The Sconi

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has said that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “scathing” comments about former President Donald Trump should not be linked with the viewpoint of the majority of Republicans. 

“You got Leader McConnell, voting not guilty, not to convict, but then just providing a scathing speech on the floor of the Senate,” Johnson told radio host Jay Weber, The Epoch Times reported. “That does not reflect the majority of our conference...I didn’t particularly like it.”

Johnson added that though McConnell was expressing his views, he should have been cautious as a leader because what he says reflects on others. 

McConnell on Feb. 13 voted to acquit Trump but went on to rebuke him and blame him for the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

"No question about it,” McConnell said, The Epoch Times reported. “The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”

He went on to indicate that Trump was not immune to justice and could still be convicted. “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one," he added, as reported by The Epoch Times.

Trump was accused of inciting the mob by claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him. He also encouraged people to demonstrate on the day of the Capitol invasion. The Senate voted 57-43 to convict him, but the tally fell short of Constitutional requirements.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) indicated that the events of Jan. 6 should not be blamed on one individual. 

“What happened on 6 January was terrible for the country. But [Trump is] not singularly to blame,” Graham told Fox News, The Epoch Times reported. “Democrats have sat on the sidelines and watched the country being burned down for a year and a half and not said a damn word, and most Republicans are tired of the hypocrisy.”

Johnson said he sided with Graham's views on impeachment, disagreeing with Democrats. He said the trial was "full of hypocrisy."

“The group of people who have supported Trump, the hundreds of thousands of people that attend those Trump rallies, those are people that love this country. They never would have done what happened on January 6,” Johnson said according to The Epoch Times. “That’s a group of people we need to unify and keep on our side.”

Commenting on Republicans who voted for impeachment, he said, “They think this is an opportunity to purge our movement of any connection to Trump again. They’re just wrong. Because if you take a vote, it’s gonna be 90 percent plus the Trump supporters versus those Lincoln Project grifters,” as reported by The Epoch Times.

The Lincoln Project, a political action committee run by Republicans, endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president and fought to prevent a Trump re-election.

Johnson also condemned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for tainting the image of “74 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump” by calling them potential “domestic terrorists” and “insurrectionists.”