Here's why Ron Johnson's denial about fake electoral plot in Washington is difficult to believe

WASHINGTON, DC: Senator Ron Johnson continues to maintain that he was not aware that he was attempting to provide former Vice President Mike Pence fake elector packets before the 2020 election being certified, even though texts made public this week indicate he was specifically informed the materials were about electors, as per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Even though the texts, which were made public for the first time in a batch of court documents, reveal that Jim Troupis, the attorney for the Trump campaign at the time, asked Johnson to deliver "a document on the Wisconsin electors" urgently just before Congress convened on January 6, 2021, to certify Joe Biden's election victory, Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday, June 6, that he had "no idea" the documents were fraudulent elector paperwork.

Why Johnson's denial about fake electoral plot is difficult to believe

The revelation that Josh Kaul, Wisconsin's attorney general, had brought criminal charges against three of former President Donald Trump's aides for their alleged participation in the fake elector scheme incited a reaction from Sen Johnson, stated MSNBC.

He posted on X, "Now Democrats are weaponizing Wisconsin’s judiciary. Apparently, conservative lawyers advising clients is illegal under Democrat tyranny. Democrats are turning America into a banana republic."

Notably, Johnson should be nervous about this since the criminal prosecution will probably draw attention back to his part in the effort to rig the 2020 presidential election as well as his contradictory and erratic statements.

Then VP Mike Pence resisted Johnson and his staff's attempt to present him with forged electoral certificates on January 6, 2021.

Johnson first said he was unaware of the scheme, but more recent documents, including text conversations, demonstrate that he and his staff were made aware of the plan to cast fictitious electoral votes.

One of the plan's creators, Kenneth Chesebro, was charged with criminal forgery by the Wisconsin Department of Justice on Tuesday, June 4. That lawyer has already entered a guilty plea in Georgia for his involvement in the unlawful effort to void the election that took place there.

Moreover, Attorney Jim Troupis, who acted as Trump's representative in Wisconsin during the 2020 race, and Trump advisor Mike Roman were also brought up by Wisconsin prosecutors. The fifth state to file criminal charges about the plot to thwart Trump's election is Wisconsin.

Given the number of communications — text conversations, emails, images, videos, and posts on social media — that were acquired as part of an earlier civil complaint that turned up more than 1,400 pages of papers about the conspiracy, the evidence supporting the Wisconsin allegations is particularly strong.

Civil lawsuit documents seem to weaken Johnson's story

This week's indictment states that Chesebro and Troupis arranged for the documents to be transported to Washington by a young GOP volunteer during a meeting at the Wisconsin Capitol on December 14, 2020, where Trump electors signed the fictitious certificates.

The charge complaint states that on January 5, the young assistant texted, "5 minutes until I make the drop", and added, "I feel like a drug dealer."

Later, she told '60 Minutes' that the lawyer took "a dramatic step back and looked at me and said, 'You might have just made history'," when she gave Chesebro the certificates.

Notably, this is where Johnson enters the picture. The House Jan 6 committee claims that Johnson put Troupis in contact with his chief of staff, Sean Riley, who at 12:37 pm on January 6 emailed Chris Hodgson, a staff member of Pence, stating, "Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS please advise."

To which Hodgson replied, "What is it?" and Riley stated to Hodgson that the archivist had not received the alternate slate of electors for MI and WI, therefore they hoped to provide them.

"Do not give them to him," Pence's assistant retorted via text to Riley. 

At first, Johnson denied knowing anything was going on, referring to the attempted transfer of the phony certificates as a 'staff-to-staff exchange'. However, he later acknowledged that his team had discussed "how Kelly's office could get us the electors because they had it" with Representative Mike Kelly.

He insisted that he "had no idea that there was an alternate slate of electors" despite this. Johnson stated, "He was asking me to deliver some documents," about Troupis.

He claimed he was unaware that the material Troupis had asked him to provide contained a fictitious list of Trump supporters from his state.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel questioned him about what he thought the paper could have been. Johnson answered, "I couldn't have cared less. The lawyer for the US president has instructed me to bring something to the vice president on that particular day."

However, information made public in March as a part of the civil litigation appeared to cast doubt on Johnson's claim. Troupis stated that he "spoke with Senator Johnson late last night about the Pence angle at the end" in an email sent to Chesebro on December 8, 2020. "Just wanted to take his temperature," wrote Troupis.