“One of the reasons I’m being attacked is because I very honestly said I didn’t feel threatened on January 6. I didn’t,” Johnson said. “There was much more violence on the House side. There was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber.”
Security cameras and videos from witnesses showed insurrectionists broke windows on the Senate side of the Capitol and stormed through the halls near the Senate chamber shortly after. One video showed Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman confronting protesters just outside the Senate chamber and leading them away from the room while senators were sheltering in place inside.
On Saturday, Johnson reiterated those comments and attempted to deflect criticisms regarding the racism in his statements, citing unverified statistics on the nationwide racial justice protests in the summer of 2020.
“Had the people that rioted in 570 different riots that burned I don’t know how many dozens of buildings in Kenosha, Wisconsin … if those people had shown up in Washington, DC, I said I might have been a little concerned,” Johnson said. “That has now been twisted, contorted into calling me a racist.”
Discussion about this post