FBI Obtained Ron Johnson’s Phone Records During Jan. 6 Investigation
Johnson was involved in attempt to get slate of false electors to then-VP Mike Pence.
Sen. Ron Johnson speaks at the RNC on Monday, July 15, 2024, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
New documents show Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s phone records were obtained by the FBI during a now-shuttered investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to former President Joe Biden.
Johnson, whose office was involved in attempting to get slates of false electors from Wisconsin and Michigan to former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, said the Biden-era surveillance of him and eight other Republicans “should shock every American.”
The records were sought as part of the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation, led by former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The FBI was reviewing phone use from Jan. 4-7, 2021, the days surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
A statement from Grassley said the “toll analysis” data doesn’t include the content of the call, but lists data about when a call was made, who it was made to, the duration and general location of the phone.
During a Tuesday appearance with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Johnson said the revelation “doesn’t surprise me.”
“It should shock, it should outrage every American,” Johnson said. “Honestly, by now, it should be obvious to every American that it’s not the Republicans that are a threat to our democracy. It’s President Obama, it’s President Biden, it’s the radical leftists that have served and support them.”
Johnson’s involvement in Trump effort to overturn 2020 loss has been questioned before
Johnson’s involvement in Trump’s attempt to stay in power following his 2020 loss to Biden has made headlines before.
Former Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Andrew Hitt told a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack that Johnson called him, suggesting in December 2020 that GOP-led state legislatures could override voters and pick presidential electors themselves. Hitt said he didn’t support the idea and told Johnson that nonpartisan attorneys in Wisconsin said the Legislature didn’t have the power to unilaterally choose the electors.
Other documents released in 2024 suggested Wisconsin was the genesis of that false electors plot. In a collection of emails and text messages released as part of a lawsuit settlement, Trump attorneys James Troupis and Kenneth Chesebro discussed how the strategy could work. They also showed that Chesebro made official-looking documents falsely claiming a slate of GOP electors was certified by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed 11 felony forgery charges in 2024 against Troupis, Chesebro and former Trump campaign manager Mike Roman. A preliminary hearing in the criminal cases is set for Dec. 15.
Johnson initially struggled to explain his involvement with the false elector scheme and his staff’s attempt to get the false electors to Pence. At first, Johnson said he’d only introduced Troupis to his staff via text messages. Later, he claimed the Jan. 6 committee was “selectively and deceptively” releasing text messages “to smear me” and didn’t recollect his phone call to Hitt.
Smith’s criminal probe into Trump’s attempt to stay in power after losing the 2020 election ended shortly after Trump won a second term as president in November 2024. Smith resigned from the Justice Department after submitting his investigative report and later said the evidence against Trump would have led to his conviction at trial if it wasn’t dropped.
FBI obtained US Sen. Ron Johnson’s phone records during Jan. 6 investigation was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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johnson is shocked that truth is coming out, no matter how incomplete, about his involvement in the Jan.6th illegal insurrection. i am shocked that he can still lie and seemingly get a way with it.
Who is a danger to this country and the American people? According to Ron Jon, the Republicans are the stalwarts and only they care for the American people. Let’s look at the evidence.
(1) The tariff chaos has devastated many family farmers including Wisconsin dairy and ginseng farmers. Congressional RRRs (radical reactionary republicans) have said or done anything to stabilize prices and markets. Maybe, Ron Jon does not consider family farmers as part of the American people.
(2) Ron Jon and his congressional RRR colleagues passed legislation that raises taxes on the poorest Americans; increased health insurance rates to the point that working families will not be able to afford it. The CBO projects that upwards of 13 million Americans will lose health insurance as a result of the “Big Beautiful Bill.” The economic policies (or lack thereof) of this administration and its RRR minions is causing rising prices on everything from eggs to homes (including the high cost of rents.)
(3) Ron Jon and his RRR colleagues also refuse to admit that climate change is real despite overwhelming evidence. As a result of this head in the sand approach, devastating hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods have rained destruction throughout the country. Recently in Wisconsin, a “Once in a thousand years,” storm destroyed hundreds of homes and killed many others. Ron Jon and his RRR colleagues want to turn back the clock on developing renewable energy and innovative and profitable ways of reusing trash particularly plastics. It’s European and Asian entrepreneurs that have developed some of the most innovative uses for plastics and other trash. In this booming field of renewable industries, the US is getting soundly beaten.
(4) The obscene tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% Ron Jon and his RRR colleagues voted for. How are they paying for it? By cutting funding for free breakfast and lunch for school children, eliminating essential personnel from the Dept of Agriculture–the professionals who see to the safety of our food supply–among thousands of other professionals who provide essential services for working Americans. BTW, the devastating floors in Texas was made worse because essential staff at NOAH were not there to set out the warning. RRRs are paying for tax breaks for the rich by cutting funding for school breakfast and lunch for school-aged children, SNAP that provides access to food for the poorest Americans; cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social security payments. But it isn’t just trashing our safety net, RRRs under Mitch McConnell’s leadership voted in favor of massive merges in every industry, destroying our free market system, the corner stone of American Capitalism. The result is, making it more difficult for small businesses and entrepreneurs to find their niche market. RRRs fail to understand that capitalism depends on a free marketplace open to anyone who wants to compete.
I could go on and on outlining Ron Jon’s failure to the people of Wisconsin–from school-age children to college students, working families, the elderly, and disabled. I will refrain myself. However, I must point out that nothing about Ron Jon’s policy positions or his time in the Senate do nothing his constituents. Ron Jon cares not one wit for the people in Wisconsin and the rest of the country.
What mkwagner said!!!!!!