Johnson has also released a lengthy letter about the origins of his probe and criticism of the response it has received from media outlets and Democrats. Democrats, Johnson wrote, “have initiated a coordinated disinformation campaign and an attempt to personally” initiate “himself and Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), whose bureau has worked with.
The letter specifically addresses a recent Washington Post op-ed by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). In the op-ed, Blumenthal said Johnson’s investigation risked turning Congress into “a forum for debunked conspiracy theories peddled by Kremlin proxies.” Blumenthal quoted a Post story as reporting that a Ukrainian parliamentarian, whose father worked in Russian intelligence, said he had sent material to Johnson’s commission.
In his letter, Johnson reiterated that his commission had received nothing from that MP, Andriy Derkach. The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement last week saying Derkach was involved in a Kremlin-backed attempt to undermine former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
“It’s not me, President Grassley, nor our commissions that are being used to spread Russian disinformation,” Johnson wrote. “Instead, it is the Democrats and the media that Russian President Vladimir Putin has done for him. Puppet masters in the Kremlin could no longer be satisfied with the political divisions and disunity fueled by the resistance movement against President Trump. ”
