Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson walks back claims of an anti-Trump 'secret society' within FBI

Maybe it was all just a joke.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson acknowledged Thursday that his earlier statement about an anti-Trump "secret society" within the FBI may have been based on a joke within a single text message.

"I don't know," Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It certainly could be."

But he stood by his central assertion that an informant told his committee that a group of FBI employees was having meetings outside of government offices. "What I said was true," Johnson said. "Everybody else is putting words in my mouth."

The Wisconsin Republican talked about the issue shortly after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York tore into Johnson for his talk about an "informant" and the "secret society" at the FBI.

"I saw the senator … propagating this on television this morning," Schumer said of Johnson. "It looked delusional. It looked paranoid. What began as an attempt to discredit the investigator has now devolved into delusional, self-serving paranoia."

Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, sidestepped the criticisms by saying his panel would continue to look into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state and the FBI's "scam investigation" into the matter.

RELATED: PolitiFact Wisconsin: In Context: Ron Johnson's 'secret society'

"We're not going to be deterred at all by whatever comments, derogatory-wise, that Sen. Schumer made," Johnson said Thursday.

Earlier in the week, Johnson garnered national attention with his claim that a whistleblower and text messages between two FBI agents suggested there was a "secret society" of staffers within the Department of Justice and the FBI working against President Donald Trump.

He also alleged "corruption at the highest levels of the FBI."

"The secret society — we have an informant talking about a group holding secret meetings off-site,” Johnson told Fox News. "There's so much smoke here, there's so much suspicions."

But ABC News tracked down the single text message referencing the secret FBI society and suggested the comment may have been said in jest.

"Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society," FBI lawyer Lisa Page wrote to senior FBI agent Peter Strzok the day after the 2016 election.

The New York Times said Strzok bought Russia-themed calendars to give to the agents investigating Russia’s interference in the election. Page then made a "dark joke about the gag gifts" — calendars featuring “beefcake” photos of Vladimir Putin, says HuffPost — in light of the election.

RELATED: Sen. Ron Johnson says an informant told Congress there are secret anti-Trump meetings in FBI

Republicans have seized on the anti-Trump texts messages between Page and Strzok as potential evidence of a bias against the Republican president within the FBI. On Wednesday, Johnson seemed to start backing away from his earlier claims about the secret meetings.

"The term 'secret society' comes from Strzok and Page," he told reporters. He then added, "I've heard from an individual that ... there was a group of managers within the FBI that were holding meetings off-site."

Elaborating on that, Johnson told the Journal Sentinel that he said he used the term "secret society" only because Strzok and Page had done so.

He said he had no problem moving forward with his investigation in the FBI's handling of the Clinton emails at the same time that Special Council Robert Mueller leads the probe into whether there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. Johnson said the two investigations are on separate tracks.

So far, Johnson said, his committee had turned up "possible corruption" in the FBI, including "jaw-dropping levels of bias." He described the emails between Page and Strzok as "disturbing."

The entire episode has Johnson coming under fire from many directions.

Erick Erickson, a conservative blogger and talk show host, said Johnson should be "ashamed" of himself.

"Ron Johnson went on live, national television to declare an informant had warned him of a possible 'secret society' at the FBI and now he's walking it back saying it might have been in jest," Erickson tweeted. "This is completely irresponsible."

Josh Kraushaar, politics editor at National Journal, chimed in: "THIS is what led Ron Johnson to claim there was an FBI secret society conspiring against Trump? Good grief."

The toughest was MSNBC co-host Joe Scarborough, who said Johnson's remarks represented "a reckless slur against the FBI from a pathetic lackey of Trump."

"Does Wisconsin have recall petitions for US Senators who falsely claim a secret society exists within the FBI that is planning a coup against the president of the United States?" Scarborough tweeted. "Just curious."

Johnson declined to respond to the various criticisms.

"I've got pretty thick skin," he said.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.