A relatively junior House Republican at the time, Johnson was nevertheless the leading voice in support of a fateful position: that the GOP should rally around Donald Trump and object to counting electoral votes submitted by at least a handful of states won by Joe Biden.


“This is a very weighty decision. All of us have prayed for God’s discernment. I know I’ve prayed for each of you individually,” Johnson said at the meeting, according to a record of his comments obtained by POLITICO, before urging his fellow Republicans to join him in opposing the results.

A review of the chaotic weeks between Trump’s defeat at the polls on Nov. 3, 2020, and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack shows that Johnson led the way in shaping legal arguments that became gospel among GOP lawmakers who sought to derail Biden’s path to the White House — even after all but the most extreme options had elapsed.(snip)

Some of Johnson’s vocal opponents at the Jan. 5, 2021, closed-door meeting were Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who warned Johnson’s plan would lead to a constitutional and political catastrophe.

“Let us not turn the last firewall for liberty we have remaining on its head in a bit of populist rage for political expediency,” Roy said at the time, according to the record.

- Johnson is the cosponsor of at least three bills that would ban abortion nationwide

- He actually argued that if women just gave birth to more “able-bodied workers,” Republicans wouldn't have to try cutting Social Security and Medicare

- He's an election denier who was against certification of Electoral College votes in one or more states.

- He voted against the January 6th Commission. He thinks Jan. 6th was a "legitimate protest."

- He supports Putin with his opposition to supporting Ukraine

- He opposes same sex marriage

- Says climate change is a hoax