Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has been widely panned for his remarks during a radio interview comparing the threat posed to him and others during the January 6 Capitol Hill riots and the violence that took place last year in the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.
During an appearance on FNC’s “Fox News Primetime” on Monday, Johnson told host Maria Bartiromo he had condemned the Capitol Hill protests and was a victim of the left’s use of the “race card” in trying to push back against what he called a “false narrative” about the civil unrest that has taken place over the past year.
“Well, first of all, I condemned, and I wasn’t talking about the people who actually stormed the capitol and assaulted police officers,” he said. “I condemned that as I condemn, quite honestly, anybody that rioted in the summer leftist activists sparked riots as well. But I was just talking about the vast majority of people that I know that are Trump supporters that love law enforcement. Support law enforcement would never even think of rioting or breaking the law. That’s the vast majority of people that came here in Washington, DC. Sure to protest legally. To say try to put pressure on people like me to vote the right way. But not to storm the Capitol, not to riot.”
“And so, again, it’s completely been blown out of proportion,” Johnson continued. “There was nothing racial in my comments whatsoever. The left is happy to use the race card whenever they can. This is about riots and rioters and leftist activists and anarchists that, you know, rioted 570 different cities caused about $1.2 billion worth of damage. About 25 people lost their lives. Seven hundred law enforcement officers were assaulted and injured during those riots, but the left wants to forget about those. Apparently, those were righteous riots. I’m trying to push back on their false narrative, and they are attacking me for it.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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