Last month’s violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters wasn’t an “armed insurrection, according to U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.

“This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me. When you think of armed, don’t you think of firearms?”

The Wisconsin Republican told WISN’s Jay Weber that as far as he knows only one shot was fired.

“And I’ll defend that law enforcement officer for taking that shot. That was a tragedy. If that was a planned armed (in)surrection, man you really have a bunch of idiots.”

The Wisconsin Republican’s comments came in an interview in which he also lambasted the impeachment trial of former President Trump, and accused Democrats of hypocrisy for failing to condemn violent riots last summer.

Federal agents and DC Police seized weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition ahead of the riot, possibly preventing further escalation.

Governor Tony Evers will include language to legalize medical and recreational marijuana in his state budget. It’s a policy change the Democratic governor says he thinks belongs in the spending plan he’ll officially announce on Tuesday.

“Every person in the Capitol knows that policy is primarily made through the budget-making process,” Evers said Sunday on WISN’s UpFront. “There’s no reason that it can’t be part of the budget, and I’m hoping to get it done. If the legislature want to take it up and pass it outside the budget, I’m more than willing to do that.”

Joint Finance Committee co-chair, Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) doesn’t see it that way.

“This is a good example of kind of what we encouraged Governor Evers not to do in his budget,” Born said, also on UpFront. “Policy items like this are better discussed in the legislative process. We should have a bill, we should have public hearings.”

At the Capitol Thursday, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted to proceed with an audit of the state’s election practices. Representative Samantha Kerkman (R – Salem), the panel’s co-chair, said constituents want reassurance that elections are conducted fairly.

“From my district down in western Kenosha County, to Rhinelander to Superior to Green Bay to Dane County, they want to make sure that across the state our elections are interpreted in a uniform way. That everybody has the same process.”

State Senator Melissa Agard (D – Madison) serves on the panel, which held an lengthy hearing on the matter. She noted conspiracy theories and misinformation have abounded about the results of the November election in Wisconsin. “My fear is, and I hope it’s just a fear, that this audit will provide a vehicle for more distrust and more disinformation,” Agard said.

Representative John Macco (R – Ledgeview), said he was “incensed” by Agard’s comments. “It’s absurd to me, that my colleague would take that tone and tenor, and make those blanket assumptions,” Macco said.

The committee voted along party lines to approve the audit. The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau will review things like whether the Wisconsin Elections Commission and municipal clerks follow all election laws, how they use electronic voting machines and how they handle complaints they receive.

Members of both parties expressed confidence in State Auditor Joe Chrisman. The process is expected to take months.

The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump is underway. “Impeachment is unique. It is a political act, it is not the same as a civil or a criminal trial. So you have the Senate acting as, in some ways as judge and jury,” said Maurice Sheppard, a political scientist at Madison College.

If he’s convicted by the Senate of inciting insurrection for last month’s violent assault on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters, the former president will be barred from ever running for office again.

But that’s a big if. “It is a very high bar to clear,” Sheppard said. “The constitutional standard is that it has to be a supermajority. Two-thirds of the Senators present have to vote for conviction. In this case it would be 67, and the Democrats would need at least 17 Republicans to vote with them.”

A divided Senate voted 56 to 44 on Tuesday to proceed with the impeachment trial. Most Republicans, including Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, stood with Trump and his legal team, which contended the Senate cannot convict a person no longer in office.

There’s still some uncertainty about how long the trial might last. “The first . . . sort of take on it would be that the shorter the trial the better,” Sheppard said. “For Democrats, a short trial would mean that they can get back to the work of the people. For Republicans a short trial would mean that this ugly chapter in American history goes away quicker.”

But Sheppard said Republicans may want to slow the trial process, as a means of slowing down congressional work on Democratic initiatives which they oppose. “If they prolong it, that keeps President Biden and his administration and Democrats in the Senate from moving forward with their agenda. As harmful as that sounds, that might be a political play.”

Legislation introduced at the Capitol could make it easier for police and first responders to obtain workers compensation for post traumatic stress disorder.

Sen. Andre Jacque

State Senator Andre Jaque (R-DePere) said current law is based on a decades old court ruling that makes it extremely difficult to obtain such help.

“They’re expected to just say ‘well, that’s part of the job, you should just have to suck that up essentially, and accept that you are going to be traumatized and retraumatized on a regular basis,” he said during a Monday public hearing on the measure.

Current law requires police and first responders with a mental health condition but no accompanying physical injury to show that their diagnosis was based on unusual stress or strain greater than that experienced by other employees.

“This legislation without a doubt will save lives, and it will save careers of officers that deserve that opportunity,” said Jim Palmer with  the Wisconsin Professional Police Association.