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Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has repeatedly amplified former President Donald Trump's lies that the 2020 election was somehow stolen by Democrats engaging in widespread fraud. He organized a Senate hearing on so-called election irregularities, where he continued to promote the lie.
After this lie resulted in a mob of pro-Trump extremists mounting a deadly failed insurrection against the U.S. Capitol, Johnson defended the rioters.
Now, in a secretly recorded video from journalist Lauren Windsor, Johnson admits that the voting totals in Wisconsin check out, and said Trump's defeat was due to his failure to win enough Republican votes.
Watch below.
EXCLUSIVE: Sen Ron Johnson blames Trump for losing Wisconsin in 2020 and tells me \u201cthere\u2019s nothing obviously skewed about the results.\u201dpic.twitter.com/OeRkVkkVAN— Lauren Windsor (@Lauren Windsor) 1630433240
Johnson says:
"There's nothing obviously skewed about the results. There isn't."
He also emphasized:
"The only reason Trump lost Wisconsin is that 50 thousand Republican voters didn't vote for him. They voted for other Republican candidates. ... Collectively, Republicans got 1.661 million votes—51 thousand more votes than Trump got. Trump lost by 20 thousand. If all the Republicans voted for Trump the way they voted for assembly candidates, he would've won. And he didn't get 51 thousand votes that other Republicans got, and that's why he lost."
Nevertheless, Johnson still said he would support a partisan forensic audit of the state's results, as is currently happening in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Social media users soon began calling him out.
BREAKING: Ron Johnson blames Trump for losing Wisconsin.\n\nJohnson knows Democrats won fair & square\u2014but still pushes the Big Lie. Why? To lay the foundation to pass anti-democracy laws & steal future elections.\n\nFight back. Become a @WisDems monthly donor: https://wisdems.org/democracy\u00a0https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1432766974354931719\u00a0\u2026— Ben Wikler (@Ben Wikler) 1630436475
So what we\u2019re finding out here is that @SenRonJohnson has been lying all this time, inciting anger and violence and destabilizing this country, all for perceived political gain?\n\nYeah, sounds about right.https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1432766974354931719\u00a0\u2026— Tom Nelson (@Tom Nelson) 1630436559
Well lookee here. The truth comes out when Ron Johnson thinks nobody is looking.https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1432766974354931719\u00a0\u2026— Heather Bucha Whaley (@Heather Bucha Whaley) 1630438392
Holy crap\u2026 just goes to show that Ron Johnson is not dumb, he\u2019s just a liar. He accidentally tells the truth not knowing he is on camera. LOLhttps://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1432766974354931719\u00a0\u2026— Texas Voter \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Texas Voter \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1630435364
This is the first true thing that Wisconsin Sen Ron Johnson has uttered in a long time. He says the reason TFG lost the state was because less R\u2019s voted for him.\n\nThis should go w/o saying, but is mind blowing from those living in an alternative reality.pic.twitter.com/YyLRPhlE0C— Marco (@Marco) 1630437340
Ron Johnson plays an ignorant buffoon on TV quite often, but behind-the-scenes, he doesn't act like this at all. He knows Trump lost fair and square, and in this video, he admits it:pic.twitter.com/P6jJg1VoBx— Matthew Sheffield (@Matthew Sheffield) 1630438604
Others praised Windsor for coaxing the truth out of him.
Lauren Windsor has a superpower for getting Republicans to expose themselves.https://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1432766974354931719\u00a0\u2026— Ahmed Baba (@Ahmed Baba) 1630436338
Trump is gonna blow a few gaskets here, well done Lauren Windsorhttps://twitter.com/lawindsor/status/1432766974354931719\u00a0\u2026— Lemi01 (@Lemi01) 1630435154
It's unclear if Johnson's comments will see Trump supporters discard him to the "RINO" pile.