WASHINGTON — In an interview with Spectrum News, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin’s senior senator, answered questions about several other topics, ranging from the Israel-Iran conflict to his investigation into former President Joe Biden to legislation related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
On the Israel-Iran conflict, Johnson said Tuesday that President Donald Trump has handled the situation “beautifully.”
“They have to be prevented from getting a bomb,” he said. “I’m glad Israel has done what they’ve done.”
When asked if he’d support U.S. involvement, Johnson said, “It won’t be necessary.”
On Wednesday, the president said he doesn’t want to carry out a U.S. strike on Iran, but “I may do it, I may not do it.”
“Nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he told reporters.
Johnson also addressed the fact that his counterpart, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, was on the Minnesota shooter’s list of names. Vance Boelter, 57, is suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers, killing one of them. Baldwin was among approximately 70 individuals named in writings recovered at the scene.
Johnson said it was a tragedy and his heart goes out to the victims and their families.
“It’s a very unfortunate reality of the business we’re in that we face death threats,” he said. “We all do. And I’m glad they apprehended this guy before he could carry out any further death threats.”
As the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Johnson is looking into former President Joe Biden’s alleged cognitive decline during his time in office and while running for a second term last year.
“What I want to do is make sure that other people that are responsible to uphold their oath to the Constitution, uphold their oath to the 25th Amendment as well. And so I want to do a serious investigation,” he said. “We requested transcribed interviews with people close to the president that can tell us what his state of mind was, what his capabilities were. Should it have been invoked? It’s not going to be an easy thing for a future vice president or future cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. To a certain extent, we need to give them comfort that it would be supported and, quite honestly, required by the American public. We can’t afford to have a president who’s incapacitated, who’s not able to fulfill the awesome, the onerous duties of the president of the United States.”
Johnson recently received bipartisan pushback after he peddled a debunked conspiracy theory about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City and said he’d hold a hearing on the matter. Johnson suggested that Building 7 collapsed because of a “controlled demolition,” even though an investigation found that a fire that burned for seven hours caused it to fall. The fire was sparked by debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers.
When 9/11 first responders visited Johnson’s office in late April, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association Andrew Ansbro said the senator’s comments about the collapse of Building 7 were “misinformed” and “outlandish.” Ansbro responded to the attack on the World Trade Center’s south tower in 2001.
“I watched that building burn six, seven hours. We were standing there helpless. We didn’t have water. All the water mains were broken. There was no way to put out any fires,” Ansbro told Spectrum News in April.
The group of 9/11 first responders was on Capitol Hill to ask lawmakers to back a bill to increase funding for the World Trade Center Health Program, which could face a funding shortfall in two years. The program ensures that first responders and others exposed to toxic debris and dust on 9/11 can receive medical treatment.
Baldwin has signed on as a sponsor of legislation to boost funding.
When asked if he’d support the bill too, Johnson said, “We’ve spent an awful lot of money on compensation already. I mean, Chuck Schumer has been pretty effective at getting things passed by the Senate. I’m not sure that more is required right now.”
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