Sen. Ron Johnson praised the selection of his colleague in the Senate, J.D. Vance of Ohio, as Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate, telling Newsmax on Tuesday that it was a "great choice."
The Wisconsin senator told "Newsline," "I hate to lose J.D. Vance as a colleague in the Senate. That ought to tell you a lot."
Vance is "a person of intelligence, integrity, and articulate, which is very good for a vice presidential candidate," Johnson said.
"President Trump had a wealth of talent he could have chosen from. But, again, J.D. Vance has such a great story, such great background, served in the Marines, how can they attack the guy? Well, they are Democrats. That's what they do."
Johnson also commented on reports that biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy might consider running for Vance's Senate seat if he becomes vice president, saying Ramaswamy "obviously showed himself to be intelligent and articulate."
"We do need a strong social conservative to replace J.D. Vance," he said. "We got enormous challenges facing this nation."
Johnson, who serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also emphasized that Democrats and Biden wanted an open border.
"Trump had enough authority to close the border," during his presidency, he said. "[President Joe] Biden used the same authority to open it back up. It didn't just happen. They caused this problem.
"It is obviously a danger. We are going to deal with the ramifications of this for years, if not decades, to come."
Johnson created the chart Trump turned his head to glance at just before being shot. Because the former president turned, the bullet missed hitting him directly in the head.
Johnson said that during a recent plane ride, he showed Trump the illegal immigration chart. Trump liked it, wanted to use it, and has done so since then.
"God works in mysterious ways," he said.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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