Jan. 6 documents: Ron Johnson suggested lawmakers, not voters, choose presidential electors

 

MADISON Wis. (CBS 58) -- A week before Wisconsin electors had plans to meet to cast their ballots for Joe Biden, Andrew Hitt, the former chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, told the Jan. 6 committee Senator Ron Johnson suggested the state Legislature chose the 2020 presidential electors, not voters.

Hitt’s testimony includes text messages recently released by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hitt said on Dec. 7, 2020, Johnson called him while state party leaders, former President Donald Trump and his allies were working behind the scenes on a plan to sign documentation, claiming they were electors for Trump.

Hitt testified he held a meeting with county GOP chairs and resisted unfounded claims of a ballot dump in Milwaukee on election night, referring to the absentee ballots still being counted by election workers throughout the night.

Hitt testified after the meeting he received a call from Johnson.

"Ron (Johnson) called me afterwards," Hitt said. "I think he was a little surprised about...kind of how forceful I was and said, 'You know, we need to — we need to have our Legislature choose the electors.”

Hitt then detailed his conversation with Johnson in a text message with Mark Jefferson, the executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

“Ron called me and now is arguing for us to have the legislature choose the elections,” Hitt texted. “OMG.”

Jefferson replied, “What is he doing?”

Hitt: “There's a huge amount of pressure building on them to find a way around the electoral college.”

Jefferson responds, “How can he feel good about promoting that through. Does he believe we won here?”

When the committee asked about the texts, Hitt said he never was on board with the plan and told Johnson about a memo from nonpartisan attorneys for the Legislature that stated lawmakers have no authority in choosing electors.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), who also testified to the committee about his conversations with Trump, told reporters Johnson never asked him about electors.

“There were legislators and activists who wanted some of those things, but I can’t say it anymore than I already have – it’s unconstitutional. It can’t happen,” Vos said Tuesday.

In a statement, Johnson said he has no recollection of talking to Hitt and accused the Jan. 6 committee of releasing the texts to “selectively” and “deceptively” smear him.

“I have no recollection of the phone call referenced in the texts, and therefore do not know the context of any comment I might have made,” Johnson said in a statement. “My goal since the November 2020 elections has consistently been to restore confidence in our election system.”

Johnson added there was “a number of irregularities” during the 2020 election, referencing how courts ruled guidance issued by the bipartisan state Elections Commission was illegal.

Text messages also reveal how state party leaders and Rudy Giuliani wanted to keep meetings a secret when signing electors for Trump.

Giuliani said during a phone conference, “no press, no heads up.”

Hitt then texted Jefferson, “These guys are up to no good and it's gonna fail miserably.”

“This meeting is going to be wild,” Hitt told Jefferson when trying to figure out which room to hold a secret meeting in on Dec. 12, 2020.

Before the false Trump electors met, Hitt suggested the Capitol would be a good meeting place since it was during the Covid-19 pandemic when the Capitol was closed to the public. The strict guidelines led to some Republican Party electors having trouble entering the building, according to Hitt.

He said a staffer for Senator Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) let in some Republican Party electors.

The meeting was “really short,” Hitt said. “We just came in, did the vote, signed and then left.”

Afterwards, Hitt said he believed a former state Republican Party spokeswoman Alesha Guenther flew to Washington D.C. to deliver Wisconsin's fake electors.

Those documents were eventually delivered to Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, then transported to Johnson. A staffer for Johnson then tried to give the fake electors to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 when he was about to certify the election. His office rejected the documents.

Vos: Trump Implied Overturning Results

Last month, the Jan. 6 committee released testimony from Vos where he said he spoke to the former president 10 times on the phone after the 2020 election.

Vos said Trump never specifically asked him to overturn the election results but implied it during some of their conversations.

"I think he believed that potentially we could go back and do something about the 2020 election. He didn't say it again specifically. I only know from the media reports. But that was the implication, that if enough fraud was found, perhaps something different could happen," Vos said. "My general impression, if I recall correctly ... was the idea was we need to discover and find the fraud. I think he believed quite adamantly that fraud had occurred."

Vos added most of their conversations were about “politics, golf and things like that.” At times, Vos testified how Trump would ask about the 2020 election and told him “you now have all the evidence you need to fix what’s happening."