Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Sunday sparred with journalist Chuck Todd over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, President Biden’s son Hunter Biden and media bias in a tense interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Todd questioned whether the GOP’s criticism of and probes into Hunter Biden’s business dealings might be hypocritical since the party was not similarly upset over the business dealings of former President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“Are you not concerned about that? And I say that because it seems to me if you’re concerned about what Hunter Biden did, you should be equally outraged about what Jared Kushner did,” Todd said.
Johnson insisted that he was not targeting individuals, but Todd countered that the Wisconsin senator was “targeting Hunter Biden multiple times on this show.”
“Chuck, you know, Chuck, you know, part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don’t invite me on to interview me. You invite me on to argue with me,” Johnson said. “Part of the reasons are our politics are inflamed, is we do not have an unbiased media. We don’t. It’s unfortunate.”
“Look, you can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it’s part of your identity,” Todd told Johnson.
The pair got into a terse back-and-forth as they interrupted each other throughout the remote interview, which Johnson called “example ‘A’ of what frustrates conservatives about the media.”
Todd then asked about efforts to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021, saying Johnson was “obviously contemplating” handing the then-vice president a slate of alternative electors.
Johnson repeatedly denied the claim, but Todd pressed, saying a Johnson staffer had been “dealing with it.”
“So, Chuck, let me explain. No, no, no, Chuck, I never was. I was contacted by the attorney of the president of the United States. He had something he wanted to deliver to the vice president. Could I arrange it? So, I contacted my chief of staff, who worked in the White House, to see if he could do it,” Johnson said.
“I had no idea of what they wanted to hand to the president or the vice president. Within an hour, we found out that the vice president wasn’t accepting anything. End of story. Nothing was delivered. I had no idea what I was being contacted to deliver and we never delivered it,” he said, adding that he had not been interviewed by the FBI over the matter.