Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., broke with Senate decorum on Tuesday by calling Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., a "racist" on the chamber floor over the GOP senator's remarks about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, NBC News reports.
Johnson told a conservative talk radio show last week that he was not afraid of the pro-Trump rioters that day, but would have been afraid if they were Black Lives Matter protesters or antifa members during a protest if former President Donald Trump had won reelection.
"Look, I get no one likes to be called racist, but sometimes there's just no other way to describe the use of bigoted tropes that for generations have threatened Black lives by stoking white fear of African Americans and Black men in particular," Menendez said on the Senate floor.
Johnson defended his comments on Tuesday, telling reporters, "there was nothing racial about my comments, nothing whatsoever."
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