Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is facing comments he made Thursday about Black Lives Matter and antifa that were considered “racist” and “unacceptable”.
Johnson, a Republican, told a Wisconsin radio show host that he was not concerned about his safety during the January 6 attack on the Capitol that killed five, but that he might have been if the protesters were related brought with those groups.
Johnson said he “never really felt threatened” because the protesters were largely “people who love this country, who really respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law.”
But Johnson told radio host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo, “If the tables had turned and President Donald Trump had won the election and that were thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I would have been concerned.”
More than 300 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack and investigations are ongoing. Protesters breaking into the Capitol on Jan. 6 were injured by dozens of Capitol Police officers, who were met by an often violent and armed crowd attempting to enter the Capitol. Prior to the riot, pipe bombs were placed on the RNC and DNC headquarters. The breach required members of the House and Senate, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence, to be evacuated from their respective chambers, and prompted the House of Representatives to file an article of impeachment against Trump, which was later cleared by the Senate.
The Capitol’s breakthrough stemmed from a “Save America” rally in which Trump encouraged supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress gathered to certify Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
Johnson’s comments sparked backlash from Democratic lawmakers and groups.
The American Bridge 21st Century Democratic group has released a statement calling on Johnson to resign.
“Senator Johnson’s comments are racist and unacceptable. There is nothing patriotic about storming the Capitol to try to reverse an election and murder elected officials,” the statement read. “Apparently for Ron Johnson, simply being black is a bigger offense than launching a violent uprising. Ron Johnson is embarrassing the United States Senate and the state of Wisconsin. He must resign immediately.”
Rep. Ted Lieu, a manager in Trump’s second impeachment trial tweeted to the senator: “I watched many of the videos and statements we submitted during the impeachment trial. The mob killed a police officer and injured 140 other officers. They would have hurt you if they got you. That’s why. hidden senators that day. Remember? “
No one has been charged in connection with the death of Officer Brian Sicknick. His cause of death remains unknown.
Johnson, in response to a request for comment from ABC News, quoted data from last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests.
“Of the 7,750 protests related to BLM and Antifa last summer, 570 turned into violent riots that killed 25 people and caused $ 1 to $ 2 billion in property damage,” Johnson said. “That’s why I would have been more concerned.”
Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for additional information about the source of the data cited by the senator, but some of the information Johnson refers to appears to have been taken from an investigation conducted by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a data collection, analysis and crisis marting project cited by several major universities.
The study looked at 7,750 Black Lives Matter movement events in the context of 10,600 protests during the summer months and found that of all those protests, 570 “involved protesters guilty of violence.”
“In more than 93% of all demonstrations related to the movement, protesters have not participated in violence or destructive activities,” the study found.
Sam Jones, senior communications manager for ACLED, told ABC News that Johnson’s statement “does not accurately reflect our findings.”
“It was an overwhelmingly peaceful movement,” said Jones.
Even when Black Lives Matter events had violent consequences, Jones said the ACLED study could not explain who committed the violence.
“In many of these cases, police took a heavy-handed approach to break the protests, leading to clashes with protesters and escalating the event into violence,” Jones said. In addition, in some cases violent or destructive behavior may have broken out as a result of aggressive intervention by counter-protesters or non-state actors such as militias, and BLM-linked demonstrations have also been the target of dozens of car rams. the year. It would be correct and misleading to regard all of these events as ‘BLM riots’. ”
Johnson is scheduled for reelection in 2022. He has not yet publicly stated whether he intends to seek another term. If he does, his vulnerable seat will be a target for Democrats.
Johnson has made several comments in recent months that lend credibility to baseless conspiracy theories and downplay the Capitol attack.
During a Feb. 23 hearing on Capitol security, Johnson read a report by a conspiracy theorist who suggested the crowd was “jovial, friendly” and “serious.” Shortly after January 6, Johnson told Milwaukee ABC daughter WISN, “This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me. When you hear the word ‘armed’ don’t you think of firearms? Here are the questions I would have liked to see. to ask, “How many firearms were seized? How many shots were fired?” ”
Johnson was also among those who tried to help Trump by objecting to electoral ballot counting on Jan. 6 and led a senate investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
Pagliarulo tweeted in defense of Johnson on Saturday.
“The left is crazy about what @SenRonJohnson said in our interview yesterday. Some call him a racist and so do I,” he tweeted. “You can disagree with him if you want, but claiming racism is just lame.”
Alexander Mallin of ABC News contributed to this report.