GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson is admitting that Joe Biden will take the mantle as President of the United States in January. But that admission doesn’t mean Johnson likes that decision or the complicated issues that led to it.
“We have a legal process. I’m not that nuts about it oftentimes. I don’t like these decisions, I certainly didn’t like the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I completely disagree with it. But that is our process…Don’t necessarily like it, don’t actually agree. But part of the rule of law is accepting what the judges decide,” Johnson told WTAQ’s The Regular Joe Show on Thursday. “Trying to prove fraud in just a few days, a few weeks. There are time limits. The Electoral College meets mid-December, and people have to make decisions…There was a really good testimony. We learned an awful lot, we have a lot more to learn. The problem you have with enforcing fraud, or just investigating it after elections, you don’t have much time…I don’t like the result, I completely disagree with it. But that’s the problem in trying to prove this in time before people are certified and people take office.”
That lack of time, Johnson says, it a key sticking point when it comes to a thorough investigation. He has been a part of the investigation into Hunter Biden’s affiliation and alleged corruption with the Ukrainian company, Burisma, for several years. There still isn’t a final verdict in that matter. The Mueller Report also took the better part of two years before not finding sufficient evidence.
But for Johnson, that’s the catch. Looking at evidence is the important part.
“The fact of the matter is [that] so many court decisions never look at the evidence. They dismissed the case because of standing, the wrong person didn’t file the suit or didn’t file it in time,” Johnson said. “[Even] when we confirm our kind of judges that apply the law, not alter it, I don’t like a lot of their decisions because there is a lot of really bad law…But that’s our process. The Electoral College meets, they awarded Joe Biden 306 votes, and I just recognize the reality. I don’t like the reality. I did everything I could to make sure that would not be the reality.”
Even if the lawsuit had gone through in Wisconsin, Johnson is unsure if it would’ve make sense to actually conduct new counts.
“I realize there’s 220,000 ballots. 170,000 those are because an absentee ballot did not have an application, clear violation of state law, but we’ve been allowing for 10 years. I think that was part of the issue. It really wasn’t the voters fault…Are you really going to take 220,000 votes out of Milwaukee and Dane counties and then re-count?” Johnson said. “Recognizing the fact that there was certainly a violation of the law, lax enforcement if what you want to be nice about it, by the county clerks. But as the voter, you’re going in there, you think that ‘well I filled out my ballot, I did it legally.’ Would be fair to disenfranchise that voter?”
Legislators can still object to the results on Capitol Hill, but that would require a state-by-state analysis and vote. But even working through that tedious approach, Johnson isn’t sure it would be worth the effort.
“If I object and a House member objects, what we’re first objecting to is the electoral votes of one state. Then we go back to each chamber for two hours to debate and then we vote whether or not to accept or reject the electoral votes of one state,” Johnson explained. “If there are enough electoral votes rejected for Joe Biden that neither candidate reaches the 270 threshold, then you get the vote by the states where we would have the majority. But again, we will never get to that vote…Every member votes. In the House, you have a majority of Democrat House members. Can anybody think of any scenario where partisan Democrats would vote to reject the electoral votes of Joe Biden?”
Democratic House members objected during the acceptance of electoral votes in a few states for President Trump in 2016. Those objections were shot down due to the partisan make-up of Congress.
Meanwhile, Johnson says the renewed distrust towards election results is creating even bigger issues and fissures within the political sphere and society.
“This is an unsustainable state affairs for our nation to have such a large percentage of the American population not viewing an election as legitimate. It’s been that way for 4 years with Trump, and it’s going to be that way for quite some time,” Johnson said. “The only way we can start restoring confidence is we need to look at the evidence. The courts didn’t. It’s too late to change the results of this election because the process has moved forward.”
But as future election come down the pipe, Johnson hopes to address potential problems before they cause damage.
“Where there’s an explanation for irregularities, we’ll put them off to the side. And where there’s not, we need to do more investigation. That is what I am absolutely committed to do,” Johnson said.
You can check out Johnson’s full conversation with Regular Joe by clicking here.
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