Sen. Ron Johnson Speaks on JD Vance and the Trump Assassination Attempt

Thank you for being here. Were you at all surprised by the nomination of J.D. Vance for Vice President? No, I mean, I think he'd been signaled. I think the decision came quite late. Donald Trump really did have a wealth of talent to choose from. I will say I hate to lose him as a colleague in the United States Senate. He's a valued colleague because he's intelligent. He has integrity. He's articulate. That'll be good on the campaign trail. He's got a wonderful life story. He was one of the finest among us serving our country in the United States Marines. So, yeah, I think it was a good pick on the part of President Trump. Didn't surprise me at all. After the assassination attempt on Saturday, do you feel like anything's shifted in the rhetoric of the country, rhetoric of the campaigns? Do you think we're going to see an end to the kind of divisive talk that has occurred? Well, I certainly hope we end the personal vitriol. There are serious differences between the party. Those have to be discussed. I personally believe that Democrat policies, their agenda, is literally destroying this country. So we have to talk about that. I love this country. I don't want to see it destroyed. But I think any person who just went through that, where you narrowly escaped with your life, had I not turned my head, I'd be dead. And another American hero did lose their life. A wonderful father protecting his family. That has to change you. And it appears it's changed Donald Trump. You know, he's got a new lease on life. He didn't have to run for office. He's got a great life. But he knew running in 2016, you know, what politics was like. Certainly in 2024, he knew exactly the vitriol, the vilification. I don't think even he could have anticipated the extent that the Biden administration has weaponized his government against him. And he was potentially risking his life. Well, that just got reinforced. So why does he do it? Because he loves his country. And I think he loves his country enough, being given this new lease on life. The reason I think he's talking about, he's going to set his Barnberger speech aside. He's going to talk about unity. And I welcome that. I think the fact that we are politically divided is the greatest threat facing this nation right now. We can't continue to go down this path. After the assassination attempt, the House is conducting an oversight hearing. What would you want to see asked of the director of the United States Secret Service? Oh, I have far too many questions to even start asking them right here. I've already written a letter demanding they preserve all their records. I've got a whole list of questions there. What records I certainly want to have preserved. Again, we don't have the specific investigatory capability in Congress to do the detailed investigation. We're going to have to leave that up to the agencies. But we put them on notice. It has to be completely transparent. They can't hide things. I'm not expecting these agencies to come to figure out blame and assess it to probably the people who really are responsible for this. That will be up to Congress. We just need to demand 100 percent transparency and leave no stone unturned. Sir, you're a leader. You have a Senate career. You work among leaders. You work with the highest elected officials in the country. In your opinion, what are the essential qualities for any leader in any context, not just government, but in any context? Intelligence and integrity. That's what I look for when I employ people in business. I need people that are really smart and that have integrity. If you can find people like that, they can adapt to situations. But those are the two main ingredients. What is the most critical skill for a United States Senator to have? Probably be able to yak a lot. No, listen, people think we're all powerful. We're not. I mean, it's creating and crafting legislation. You've got to try and get people to agree with you. You've got to convince them to. That requires talking. And obviously, one of the most significant impacts we have is getting on a soapbox, talking to the media, trying to convey to the American public or to our constituents, this is the situation, this is why this is a problem, here's our potential solution. So it is an awful lot of explaining, and that's pretty much the job. Thank you very much, Senator. Thank you. Have a great day.