Sen. Ron Johnson and NBC News presenter Chuck Todd got into a fiery discussion Sunday over the Republicans’ attempt to challenge the election college certification at a joint session of Congress this week.
Johnson, one of at least 12 GOP senators who will object to the certification on Wednesday, disputed the claim that they are trying to reverse the vote that gave President-elect Joe Biden 306 electoral votes to President Trump232.
“We are not acting to thwart the democratic process – we are acting to protect it,” Johnson said.
“The fact is, we have an unsustainable state of affairs in this country, where tens of millions of people don’t see these election results as legitimate,” said the Wisconsin Republican on “Meet the Press.”
In a statement Saturday, Johnson and his fellow Republican, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and four incoming senators, that the election “contained unprecedented allegations of voter fraud” and called on Congress to appoint a committee to conduct a 10-day audit.
“As long as someone objects to this and we’re going to vote, let’s propose a solution in terms of transparency, research, with a committee,” Johnson said.
But Todd noted that the controversy is a result of the president and his Republican allies repeatedly claiming voter fraud even as courts have dismissed dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump’s legal team and the GOP lawmakers.
‘You claimed widespread fraud, you have not provided concrete evidence of widespread fraud, but you are demanding an investigation on the basis of allegations of widespread fraud. So essentially you are the arsonist here. President Trump is the arsonist here, ”Todd told Johnson.
“Because you didn’t have the guts to tell the truth that this election was fair!” he continued.
But Johnson fired back to say that Todd was the “arsonist” because in January 2017 the mainstream media “dropped all semblance of impartiality and actually took sides in the election.”
Johnson said the media poured fuel on the fire when they ignored investigations into Hunter Biden’s business transactions in China and Ukraine.
“Senator, okay, I’ve had enough,” Todd said.
“I’ve had enough of this too,” Johnson said, further saying that the media was biased against Trump.
Todd told Johnson that he and his colleagues “should not make these unproven allegations” and asked who won Wisconsin.
Vice President Biden has won with 20,000 votes. But there are also problems in Wisconsin, ”said Johnson, questioning the voting systems used to count votes in the state.
During a back-and-forth report in which both interrupted each other, Todd asked why he didn’t hold hearings about the “9/11 observers.” Plenty of people thought 9/11 was an inside job. “
“What you’re actually saying is that if there are enough people who believe a conspiracy theory… what about the moon landing? Are you going to hold hearings about that?
“There are some issues that need to be explored and explored,” Johnson said of the 2020 election.
Todd thanked Johnson for his performance at the end of the interview because “only two of your colleagues had the guts to say yes to this conspiracy theory you’re working on this weekend.”