Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) had a raucous viewers laughing throughout a marketing campaign debate Thursday when he complained he had been “arrange” by the FBI.
Johnson was responding to an assault by his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, that the senator was as soon as warned by the FBI that the Kremlin was making an attempt to show him right into a “Russian asset.”
Johnson was knowledgeable at an FBI briefing in 2020 that he was the goal of Russian disinformation as a part of a marketing campaign to make him helpful to the Kremlin, the senator confirmed to The Washington Put up final yr.
Barnes warned in his face-off Thursday with Johnson, within the second of two televised debates in Milwaukee, “We can't belief Sen. Johnson to guard democracy overseas as a result of we will’t even belief Sen. Johnson to guard democracy right here at residence.”
Johnson fired again at Barnes’ “wild cost.” His declare that the “FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing after which leaked that to smear me” introduced laughter from the talk viewers.
Johnson accused the FBI of being tainted by corruption, which he mentioned he has been “making an attempt to uncover and expose” (some extent met with extra viewers laughter).
His accusation of a setup is one in every of a litany of untamed claims Johnson has made.
After the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, Johnson in a radio interview defended the attackers as “peaceable,” calling them “those that love this nation, that really respect legislation enforcement, [who] would by no means do something to interrupt the legislation.” He mentioned he would have been “involved,” nonetheless, had the rioters been Black Lives Matter protesters as an alternative of a mob incited by then-President Donald Trump.
He additionally claimed just lately that he was concerned in making an attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential vote for less than “seconds” final yr and actually had no clear concept what was occurring. He mentioned he tried to submit an inventory of pretend electors to then-Vice President Mike Pence to disclaim Joe Biden his presidential victory. However Pence’s chief of employees refused to simply accept it.
In a Fox Enterprise Information interview final month, Johnson mentioned he “condoned” white supremacy, then shortly modified the phrase to “condemned” in what one critic blasted because the “all-time Freudian slip.”
Johnson is extensively thought to be probably the most susceptible senator within the upcoming election, however he has just lately been inching forward in polls.
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