GOP Rep. Kinzinger Condemns Ron Johnson for Trying to ‘Rewrite History’ on Capitol Riots: History Is ‘Not Going To Smile Well On Him’

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) criticized recent comments by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) about the Capitol rioters in an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on Monday.

Blitzer played the clip, in which Johnson defended the rioters as “people that love this country” and “truly respect law enforcement,” so he was not as concerned as he would have been if the “tables been turned” and former President Donald Trump had won and the protesters were from Antifa and Black Lives Matter.

“He’s drawing a lot of condemnation for these comments,” said Blitzer, adding that Johnson “says there’s nothing racial about those comments,” and asked for Kinzinger’s reaction.

“To me it seems like it certainly has a racial connotation,” Kinzinger replied, “but most importantly I think it shows it’s just tribalism. Everybody is going into their tribes and what the senator seems to be saying is, ‘You know, if it’s my tribe that was attacking the Capitol, I felt fine with it.'”

Kinzinger mentioned a Capitol police officer who had appeared on CNN to describe how he had been dragged down the steps and beaten with “Blue Lives Matter” flags.

“I condemned the riots of the summer,” Kinzinger continued. “I don’t understand the equivalency of it. You can both condemn the violence over the summer but then also condemn what happened on January 6th, and recognize there really is no comparison because January 6th was a threat to the institution of democracy.”

“I don’t know why people like Senator Johnson are insistent on going back and saying it really wasn’t that big of a deal. It’s a rewrite of history that frankly is not going to smile well on him in the history of time,” he concluded.

“And he says that those insurrectionists, they love this country,” replied Blitzer. “Well, they certainly didn’t show it on January 6th when they tried to destroy the U.S. Capitol.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.