Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) drew some criticism from an ally of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday for peddling baseless conspiracy theories about antifa instigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
Scott Jennings, a CNN political commentator who has also worked on McConnell’s Senate campaigns, told the network on Thursday that Johnson had put himself into a bad position heading into a 2022 Senate race that is a must-win for Republicans.
“I think as a political matter, in Wisconsin, Sen. Johnson has taken some positions and said some things that I think, if he runs again, are going to make it very difficult for him to get reelected up there,” Jennings said. “So I don’t know what the political future holds for this Senate race, but this is going to be one of those races in a 50/50 Senate that’s going to determine control and I don’t know if running a Senate race trying to revise what happened on January 6th is the best way forward.”
Jennings singled out Johnson’s insinuations about left-wing agitators framing Trump supporters as violent fanatics as being particularly troublesome.
“We’ve all watched television and seen the court filings and all seen the video [of the MAGA riots],” Jennings said. “We know who was at the Capitol and we should just accept it and try to prevent is from happening again.”
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