ICYMI: Ron Johnson Takes Action Following Orlando Terrorist Attack
Seeks answers, pushes for strategy to defeat terrorism as chairman of Homeland Security Committee
Ron Johnson has taken action in the wake of the tragic terrorist attack in Orlando, Fla., using his role as chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs to seek answers on the Orlando killer and push real solutions to keep local communities safe.
Ron’s recent request to Facebook for information on the shooter follows an earlier inquiry, and is just the latest example of his record of working to address the threat terrorism poses to our national security. In case you missed it, here’s a rundown of local, statewide, and national coverage of Ron’s actions:
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: “U.S. Senate Homeland Security chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is asking Facebook to turn over material from five accounts used by Omar Mateen before and during his assault Sunday on a gay nightclub in Orlando. … On June 4, Mateen ‘apparently searched ‘Baghdadi Speech,’ Johnson said. Johnson added that his staff understood that Mateen apparently used Facebook to conduct frequent local law enforcement and FBI searches, including searching for specific law enforcement officers.’ The first-term Wisconsin senator gave Zuckerberg until June 29 to turn over to his Senate committee all activity logs, timeline information, messages, photos and posts related to the five Facebook accounts associated with Mateen.
Roll Call: “The chairman of the Senate’s Homeland Security committee wants to know” more about the Orlando shooter. “The chairman of the Senate’s Homeland Security committee wants to know what the security contractor who employed the gunman in Sunday’s terrorist mass shooting attack in Florida knew about him. … ‘As the committee examines the attack and considers legislative proposals to address homegrown extremism, I respectfully request your assistance with the committee’s inquiry given Mr. Mateen’s employment at G4S,’ Johnson wrote.”
Fox News: Ron says, “All of us want to prevent these tragedies. All of us want to stop Islamic terror. There are a number of tools we can use. We know these would-be terrorists and actual terrorists utilize social media, so we need to work with those companies cooperatively so we can find out exactly what we could have done to prevent this one, and what we could do to prevent future tragedies.”
TMJ4: Ron says, “As Americans we must united to defeat terrorism’s threat to our nation’s security.” Back in Wisconsin, Sen. Ron Johnson who serves as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee issued a statement Sundaymorning. ‘My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and the brave men and women who risked their lives to save others. My committee will work to support the federal role in investigating this terror attack and protect against further threats. As Americans we must united to defeat terrorism’s threat to our nation’s security,’ Sen. Johnson said.”
CNN: Ron says “Let’s try to find real solutions.” “Let’s try to find real solutions. I come from a manufacturing background, solved a lot of problems with root cause analysis. My root cause analysis in terms of what happened in Orlando and so many other cases, it really is Islamic terrorists – that ideology. They are not going away. You can say you want to end wars, but there only two ways to end a war. You can defeat your enemy or both sides need to agree to lay down their arms. Islamic terrorists aren’t going away. They’re not laying down their arms so we have to defeat them.”
Fox11: Ron says “The only way to prevent this is by destroying Islamic Terror.”“Reality is setting in Monday on the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. ‘The harsh reality is that Islamic Terror is here,’ said Republican U.S. Senator, Ron Johnson. The massacre in Orlando was carried out by a lone gunman, who authorities say pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the attack. ‘The only way to prevent this is by destroying Islamic Terror,’ said Johnson. Johnson is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. He says in order to beat ISIS, Americans need to positively engage with the Muslim community. ‘We should do everything we can to help Muslim populations assimilate. It’s something Europe has not been particularly good at doing, so if we do that, we reduce the level of alienation and there’d be less self-radicalization,’ said Johnson.”