of Congress this week.
Johnson (Wis.), one of at least 12 GOP senators who will object to the certification Wednesday, disputed claims that they are trying to undo the vote that gave Presidentelect Joe Biden 306 electoral votes to President Trump 232.
“We are not acting to thwart the democratic process, we are acting to protect it,” Johnson (top inset) said on “Meet the Press.”
“The fact of the matter is we have an unsustainable state of affairs in this country where we have tens of millions of people who do not view this election result as legitimate.”
In a statement Saturday, Johnson and his fellow Republicans called on Congress to appoint a commission to conduct a 10-day audit.
But Todd (lower inset) noted that the belief among many Republican voters that the election was stolen is the result of repeated and unfounded claims by Trump and his GOP allies of voter fraud, even as the courts have dismissed scores of lawsuits challenging election results.
“You made an allegation there was widespread fraud . . . [and] you’re demanding an investigation on the grounds that there are allegations of widespread fraud. So essentially you’re the arsonist here,” Todd told Johnson.
But Johnson shot back to say Todd was the “arsonist” because the mainstream media “dropped any pretense of being unbiased and actually chose sides during the election.”
Todd replied, “Senator, all right, I’ve had enough.”
Johnson retorted, “I’ve had enough of this, too.”
Todd told Johnson that he and his fellow GOPers “don’t get to make these allegations that haven’t been proven true,” and asked him who won Wisconsin.
“Vice President Biden has won by 20,000 votes. But there are also issues in Wisconsin,” Johnson said, continuing to question the voting systems used to tally the ballots in his state.