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Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — The former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said Republican Senator Ron Johnson just weeks before Joe Biden took office that Wisconsin’s presidential electorate would be controlled by Republicans, not voters. He said he spoke about letting the state legislature elect him. According to newly released documents from closed testimony to the House Jan. 6 Committee.
In a statement on Tuesday, Johnson said he had no recollection of conversations with Andrew Hitt, and that the committee investigating the 2021 Capitol riots had been accused of harassing him by selectively releasing his text messages. He accused him of trying to “slander.”
“I have no recollection of the phone calls mentioned in the text, so I don’t know the context of any comments I may have made,” Johnson said in a statement. The goal has always been to restore trust in the electoral system.”
Hitt, who stepped down as state leader in July 2021, testified before the Jan. 6 committee on Feb. 22. A transcript of his interview was released on Monday. Hitt did not respond to a message from the Associated Press that left for comment on Tuesday.
Hit provided the committee with a text message sent to Wisconsin Republican Executive Secretary Mark Jefferson on December 7, 2020. Trump led by about 21,000 votes in the state. At the same time, Republicans were discussing how to award state electors to Biden.
“I got a call from Ron shortly after and they are now debating getting the legislature to choose their electors. OMG,” said the hit text message to Jefferson.
“What is he doing?” Jefferson replied.
“There’s a lot of pressure on them to find ways around the Electoral College,” Hitt told Jefferson.
“But how can he feel good about promoting it?” said Jefferson. “Does he believe we won here?”
Jefferson declined to comment on Tuesday.
Hitt told the committee on January 6 that he opposed Congress awarding electoral votes and that he did not believe Republican lawmakers would do so, telling Johnson that Congressional lawyers would intervene and lawmakers would lose their voting rights. He said he said he didn’t have one. power to do it.
Hitt testified that he did not recall Johnson giving the legislature any reason why he wanted the electorate awarded, or why Johnson wanted him to do something about it. commented as a “general complaint”.
“He didn’t ask me to call anyone,” Hitt testified.
Hitt was one of ten Republicans who met in secret at the Wisconsin State Capitol on December 14, 2020. This is the same day Democrats met to cast the state electoral votes for Biden. Trump supporters hoped fake electoral votes in battleground states would be accepted to hand the election over to Trump.
Texts between Hitt and Jefferson indicated their concerns about the plan.
“So how can we cancel this ridiculous electoral college? I’m afraid it won’t,” Jefferson texted Hit about the Republican Party.
Hitt also testified that Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, wanted the Republican meeting to be private.
On January 4, 2021, when questioned by a committee member on January 6, Jefferson told Hit, “Funny Trump idiots want someone to send the original electoral papers to the Senate Speaker.” and sent a text message.
Johnson’s staff tried to get the fake electoral rolls delivered to then-Vice President Mike Pence, but Pence’s staff refused.
Johnson will meet privately with Republican Wisconsin legislative leaders on Nov. 10, 2021, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that state legislators, not Wisconsin’s bipartisan election commission, will take over running the federal election. said it should. Republican House Speaker Robin Voss, who was present at the meeting, said on Tuesday that Johnson didn’t bring up the possibility of having the legislature cast the electoral vote.
“There is no dispute that there was a lot of fraud in that election,” Johnson said in a statement Tuesday. He said the Election Commission had issued guidance that violated the law in connection with the success of a lawsuit filed by Republicans. He also mentioned six electoral bills that had
“I want to solve the problem. Democrats seem only interested in playing politics and facilitating cheating,” Johnson said.
The Commission on January 6 released an 814-page report last month after the panel interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held 10 public hearings and obtained more than a million pages of documents. Since then, we have published transcripts of the interviews. The committee asked the Justice Department to file criminal charges against Trump.
Johnson has repeatedly downplayed the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, but has also raised concerns about widespread voter fraud, despite lack of evidence to support it.
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