Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, said in another radio interview this week at the same venue that the evidence his commission had unveiled was so “scandalous” that “Biden must be completely disqualified from being president.”
The Biden campaign called the remarks explicit evidence of what Democrats have been claiming all along: that Johnson’s probe of allegations of corruption against the intelligence community and Biden’s diplomatic efforts in Ukraine were thinly veiled efforts around the powerful Senate Homeland Security and Committee Affairs Government to harm the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate.
“This devastating recognition fully demonstrates that Ron Johnson’s shameful behavior is the definition of malfeasance,” said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates. “It is high time for him to end this embarrassing and deeply unethical quarrel once and for all – as some of his Republican colleagues in the First Chamber have long wanted.”
As election day approaches, Johnson has been besieged by left and right, distrustful of some intelligence agencies and counter-accusations that his commission has relied in part on information obtained from a Ukrainian lawmaker whom the U.S. intelligence community now considers a tool of a Russian interference election. (Johnson says he has received nothing from the legislature, Andrii Derkach). Johnson, who claims he is being targeted for destruction by Democrats and the press, also stated in one Tuesday radio interview that he had some disagreements with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who he said he had on one point during his investigation had ‘sidelined’.
Asked about Johnson’s comment, McConnell staff said it would be up to Johnson to expand. A source close to Johnson said that McConnell’s decision to tap into the House Intelligence Committee to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election – combined with the lengthy investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller – “made it happen of documents and information very difficult. ” The source notes that McConnell had expressed general support for striving statements by former Obama administration officials.
Recently, Johnson finds himself increasingly on an island while serving as president for a politically charged investigation less than 100 days before the election. The outlines of his investigation are somewhat vague, overlapping with a similar probe into alleged intelligence-community abuse by House Speaker Lindate Graham, even as Johnson promises to clear it up and report back in September on his findings.
Johnson’s probe is investigating allegations of corruption within the US intelligence community during the transfer of power from the Obama administration to President Donald Trump, as well as allegations of abuse by intelligence officials stemming from the FBI investigation after Russian interference in the 2016 elections, known as Crossfire Hurricane.
Johnson has emphasized that the overlap of his research with Graham is another reason why he did not follow certain lines of research. Graham is pursuing allegations of abuse by the FBI in its investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia in 2016. That overlap became particularly clear this week: Johnson subpoenaed the FBI on Monday, demanding all records related to Crossfire Hurricane and accused director Chris Wray of stonewalling his investigation.
However, Graham published a statement on Thursday stating that Wray “commits itself to being useful – in an appropriate manner – by balancing the needs of privacy for Bureau staff with public transparency for the benefit of the American people.” Graham made no mention of Johnson’s aspirations and noted that Wray had promised to share information with his commission.
Trump has repeatedly urged investigations into former President Barack Obama, without proving that Obama has committed serious crimes against Trump’s incoming administration. Trump called the suspected scandal “Obamagate” but did not provide details to support allegations that Obama committed some crimes.
Johnson also prosecutes widespread allegations that Biden constructed the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor to protect his son Hunter from a sin of corruption. At the time, Hunter was serving on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, a conflict that several Obama-era officials said presented the appearance of a conflict of interest, even when they saw no evidence of wrongdoing.
A series of State Department officials told Congress during dismissal proceedings against Trump that Ukraine’s chief lawyer at the time, Viktor Shokin, was an obstacle to anti-corruption efforts and Biden’s push to remove him was part of the efforts of the US government and international community wrong actors in Ukraine out. Shokin’s oyster made it more likely – not less – that Burisma would conduct a serious investigation, witnesses said.
The latest indications of renewed anger on the right that Johnson’s probe has not gone far enough came during a controversial radio interview on Wednesday with the most friendly Conservative host Hugh Hewitt, who told Johnson he “had failed” in his investigation by denying Obama-era subpoena key figures such as FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director John Brennan. During a sometimes heated 10-minute exchange, Johnson attributed his pace to opposition from multiple Republicans to his commission, which he said could block him from issuing keywords.
But Johnson’s office later acknowledged that this was not the case – the commission’s Republicans have already voted to empower Johnson to support Brennan, Comey and others during a June business meeting. After all, assistants said Johnson had chosen to issue objections because he wanted efforts to obtain documents and seek voluntary cooperation from witnesses.
Aid workers at the Wisconsin Republicans declined to discuss the status of those negotiations, but a source familiar with the probe indicated that Brennan had not been contacted by the commission about the prospect of voluntary testimony. However, the source close to Johnson indicated that the panel is in talks with a “dozen or so” witnesses in connection with the Ukraine inquiry and that interviews are planned.
“The commission is going through the process of building documents and a schedule for additional interviews in an organized manner,” the source said.
Johnson has to deal with pushback from his own party. Sen. Utah’s Rom Romney has criticized the probe as an openly political phenomenon, although he later gave relief and approval to Johnson’s aspirations, saying he was assured that witness interviews would be conducted behind closed doors to prevent a political spectacle.
Johnson earlier this week targeted his critics with an 11-page letter accusing the unnamed Democrats and media outlets of trying to remove his sin with accusations of Russian disinformation while he was guilty of spreading it himself.
“The very transparent purpose of their own disinformation campaign and sensitive concerns is to attack our character in order to marginalize the possible findings of our investigation,” Johnson wrote. “They have the same play, the same playbook they’ve been using for the last three and a half years.”
Asked about the attacks on his probe during a Tuesday radio interview with a conservative host in Wisconsin, Johnson made a finer point: “There is now a coordinated attempt to destroy me.”
