‘That’s a Lie’: Jim Sciutto Thoroughly Dismantles Ron Johnson’s Conspiracy Theories in Scathing Fact-Check

CNN’s Jim Sciutto issued an extensive fact-check on Thursday, debunking claims Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) made to the Senate on Tuesday regarding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Scuitto first played a clip showing Johnson reading a report by  J Michael Waller, which blames the insurrection on “agent provocateurs” and people who “obviously didn’t fit in” with the “jovial” Donald Trump supporters.

“I think these are the people that probably planned this,” Johnson also said.

Sciutto told his viewers that Johnson’s claims included three lies. He first went after Johnson’s claim that only a few rioters spoiled an “otherwise jovial event,” explaining that federal prosecutors have charged more than 255 people with crimes during the attack.

Sciutto noted that the crimes included, “threatening to harm lawmakers, entering a restricted building, and assaulting police officers,” before playing a clip showing a Capitol Police Officer under attack.

“Two,” Sciutto said, moving on to the next lie. “Johnson claims fake Trump protesters and provocateurs were responsible. In fact, the FBI says there is zero evidence that Antifa or any other group of leftist provocateurs as part of the January 6th crowd in a significant way. What investigators have documented are numerous members of far right groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.”

And lastly, Scuitto condemned Johnson for alleging that white supremacists were not involved in the Capitol attack, later playing a clip from those in charge of Capitol Security confirming that discriminatory extremist groups were involved.

“One more sad fact is that the big lie about January 6th is now the third in a series of damaging lies spread by Trump and his defenders,” added the anchor. “They say the election was stolen. That’s a lie. They say the pandemic was exaggerated. That’s a lie, as the deaths of half a million Americans now demonstrates so sadly. And now, Senator Johnson and others are spreading one more lie and once again, sadly, many Americans believe it.”

Watch above, via CNN.