Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) claimed an aide had given him fake slates of electors to give to then Vice President Mike Pence, but new
texts show a Trump attorney coordinated with Johnson directly to pass the fake elector scheme to Pence.
After Johnson was implicated by the 1/6 committee hearing on Tuesday in the fake elector scheme as a part of a larger scheme to defraud the United States of America, he put out some furious denials. The Wisconsin Republican blamed his staff after the 1/6 Committee implicated him in the fake elector scheme.
“In Johnson’s version, he was totally in the dark, while his staff was so well informed about the fake elector plot that they were able to talk to Pence’s staff in a knowledgeable manner.”
But newly revealed texts show a Trump judge coordinated with Johnson to pass documents falsely claiming Trump won Wisconsin to Pence on January 6th, 2021.
Conservative outlet Just the News reported that Johnson texted, “We have been informed the VP cannot accept any unsealed mail and I cannot hand it to him.”
So much for having nothing to do with the documents to defraud the U.S. and steal over 80 million people’s votes.
Johnson, never tiring of finding new people to throw under his Defraud America bus, next admitted his own involvement in coordinating with a Trump attorney, but blamed Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania. See, this time his story was that he didn’t know what was in the documents he was working so hard to get to Pence.
After initially claiming to be “basically unaware” of an effort by his staff to get fake presidential elector documents to Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday he coordinated with a Wisconsin attorney to pass along such information and alleged a Pennsylvania congressman brought slates of fake electors to his office — a claim that was immediately disputed.
Mike Kelley’s office denied this, “Senator Johnson’s statements about Representative Kelly are patently false.”
But texts show Johnson knew what was in the documents and directed Trump attorney Troupis to work with his staffer. The Wisconsin State Journal broke these texts down clearly:
“We need to get a document on the Wisconsin electors to you for the VP immediately,” former Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jim Troupis told Johnson at 11:36 a.m. Jan. 6, 2021, according to texts provided to conservative media outlet Just the News. “Is there a staff person I can talk to immediately. Thanks Jim T.”
The conservative outlet also reported that Kelly was in communication with Troupis, who then connected with Johnson. Troupis did not return a phone call or message about why he texted Johnson about the documents.
Six minutes later, screenshots of the text messages show, Johnson connected his chief of staff, Sean Riley, with Troupis in a text chain. Riley was newly serving in Johnson’s office and was previously a Trump White House adviser.
An hour after Johnson referred Troupis to Riley, Riley sought the assistance of a Pence aide in passing the document, and another falsely asserting Trump won Michigan, to the vice president but was rebuffed.
The conservative outlet alleges the documents came from Rep. Kelly’s office, which reached out to the Trump lawyer in an effort to reach Johnson.
At least 59 Republicans signed legal documents falsely claiming to be “duly elected” Trump electors, even though Trump lost their states to now President Joe Biden. This matters for legal reasons, which the fake electors from several states managed to avoid, as they were precisely not duly elected. Phillip Rotner made the argument in January that the fake Republican electors should be prosecuted, “They are not just deplorable political acts of subversion. They are criminal acts.”
Republicans in seven states worked to trash the legitimate election results: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “None of the certificates contains any indication that they list illegitimate slates of electors not chosen by those states’ voters,” American Oversight noted.
Pennsylvania and New Mexico managed to slip in legal cover by stating they were the electors if they courts found for the Trump campaign. The courts did not find for the Trump campaign because the Trump campaign was unable to provide even a hint of legitimate evidence of fraud.
Ron Johnson appears to be implicated in the fake elector scheme to defraud the U.S. and the 81 million voters whose most sacred freedom he worked to steal. The Republican Senator needs to be subpoenaed to testify under oath because he’s been telling a series of false stories.
Johnson is up for reelection this year.
Ms. Jones is the co-founder/ editor-in-chief of PoliticusUSA and a member of the White House press pool.
Sarah hosts Politicus News and co-hosts Politicus Radio. Her analysis has been featured on several national radio, television news programs and talk shows, and print outlets including Stateside with David Shuster, as well as The Washington Post, The Atlantic Wire, CNN, MSNBC, The Week, The Hollywood Reporter, and more.
Sarah is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.