Sen. Ron Johnson, a steadfast ally of President Trump, said he regrets the bitter nature of many hearings under his chairmanship.
The statement adds to Johnson’s change in tone following the Electoral College vote in favor of making Joe Biden the next president and increased Republican acceptance of Biden as president-elect.
The Wisconsin senator is in the final month of being chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, as he is limited by Republican chairmanship rules. On Wednesday, during his last committee hearing as chairman, Johnson reflected on his term.
“Some of these investigations have grown to be a little rancorous,” Johnson said. “I regret that.”
Johnson’s controversial investigations included one into the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, and one into how the FBI conducted its Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Russian interference in the election and how it sparked allegations of collusion between Trump and Russia.
His hearing on Wednesday about irregularities and fraud in the 2020 election prompted similar criticism.
“Whether intended or not, this hearing gives a platform to conspiracy theories and lies,” said Sen. Gary Peters, a ranking member of the committee and a Michigan Democrat.
But Johnson stood by his work, asserting that the committee had “an excellent track record of achievement,” with over “100 bills passed and signed into law in this committee [and] 200 others passed by this committee.”
Johnson’s recognition of bitter feelings comes as he moved toward acceptance of the presidential election results.
“I haven’t seen anything that would convince me that the results, the overall national result, would be overturned,” Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday. He added that he has no plans to object to Congress accepting the Electoral College count, saying that “something would have to surface that would call into question the legitimacy of the election.”
But Johnson said that Biden winning 306 Electoral College votes should not take away from the importance of his Wednesday hearing on irregularities in the 2020 election.
“This hearing should not be controversial,” Johnson said Wednesday. “A large percentage of the American public does not believe the November election results are legitimate. This is not a sustainable state of affairs in our democratic republic.”
