Thread by @JMichaelWaller

Senator Johnson says that those responsible for securing the Capitol, including congressional leadership, embraced the false narrative of 'thousands of armed insurrectionists' on J6 to cover their own failure. @SenRonJohnson @cspan c-span.org/video/?c498744…

@SenRonJohnson @cspan .@SenRonJohnson ‘I asked her [FBI Assistant Director Jill Sanborn] – again, ‘thousands of armed insurrectionists’ – I asked her, well, how many firearms were confiscated either on the Capitol grounds or the Capitol?' ...

@SenRonJohnson @cspan "'... I didn’t know what the answer was going to be, for all I knew it was going to be 300. She [FBI Assistant Director Sanborn] said zero. Kind of a mike-drop moment. Sort of laid waste to the narrative of ‘thousands of armed insurrectionists,'" said @SenRonJohnson.

@SenRonJohnson @cspan Why was the false narrative 'adopted so easily on a bipartisan basis?' @SenRonJohnson: 'they didn’t have an adequate plan...Capitol Police leadership, the Sergeant at Arms, the Congressional leadership – those that were responsible for securing the Capitol in that situation ...."

'...they get let off the hook if the narrative takes hold that there were thousands of armed insurrectionists.... On a bipartisan basis, this works for a lot of people, so that’s why ... that false narrative took hold. That’s one of the reasons I was trying to push back on it...'

Whether it's the January 6 violence, COVID, or damage from the vaccines, many people are "resistant" and "afraid of the truth," to the point where they want to "limit" freedom of speech, @SenRonJohnson
says in his interview with us. @cspan c-span.org/video/?c498790…

@SenRonJohnson @cspan Senator Johnson's investigators viewed Capitol Police surveillance videos of January 6 and found that the police opened doors on the Capitol's west terrace to let someone out, allowing about 300 people to walk in. "No violence associated with any of them." c-span.org/video/?c498791…

Waller: "The lead [J6] investigators on this don’t want those facts that disrupt their narrative. They’re not interested in them."

@SenRonJohnson: "They’re not."

Senator Johnson likens his J6 investigative methodology to historical reconstruction of a Civil War battle: "Where were the points of conflict? How many people were engaged in those points of conflict? How long did it last?" He lays this out in a timeline form.

Sen Johnson: "my investigators noticed that there was a West Terrace door that was opened.…Capitol Police allowed somebody to exit through those doors, we don’t still don’t know who exited. Once the door was opened, over 300 people streamed in. No violence associated with them."

.@SenRonJohnson: "... They just came into the Capitol. My guess is those certainly were some of the people that were walking and staying in the rope lines ... you wouldn’t think armed insurrectionists would respect the velvet rope lines. But they were."

@SenRonJohnson Some must keep their narrative against all facts, @SenRonJohnson says. "It just doesn’t get shown in the mainstream media. You’ve got to look at alternate sites. You’ve got to go to @TuckerCarlson…. And there’s threats to take him off Fox News. People are afraid of the truth."

CYA: "the breach of the United States Capitol was not the result of poor planning or failure to contain a demonstration gone wrong.

"an insurrection of thousands of armed, violent, and coordinated individuals focused on breaching a building at all costs." hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…

Capitol Police Chief Sund testified that his intelligence unit chief was "an expert in right-wing extremism" and that the force received pre-J6 reports from FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security, & DC Police. "Proud Boys, white supremacist groups, Antifa" & more were expected.

Senator Johnson on @TuckerCarlson's documentary: "it did confirm parts of your eyewitness account, where you were saying that the crowd was there kind of milling about, and it wasn’t really until they [the US Capitol Police] started firing tear gas...." c-span.org/video/?c498791…

"... First of all, the crowd was very puzzled by it, according to testimony, it’s like, ‘What are you doing? We’re your friends. We’re not a threat.’ And that [tear gas] seemed to rile the crowd. You can kind of see where there was maybe an initial surge of people," Johnson said.

.@SenRonJohnson: "And maybe those agent provocateurs that you were talking about. And there’s a separation, everyone else was back there, and saying, ‘Don’t go … don’t go on the Capitol.’"

@SenRonJohnson More J6 observations from @SenRonJohnson in above video: "But then there were some people up on the tower going, ‘Forward,’ in your eyewitness account, ‘Do not retreat.’ Just kind of odd. What was all that about? People that knew how to control a crowd.”

@SenRonJohnson FBI hinders J6 probe by making people fearful of coming forward, @SenRonJohnson says. Media attacks on people with evidence that diverges from the 'insurrectionist' line silences witnesses who fear 'conspiracy theorist' accusations. @cspan c-span.org/video/?c498801…

@SenRonJohnson @cspan Johnson to JMW in above video: "It’s been so difficult to put the truth together. Because first of how your eyewitness account was treated, really, termed a conspiracy theory. But also the way that the FBI has doggedly pursued anybody that was basically in Washington DC...."

@SenRonJohnson @cspan "... Early morning raids and SWAT teams and that type of thing. So people are not willing to come forward with their videos.... as much as I’m trying to solicit that, people – they were here in the Capitol. They just kind of want that forgotten....So it is going to be difficult."

@SenRonJohnson @cspan .@SenRonJohnson on the actual J6 criminal charges, which diverge from the "insurrectionist" narrative:

"It’s interesting to see some of the plea agreements downgraded from a felony to a petty misdemeanor of – what, unlawful parading? – I think that was one of them."

@SenRonJohnson @cspan .@SenRonJohnson: "I’m not defending people that entered the Capitol. As a matter of fact I was on a radio show that date [January 6], in the midst of the breach, and one of the radio talk show hosts from Wisconsin...by the way who’s Capitol was breached and occupied for days..."

@SenRonJohnson @cspan "...That was OK, they were the right kind of protesters. They were from the left. And that was OK. They can vandalize the Capitol and that’s OK," @SenRonJohnson said of leftists who took Wisconsin's Capitol. J6 "just happened to be the wrong people occupying the people’s house."

@SenRonJohnson @cspan "This radio talk show host, because of what happened in Madison, said [on J6], ‘Well, I hope they get in there, I hope they do a sit-in, that’s the people’s house.’ And I said, ‘No, that’s where I depart company with you. People should not be entering the Capitol." @SenRonJohnson

@SenRonJohnson @cspan Media spin distorts the facts, @SenRonJohnson:

"So I was on record but I don’t get credit for the actual things I say. People just conjure up, and put the worst possible spin. They’ll take things out of context. That’s kind of where we’re at in the media today."