Johnson spars with ‘Meet the Press’ host

Sen. Ron Johnson Sunday’s interview with Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, revealed that media coverage regarding his proximity to the 2020 election denials was a “smear”.

“This has been a complete smear job against me,” Johnson (R-Wis.) said. Todd asked Johnson about a time after 2020’s election when Johnson allegedly considered sending a slate of Wisconsin electors instead to Mike Pence, then-Vice President.

Johnson said that he didn’t know what he was being asked. Johnson’s top aide attempted to arrange the handoff on Jan. 6, 2021The June report by the House Committee investigating Jan. 6, was published.

Chuck, you began this questioning falsely. You falsely accused me of getting those — and I never took possession. They were never mine. OK?” Johnson agreed.

Asked whether the FBI had interviewed him in relation to the Capitol riots, Johnson said Sunday, “There’s nothing to interview me about.” Rep. Mike Kelly (R.-Pa.), who was allegedly part of the scheme to deliver false voters, was accused of lying when he denied that he was.

Johnson’s purported role as a denier in the 2020 election was also addressed.

“You have dabbled with so much of that, do you think you could understand why someone would think you were willing to accept the scheme?” Johnson was asked by Todd.

Johnson responded that he “did not dabble in very much of this” — to which Todd responded, “‘Very much’ is doing a lot of work there.”

Johnson responded, saying: “What you should do is go back to my opening statement. This pretty much sums up what I believed about the 2020 election. The news media doesn’t do that. They make fun of me. They lie about me. They fabricate these things.”

Johnson appeared before a committee in December 2020 to suggest fraud in the 2020 election. He also suggested that attempts were made by multiple factions to influence the results including the press.

Johnson stated that part of the reason our politics are inflamed is because we don’t have impartial media. We don’t,” Johnson said.

Todd responded, “Look, you can get back on your partisan cable cocoon to talk about media bias all that you like.” “I can understand that it is part of your identity.”