New documents show Ron Johnson's office was told Jan. 6 documents were about fake electors
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Documents released this week as part of a lawsuit settlement reveal new communications indicating Sen. Ron Johnson and his top aide were told papers sent to his office on Jan. 6 had to do with Wisconsin's presidential electors.
For years, Johnson has downplayed his knowledge about the effort to deliver fake documents to then-Vice President Mike Pence pledging electoral votes for Donald Trump from seven states, including Wisconsin.
The newly released records include communications from Jim Troupis, who was Trump's lawyer in Wisconsin during the 2020 recount and subsequent effort to throw out more than 200,000 absentee votes from Milwaukee and Dane counties.
Previous document dumps, including those from the House Jan. 6 committee, indicated Johnson had pushed for the state Legislature to get involved and pick the state's electors. Those records also indicated Johnson connected Troupis to his staff.
This week's records release shows a text from Troupis directly to Johnson on the morning of January 6.
"We need to get a document on the Wisconsin electors to you for the VP immediately," Troupis texted Johnson.
A newly revealed text message from Jim Troupis to Sen. Ron Johnson shows Troupis indicated a package sent to Johnson's office related to Wisconsin's 2020 presidential electors.
Six minutes later, Johnson initiated a group text with Troupis and his chief of staff, Sean Riley.
"Jim Troupis, meet Sean Reilly [sic]," Johnson wrote.
About one hour after that, Johnson notified Troupis, "We have been informed the VP cannot accept any unsealed mail and I cannot hand it to him."
"At a minimum, you could read it into the record," Troupis replied.
Johnson never responded to Troupis' suggestion.
While Troupis told Johnson the documents pertained to the state's presidential electors, Johnson has repeatedly said he didn't know what Troupis was trying to get to Pence.
"I didn't connect Jim. Jim Troupis called me up, asked if I could deliver something to the vice president," Johnson told CBS 58 in December. "That's all I knew. I had no idea."
In a text exchange with Mike Roman, a Trump campaign official who has since been charged in Georgia in connection to the electors plot, Troupis said he hadn't been too specific with Johnson.
"Ron will be expecting something," Troupis texted Roman. "I did not go into detail with him."
"I told Sean what is [sic] was," Roman replied.
Roman's assertion that he let Riley know about the documents' contents undercuts Johnson's past statements that his staff also didn't know what Troupis had sent.
"My chief of staff, again, he didn't know what we were being asked to deliver," Johnson told CBS 58 in December.
Here's the second part of the exchange. Johnson asked if I had a "real question."
— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) December 16, 2023
I asked if, knowing what he does now, he'd still connect Trump attorney Jim Troupis to his chief of staff on January 6. pic.twitter.com/oxcUU0iQwe
When asked about the communications Wednesday, Johnson's spokesperson, Kiersten Pels, said Johnson did not know Troupis was planning to send anything to the senator's office.
"As Sen. Johnson has reiterated, he had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors," Pels said. "And had no foreknowledge that anything was going to be delivered to our office."
The records, however, show Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump-aligned lawyer who orchestrated the multi-state elector scheme, told Troupis he'd discussed the electors plan with Johnson on December 7.
In a Dec. 8 email to Troupis, Chesebro wrote, "I spoke to Senator Johnson late last night about the Pence angle at the end. Just wanted to take his temperature."
The subject of the email chain was, "Privileged and confidential -- additional thoughts re electors voting on Dec. 14."
Johnson suggested edits to Troupis testimony
This week's documents also included an email Johnson sent from a private account to Troupis on December 13, 2020. It was in response to a file Troupis sent containing a draft of the testimony he planned to deliver three days later before the Senate's homeland security committee, which Johnson chairs.
"Would you mind if we suggested a few edits?" Johnson wrote to Troupis, who responded, "Please do."
Comparing Troupis' draft to the written testimony on file in the Congressional record, there appears to be minimal changes.
A section explaining Wisconsin's absentee ballot laws is moved up in the testimony while background information Troupis provided on closely contested statewide races in 2011 and 2016 did not make it into the official testimony.
Also removed were two references from Troupis alleging 220,000 votes, specifically, were cast illegally. However, Troupis did end up saying in the Dec. 16 hearing more than 200,000 votes were improper in Wisconsin, which Johnson's office then posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There is a lot more to the story of Wisconsin’s 2020 election and recount.
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) December 22, 2020
3 million people in our state voted properly.
But @JudgeTroupis testified that over 200,000 votes were not valid. pic.twitter.com/IBiiLiEY4s
"Sen. Johnson does not recall that specific exchange with Troupis," Pels told CBS 58 Wednesday. "It would not be unusual for them to have communicated prior to the hearing."
Pels added it is also common for Johnson to make suggestions to participants before a hearing or roundtable event he is chairing.
CBS 58 sent messages this week to the offices of Reps. Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Bryan Steil and Tom Tiffany, who chair different House committees. None of the Wisconsin House Republicans' offices responded to questions about whether it's a common practice for the congressmen to edit testimony someone will be delivering to their committees.
Staff counsel for the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics did not return a message left Wednesday.
Reid Ribble, who represented northeast Wisconsin in Congress between 2011 and 2017, said in an interview Wednesday that while he never chaired a committee, such edits are likely common.
"I would not be surprised that it happens more often than we think," Ribble said. "I'm always a little bit surprised when folks are surprised that a political organization, like Congress, that is run by political parties and politicians, acts in a political manner."
During the Dec.16 hearing, Troupis outlined the reasons he believed more than 200,000 absentee ballots should have been thrown out. He pointed to arguments about the legality of drop boxes, which were later ruled unconstitutional in 2022, as well as Wisconsin Elections Commission guidance that allowed absentee ballot applications to be placed on envelopes containing the ballots.
Troupis also questioned the legality of Madison's "Democracy in the Park" events in 2020, which were a pandemic-driven method of having people drop off absentee ballots to clerk's office staffers outside.
Ribble, a Republican who opposes Trump, said while he didn't mind Johnson editing Troupis' testimony, he felt the hearing shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"Because I don't think it accomplished anything," Ribble said. "There was virtually, at that late date, nothing to change."
Two days before Troupis' testimony, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against Trump in a 4-3 decision. Writing the majority opinion, Brian Hagedorn, who sided with the court's then-liberal minority, stated Troupis' challenges had come far too late.
"Our laws allow the challenge flag to be thrown regarding various aspects of election administration. The challenges raised by the Campaign in this case, however, come long after the last play or even the last game," Hagedorn wrote. "The Campaign is challenging the rulebook adopted before the season began."