[ad_1]
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is facing backlash for comments he made Thursday on Black Lives Matter and Antifa that were deemed “racist” and “unacceptable.”
Johnson, a Republican, told a Wisconsin radio show host he was not concerned for his safety during the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol, which left five people dead, but that it could have been if the demonstrators had been linked to these groups.
Johnson said he “never really felt threatened” because the protesters were largely “people who love this country, who genuinely respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law “.
But Johnson told radio host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo, “If the tables had been turned and President Donald Trump had won the election and it was thousands of Black Lives Matter and anti-fa protesters, I would have been concerned. “
More than 300 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol and investigations are ongoing. Protesters who entered the Capitol on January 6 injured dozens of Capitol police, who were greeted by an often violent and armed crowd trying to enter the Capitol building. Homemade bombs were placed at the RNC and DNC headquarters before the riot. The breach forced members of the House and Senate, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence, to be evacuated from their respective chambers, and led the House of Representatives to file an article of impeachment against Trump, who was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.
The Capitol violation stems from a “Save America” rally in which Trump encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.
Johnson’s comments drew backlash from lawmakers and Democratic groups.
The American Bridge 21st Century Democratic group released a statement calling on Johnson to step down.
“Senator Johnson’s remarks are racist and unacceptable. There is nothing patriotic about storming Capitol Hill in an attempt to overturn an election and assassinate elected officials,” the statement said. “Apparently for Ron Johnson, just being black is a greater offense than launching a violent insurgency. Ron Johnson is a disgrace to the United States Senate and the state of Wisconsin. He must resign immediately.”
Representative Ted Lieu, Director of Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial tweeted to senator: “I have reviewed many videos and statements we submitted during the impeachment trial. The mob murdered one policeman and injured 140 other policemen. They would have hurt you if they had reached out. on you. That’s why the senators hid this. day. Remember? “
No one has been charged with the death of Officer Brian Sicknick. His cause of death remains unknown.
Johnson, in response to a request for comment from ABC News, cited data on the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer.
“Of last summer’s 7,750 protests associated with the BLM and Antifa, 570 turned into violent riots that killed 25 people and caused $ 1 billion to $ 2 billion in property damage,” Johnson said. “That’s why I would have been more worried.”
Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for further information on the source of the data cited by the senator, but some of the information Johnson refers to appears to be taken from a study conducted by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a data collection, analysis and crisis mapping project cited by several major universities.
The study examined 7,750 events of the Black Lives Matter movement in the context of 10,600 protests during the summer months and found that of all these protests, 570 “involve demonstrators engaging in violence.”
“In over 93% of all movement-related protests, protesters did not engage in violence or destructive activity,” the study found.
Sam Jones, senior communications director for ACLED, told ABC News Johnson’s statement was “not a true representation of our findings.”
“It was an extremely peaceful move,” Jones said.
Even when the events of Black Lives Matter had violent consequences, Jones said the ACLED study could not explain who committed the violence.
“In many of these cases, the police have taken a brutal approach to break up the protests, causing clashes with protesters and escalating the event into violence,” Jones said. “Additionally, in some cases, violent or destructive behavior may have erupted as a result of aggressive intervention by counter-protesters or non-state actors such as militias, and BLM-related protests have also been targeted. in dozens of car-ramming attacks It would be correct and misleading to label all of these events as BLM riots. “
Johnson is due for re-election in 2022. He has yet to publicly state whether he intends to run for another term. If he does, his vulnerable seat will be a target for Democrats.
Johnson has made several comments in recent months, giving credence to unfounded conspiracy theories and downplaying the attack on the Capitol.
At a Feb. 23 hearing devoted to Capitol Hill security, Johnson read a conspiracy theorist’s account suggesting the crowd was “jovial, friendly” and “serious.” Shortly after Jan. 6, Johnson told Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN, “It didn’t sound like an armed insurgency to me. When you hear the word ‘armed’, don’t you think of guns? the questions I would have liked to ask: “How many firearms have been confiscated? How many shots were fired? “”
Johnson was also among those who tried to help Trump by opposing the counting of the ballots on Jan.6 and leading a Senate inquiry into Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
Pagliarulo came to Johnson’s defense in a tweet on Saturday.
“The left is scared of what @SenRonJohnson said in our interview yesterday. Some people call him a racist and so am I.,” he tweeted. “You can disagree with him if you want to, but pretend the racism is just weak.”
Alexander Mallin of ABC News contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link