WASHINGTON — Democrats are slamming Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. for spotlighting, what they’re calling, election disinformation. On Wednesday, Sen. Johnson held a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing to discuss “election irregularities," where tensions were highlighted.
Many representatives don't seem interested in hearing the other out.
“[Democrats] are the ones who for four years did not accept the results of the 2016 election,” said Sen. Johnson. “They lied about the Russian collusion hoax— people like Adam Schiff. They lied about me and [Sen. Chuck Grassley]; they impeached the president. And now, we can’t take the time in the process, to take a look at irregularities that have not been answered? And we’re the ones creating divisions in this country?”
Sen. Johnson told Spectrum News after the hearing, that he believes the attacks on his intentions are simply partisan games.
Ranking member Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. slammed Johnson for dragging out President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud.
“We have known for weeks that there was no widespread voter fraud, a fact that President Trump’s own Department of Justice has confirmed,” said Sen. Peters. “There was no election interference and the election wasn’t rigged.”
Democrats accused Johnson of inviting several Trump allies to the hearing to cast further doubt on the 2020 election. “This is terrible, what you’re doing to this committee,” said Sen. Peters during the hearing.
“It is what you have done to this committee: Falsely accusing the chairman of spreading disinformation. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth and you’re spouting it again which is why I had to respond,” responded Sen. Johnson during the hearing.
Conflicting testimony from the president’s legal team and other officials came to light amid the partisan-tension.
One of those to speak was former DHS cybersecurity director, Chris Krebs. The president fired him last month after Krebs said there was no evidence of election fraud. He continues to stand by that claim.
"While elections are sometimes messy this was a secure election, of that I have no doubt,” said Krebs.
Running parallel to the back-and-forth among the senators, a different story emerged from another ex-official.
“The election of 2020, with its unprecedented feature of the use of mail-in ballots, has given rise to a number of questions that need to be answered,” said Ken Starr, former solicitor general.