Politics / August 3, 2023

There’s One More Unnamed Accomplice in the Trump Indictment

Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson makes a notable cameo in the 45-page document.

John Nichols
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., speaks during a Senate Subcommittee on Investigations hearing on the proposed PGA Tour-LIV Golf partnership, Tuesday, July 11, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Senator Ron Johnson speaks during a Senate hearing on the proposed PGA Tour-LIV Golf partnership, Tuesday, July 11, 2023.

(Patrick Semansky / AP)

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s felony indictment of Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election makes specific reference to six known co-conspirators who aided the defeated former president’s lawless scheming to retain the presidency.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is not one of them.

Yet Johnson’s machinations on behalf of Trump feature prominently in the 45-page indictment that was issued Tuesday afternoon. And they are likely to feature just as prominently in what is all but certain to be the most serious of Trump’s many trials.

On pages 36 and 37 of the indictment, Smith provides details of how Trump and his lieutenants attempted to use fake electors as part of the scheme (emphasis mine):

Current Issue

Cover of July 2024 Issue

On January 6, starting in the early morning hours, the Defendant again turned to knowingly false statements aimed at pressuring the Vice President to fraudulently alter the election outcome, and raised publicly the false expectation that the Vice President might do so:

a. At 1:00 a.m., the Defendant issued a Tweet that falsely claimed, “If Vice President Mike Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!”

b. At 8:17 a.m., the Defendant issued a Tweet that falsely stated, “States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

On the morning of January 6, an agent of the Defendant contacted a United States Senator to ask him to hand-deliver documents to the Vice President. The agent then facilitated the receipt by the Senator’s staff of the fraudulent certificates signed by the Defendant’s fraudulent electors in Michigan and Wisconsin, which were believed not to have been delivered to the Vice President or Archivist by mail. When one of the Senator’s staffers contacted a staffer for the Vice President by text message to arrange for delivery of what the Senator’s staffer had been told were ‘[alternate slate[s] of electors for MI and WI because archivist didn’t receive them,’ the Vice President’s staffer rejected them.

The senator is not named. But Johnson has grudglingly acknowledged that he participated in conversations about delivering the lists of fake electors to Pence—in other words, the exact scenario featured in the indictment. Johnson has claimed that his involvement was brief and that he was ignorant about all of the schemes that were unfolding on the day when Trump was telling his allies to “fight like hell” to keep him in office. But former Wisconsin Republican Party chair Andrew Hitt told the House January 6th Committee that, after official election results confirmed Biden had won Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes, Johnson spoke to him about having Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature override the voters and name the state’s presidential electors.

The Nation Weekly

Fridays. A weekly digest of the best of our coverage.
By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. You can read our Privacy Policy here.

According to documents released by the committee, Hitt turned over text messages he exchanged with Wisconsin Republican Party executive director Mark Jefferson a week before Wisconsin’s electors were due to cast their votes for Democrat Joe Biden.

Referring to Johnson by his first name, Hitt wrote, “Ron called me right after and now is arguing for us to have the legislature choose the electors. OMG.”

Jefferson responded: “What is he doing?”

Hitt replied, “There is a huge amount of pressure building on them to find a way around the electoral college.”

On December 14, the duly-chosen electors voted for Biden. But a cabal of Republican fake electors gathered to vote for Trump.

Those Wisconsin Republicans are among the “fraudulent electors” referred to in Smith’s indictment when it talks about the instance where “an agent of the Defendant contacted a United States Senator to ask him to hand-deliver documents to the Vice President”–and about how “The agent then facilitated the receipt by the Senator’s staff of the fraudulent certificates signed by the Defendant’s fraudulent electors in Michigan and Wisconsin.”

And that senator is Ron Johnson. 

Thank you for reading The Nation

We hope you enjoyed the story you just read, just one of the many incisive, deeply-reported articles we publish daily. Now more than ever, we need fearless journalism that shifts the needle on important issues, uncovers malfeasance and corruption, and uplifts voices and perspectives that often go unheard in mainstream media.

Throughout this critical election year and a time of media austerity and renewed campus activism and rising labor organizing, independent journalism that gets to the heart of the matter is more critical than ever before. Donate right now and help us hold the powerful accountable, shine a light on issues that would otherwise be swept under the rug, and build a more just and equitable future.

For nearly 160 years, The Nation has stood for truth, justice, and moral clarity. As a reader-supported publication, we are not beholden to the whims of advertisers or a corporate owner. But it does take financial resources to report on stories that may take weeks or months to properly investigate, thoroughly edit and fact-check articles, and get our stories into the hands of readers.

Donate today and stand with us for a better future. Thank you for being a supporter of independent journalism.

John Nichols

John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.

More from The Nation

A supporter holds a sign as members of the San Francisco Democratic Party rally in support of Kamala Harris on July 22 at City Hall in San Francisco, California.

Working Families Party Nominates Kamala Harris Ahead of the DNC Working Families Party Nominates Kamala Harris Ahead of the DNC

The nomination gives the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a second ballot line in New York and a big organizational boost from WFP and its allies.

John Nichols

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at West Allis Central High School on July 23 in West Allis, Wisconsin.

Kamala Harris Is Ready for This Fight Kamala Harris Is Ready for This Fight

In a matter of days, Vice President Kamala Harris cleared the path for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Editorial / John Nichols for The Nation

Who let the cats out? Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance.

J.D. Vance’s Hatred of Cat Ladies Is Weirder and More Dangerous Than You Think J.D. Vance’s Hatred of Cat Ladies Is Weirder and More Dangerous Than You Think

Patriarchy, plutocracy, and ethnonationalism fuel the vice-presidential candidate’s bizarre slur.

Jeet Heer

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters outside the Senate Chambers in the U.S. Capitol on May 11, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

What I Learned Covering Attorney General Kamala Harris What I Learned Covering Attorney General Kamala Harris

Since her time as California attorney general, Vice President Kamala Harris has proven to be a tough-as-nails negotiator.

Sasha Abramsky

President Joe Biden at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

Joe Biden Bids Farewell Joe Biden Bids Farewell

Wednesday night’s address was moving, and also confirmed that he’d made the right decision.

Joan Walsh

Supreme Court Pros

Supreme Court Pros Supreme Court Pros

And cons.

OppArt / Jen Sorensen