MSNBC host Joe Scarborough claimed Tuesday that Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is “not worthy to be a United States Senator” and that he “is lying to the people of Wisconsin” and America about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
On the broadcast of his show “Morning Joe,” Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski played two clips of Johnson in radio interviews discussing the attack on the Capitol and downplaying its severity, calling it “the most pitiful armed insurrection.” (RELATED: ‘You Let Them Crackers Storm Your Capitol’: MSNBC’s Ari Melber Invokes Rapper Jay-Z To Condemn Capitol Rioters)
“Just to remind people, police recovered a dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from seven people who were arrested over their involvement in the riot at the Capitol that left at least five people dead. Senator Johnson should read his own state’s paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,” Brzezinski said after playing the clips.
“Joe, he was calling it a pitiful armed insurrection and questioning whether it was an insurrection at all, and wondering what people were going to do with the plastic ties they were holding,” she continued.
Fourteen people are facing charges related to “bringing or using dangerous weapons” inside the Capitol building, according the the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Larry Rendall Brock Jr., the man seen carrying the plastic zip ties Brzezinski referenced, was allegedly looking to “take hostages,” according to prosecutors.
“Is that where they end up after this is all over? Pretending this did not happen, when we have the video? We have the video of police officers being beaten. Some within inches of their lives … We heard the chants. We saw the nooses. We heard the terrorists scream, ‘hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence,'” Scarborough added.
“We saw them destroying the Capitol and defacing it in every way. We’ve seen the three cops, the three law enforcement officers, the faces of those who died following the attacks, two so traumatized that American terrorists would storm the Capitol that they took their own lives,” he continued.
Scarborough was referencing the deaths of three police officers. One of the officers, Brian Sicknick, died due to injuries sustained while on duty during the riot. The other two officers died as a result of suicide in the days following the riot.
“This is a mob that just may have killed Ron Johnson or any member of the House or the Senate that they saw that day. So I just wonder, as there are Republicans feverishly trying to reframe the political party, Mika, I’m just wondering if Mitch McConnell’s vision of the Republican Party moving forward is Ron Johnson’s vision of the Republican Party,” Scarborough said.
“Because you can use Mitch McConnell’s own words against Ron Johnson and prove that Ron Johnson is lying to the people of Wisconsin. Ron Johnson is lying to the people of America. Ron Johnson is not worthy to be a United States senator,” he concluded.