Ron Johnson Responds to Claim That He Privately Admitted Biden Win

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Senator Ron Johnson pushed back Wednesday against allegations that he has admitted privately that Joe Biden won the presidential election but refuses to do so publicly due to political concerns, saying his statements have always been consistent.

Mark Becker, former chairman for the Brown County Republican Party, wrote an op-ed published Wednesday in the The Bulwark claiming that Johnson admitted that Biden won during a private phone call last month, but said he would not say as much publicly because it would be “political suicide.”

“Senator Johnson knows that Joe Biden won a free and fair election,” Becker wrote. “He is refusing to admit it publicly and stoking conspiracies that undermine our democracy solely because it would be ‘political suicide’ to oppose Trump. I find this unconscionable.”

Becker said the “war that leaders of the GOP such as Senator Johnson are waging on the very foundations of our democracy” spurred his decision to publish details about his November 14 phone call with the Wisconsin Republican senator.

Johnson dismissed the op-ed’s accusations against him on Wednesday, saying the article “should be viewed as the political hit piece it is, and simply ignored.”

“I have been very consistent in both public and private statements that I believe there are way too many irregularities and suspect issues that need to be fully investigated and publicly vetted before a final result is determined and a peaceful transition of power takes place,” Johnson said in a statement emailed to National Review.

On Tuesday, shortly after Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has not found evidence of voter fraud widespread enough to change the outcome of this year’s presidential election, Johnson called on Barr to “show everybody” his evidence that no mass voter fraud occurred, saying there are “enough suspicions” and “irregularities” to warrant questions about the process.

Meanwhile, a growing group of GOP senators is calling on President Trump to concede the election as his legal team fails to produce evidence of widespread fraud and runs out of legal avenues to challenge the vote tallies.

Becker, who has been vocal in his opposition to Trump over the past four years, says he endorsed and campaigned for Johnson’s unsuccessful opponent, Democrat Russ Feingold, during their 2016 Senate race in Wisconsin.

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