Busted: Ron Johnson caught faking a phone call when questioned by reporters
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) appears to have been caught pretending that he was taking a call as he attempted to avoid reporters' questions about the House Select Committee's hearings on the Capitol insurrection.
The latest viral clip reportedly began circulating on Tuesday, June 21. At the time, Johnson was seen leaving the Capitol building as reporters attempted to raise questions about the evidence that had been introduced at the latest hearing. According to Business Insider:
The evidence included text messages sent on January 6, 2021, by his chief of staff, Sean Riley, to an aide to then-Vice President Mike Pence, after the riot at the Capitol disrupted the process of certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
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The messages reportedly included remarks from Riley who told Pence's aide, Chris Hodgson, that he wanted to present the former vice president with a list of fake electors who had no reservations about disregarding President Joe Biden's election win to cast ballots for former President Donald Trump instead. But, unfortunately for Riley, Hodgson is said to have "dismissed the request."
During Johnson's interaction with NBC News' Frank Thorp, he claimed he was "busy with a call so couldn't take questions about his knowledge of the events."
\u201cSen. Ron Johnson so much didn't want to talk to reporters about his office trying to pass fake elector lists to the vice president's office that he tried to pretend he was on the phone.\u201d— Maddow Blog (@Maddow Blog) 1655863157
Here is a quick excerpt from Johnson and Thorp's exchange:
"How much did you know about what your chief-of-staff was doing with the alternate slates of the electors?" asked Thorp.
"I'm on the phone right now," replied Johnson.
"No, you're not. I can see your phone. I can see your screen," said Thorp.
Johnson then put his phone away to address the reporter. However, he dismissed the evidence describing it as a "non-story." The Republican lawmaker also claimed that he was unaware of the exchange between his and Pence's aides.
"I was basically, you know, unaware of it," he said.
