'There was nothing racial in my comments': Sen. Johnson defends saying he did not fear MAGA Capitol mob but would have been 'concerned' if BLM or ANTIFA stormed the building
Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin denied on Monday that he made racist comments last week when he said he wasn't concerned about pro-Donald Trump insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol in January - but would have been worried if they were Black Lives Matters protesters.
The comments drew a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and others who said Johnson was making racist statements.
But Johnson on Monday told Fox News that his remarks had been 'blown out of proportion' and denied there was racism involved.
'I wasn't talking about the people that actually stormed the Capitol and assaulted police officers,' Johnson told Maria Bartiromo, when asked about the 'woke mob' that was criticizing the senator.
Ron Johnson appeared on Fox News on Monday and denied his comments were racist
Johnson, 65, said he was not being racist because white people form part of BLM
'I condemned that. As I condemn, quite honestly, anybody that rioted in the summer leftist activists sparked riots as well.'
Johnson said that he merely meant that most Trump supporters were peaceful.
'I was just talking about the vast majority of people that I know that are Trump supporters that love law enforcement, support law enforcement, would never even think of rioting or breaking the law,' he continued.
'And that's the vast majority of people that came here to Washington, DC.'
The 65-year-old said 'it's completely been blown out of proportion' and told Bartiromo: 'There's nothing racial in my comments whatsoever. The left is happy to use the race card whenever they can. This is about riots and rioters and leftist activists and anarchists.'
In another interview, earlier on Monday, Johnson had insisted: 'there's no racism involved.'
He said: 'It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with riots.
'I completely did not anticipate that anybody could interpret what I said as racist. It's not.'
Critics of Sen. Ron Johnson are calling him racist after he said he wasn't worried about the supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the Capitol in January, but might have been concerned if they had been Black Lives Matter protesters
Supporters of Donald Trump clashed with riot police on January 6, leaving five people dead
Black Lives Matter demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in June 6, 2020, just days after a white police officer killed Minneapolis black man, George Floyd
The furor was sparked by an interview on Thursday with syndicated radio host Joe Pagliarulo.
Johnson said of those who stormed the Capitol on January 6 to try to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory: 'I knew those were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn't concerned.'
He said he knew his opinions were going to be provocative.
'Now, had the tables been turned, and Joe - this is going to get me in trouble - had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, I might have been a little concerned,' Johnson said, referring to far-left-leaning protesters known as anti-fascists who resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations and other events.
Johnson said Monday on the Dan O'Donnell show that because many of the Black Lives Matters protesters were white, his comments were not racist.
'Remember those leftist activists, those protesters, that some of them turned into riots, a lot of them are white,' Johnson said.
'So there's no racism involved in this at all.'
Johnson said liberals want to push a narrative that everyone who voted for Trump is an insurrectionist or domestic terrorist.
But he said the summer protests over racial justice resulted in more damage and people killed than the insurrection at the Capitol, which left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, and injured 140 other officers.
More than 300 Trump supporters have been charged in the storming of the building, including members of far-right extremist groups.
Johnson cited 25 deaths being tied to Black Lives Matter protests.
Of the 25 people killed, nine were Black Lives Matter demonstrators and two were conservatives killed after pro-Trump rallies, according to data from the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
The group determined in September that more than 90 per cent of the summer protests were peaceful.
'I'm not deterred by this,' Johnson said on Monday of the reaction to his statements.
'I think people need to understand that. This just, if anything, fires me up more.'
Among those who said Johnson's comments were racist was Democratic state Sen. LaTonya Johnson, who is black and not related to the senator, and Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson and Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin called Johnson's comment an example of systemic racism.
Johnson has not yet said whether he will seek a third term in 2022.
