Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:17 AM and sunset 8:37 PM for 15h 19m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 10.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1910, Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird premieres in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer.
Molly Beck and Lawrence Andrea report Ron Johnson now says he helped coordinate effort to pass false elector slates to Pence, but his new explanation drew a quick rebuke:
WASHINGTON – After initially claiming to be “basically unaware” of an effort by his staff to get fake presidential elector documents to Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday he coordinated with a Wisconsin attorney to pass along such information and alleged a Pennsylvania congressman brought slates of fake electors to his office — a claim that was immediately disputed.
Evidence presented this week by the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol showed Johnson’s chief of staff tried to deliver the two states’ lists of fake presidential electors for former President Donald Trump to Pence on the morning of the U.S. Capitol insurrection but was rebuffed by Pence’s aide.
Johnson initially told reporters this week he did not know where the documents came from and that his staff sought to forward it to Pence.
But then, an admission of all that he had so recently denied:
But he said in a Thursday interview on WIBA-AM that he had since discovered the documents came from Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, and acknowledged he coordinated with Dane County attorney Jim Troupis and his chief of staff by text message that morning to get to Pence a document Troupis described as regarding “Wisconsin electors.”
Kelly’s office immediately pushed back on Johnson’s claim, saying: “Senator Johnson’s statements about Representative Kelly are patently false.”
“Mr. Kelly has not spoken to Sen. Johnson for the better part of a decade, and he has no knowledge of the claims Mr. Johnson is making related to the 2020 election.”
On Thursday, Johnson said Troupis contacted him by text message on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, to get a document on “Wisconsin electors” to Pence.
Johnson said he then introduced the attorney to his chief of staff by text message to handle the request. He said he did not know what the document was or intended to accomplish.
Children are better liars than Johnson. Wholesale revision — admission of culpability, really — in about a day. One hopes that politicians don’t lie, but if they are to lie, then it’s better that their lies collapse quickly.
Johnson’s feeble explanations amount to a house of straw.
Otters Chill Out With Ice Box at Portland Zoo: