Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) useful idiot for Vladimir Putin
(Johnson’s real function seen below)
Johnson’s obligations are
real and apparent
(Just not national security
or people of Wisconsin)
Trump's Foursome: Carrying
His Water and Dirty Laundry
(Plus a large handful of
other GOPers)
View
of exactly who Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is and has become in his one-man witch hunt and effort to please
Trump and help him bring down the country and Joe Biden and family along the
way.
That sounds hyper, I know,
but read the below update to see a lot of facts and then make up your own mind. This second update on the main
article (follows this update) is extracted from AlterNet.org
article (August 15) with this headline:
“Putin’s useful
idiot: This GOP senator is promoting a Russian disinformation campaign to help Trump
get reelected”
There are three channels of Russian disinformation that
have apparently affected Johnson’s Ukraine-related investigations for dirt on
the Biden’s:
Channel 1: Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives communicating directly with Sen.
Johnson and his staff.
Channel 2: Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives spreading disinformation via media
outlets, which have been picked up and expressly relied upon by Sen. Johnson.
Channel 3: Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives providing information via “Team [Rudy] Giuliani.”
All that is bad enough, but then
this past week, Johnson actually said the quiet parts
out loud:
“The more that we expose of the
corruption of the transition process between Obama and Trump, the more we
expose of the corruption within those agencies, I would think it would
certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I
would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden.”
Johnson said that in a little-noticed August 11 interview with Minneapolis-based radio hosts Jon
Justice and Drew Lee.
In other words, the senator
from Wisconsin is engaging in a Russian disinformation campaign, which he
admits is designed to damage Biden and help Trump get reelected.
Johnson ironically is doing this
four years after he joined Biden in demanding that Ukraine “…press ahead
with urgent reforms to the Prosecutor General’s office and judiciary.” (Which Biden had done as VP under Obama and officially, too).
Now all of that raises
questions about whether Johnson is acting as a “useful idiot” for Vladimir
Putin. But, keep in mind that Johnson isn’t “the sharpest knife in the drawer,”
either.
After all, Johnson once turned a joke from Lisa Page
into a claim that he had an “informant who said that there was a secret
society of FBI agents meeting off site.” The inference was that they were
plotting to destroy the Trump presidency.
He is also the senator
who issued a report, wrote an op-ed, and held a hearing to make the
unconscionable claim that Medicaid is responsible for fueling the opioid
epidemic. Yeah, that Senator Ron
Johnson, Republican from Wisconsin.
Original article starts below:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major update to the following
story: This story's issue is getting way out of hand and deeper and deeper thanks to Sen. Ron
Johnson (R-WI) and couple of other GOPers – this story here published by Alternet.org:
In an 11-page letter sent on Monday (August 10), Sen. Ron
Johnson (R-WI) vigorously defended his Ukraine-related Biden's investigation.
He denied that any of his investigations have been used to promote Russian
government disinformation, but legal experts Ryan Goodman and Asha Rangappa —
in an article from Just Security published on August 11.
They argue that Johnson has often promoted Russian talking points.
In his letter, Johnson
writes: “It is neither me, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley
(R-IA), nor our committees that are being used to disseminate Russian
disinformation.”
However, according to Goodman
and Rangappa who write: “Fellow Republican senators — including the previous Chairman
of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and current Chairman
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) — warned both Johnson and Grassley that their Ukraine
investigations could aid the Kremlin. Johnson and Grassley appear committed to
going further down that path regardless, taking some of their Republican
colleagues down with him.”
Also, according to Goodman
and Rangappa: “There are three channels of Russian disinformation that have
apparently affected Sen. Johnson and his Ukraine-related investigations.”
Those three channels are: (1)
“Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives communicating directly with Sen. Johnson
and his staff, (2) Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives spreading
disinformation via media outlets, which have been picked up and expressly relied
upon by Sen. Johnson, and (3) Russian-linked Ukrainian operatives providing
information via Team (Rudy) Giuliani.”
The legal experts further discuss “debunked conspiracy theories involving Ukraine,” and noting: “Johnson’s
investigations include a conspiracy theory that Ukraine was involved in
election interference in 2016 to defeat Trump, an idea that emanates in large
part from an article by Kenneth Vogel in Politico in January 2017.
The main thrust of the somewhat circuitous article is that Ukrainian officials
were working with the DNC to promote Hillary Clinton. This bold claim appears
to be almost entirely sourced by one person: Andrii Telizhenko.” (See more on him posted below in the original post).
Goodman and Rangappa describe Telizhenko as: “A Ukrainian national and
former political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy in (Washington) DC.”
The FBI, according to the New York Times, warned members of Congress: “Telizhenko
was a conduit for Russian disinformation about the Biden’s and claims that
Ukraine conspired to help Democrats in the 2016 election.”
Further and according to
Goodman and Rangappa: “This means that the main ‘evidence’ upon which Johnson
relies in making his case, Vogel’s 2017 article, is itself a potential product
of disinformation.”
The two legal experts also point out: “In other letters signed by
Johnson, he has not only referred to Vogel’s report, but also, referred to
Telizhenko by name while recounting, at great length, specific allegations the
Ukrainian operative made in Vogel’s report.”
An O/DNI intelligence document released Friday (August 7) by the Trump administration revealed that Russia is using pro-Russia Ukrainian officials to slander Joe Biden, undermining a key pillar of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and his ongoing investigation into the former vice president who will run against Trump (Johnson’s obvious pick).
Johnson is Chairman of
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has drawn
criticism from Democrats and foreign policy experts for what they see as his
attempt to smear Biden. Now, just as Johnson is prepared to release an interim
report on its findings next month, a non-partisan watchdog has given Johnson
failing marks for his committee’s workload for the second consecutive year.
Upon the release from
the O/DNI, William Evanina (Director of the
National Counterintelligence and Security Center — NCSC) called out Russia for
using Andrii Derkach, a pro-Russia Ukrainian lawmaker,
to spread claims of corruption to hurt Biden’s presidential campaign. Derkach
has reportedly been in communication with Johnson’s office as part of the Biden
investigation.
Johnson launched the
Biden investigation in March to probe a series of events that began in 2014,
during the transition process under the outgoing Obama administration and while
Biden was vice president and tasked with overseeing American policy toward Ukraine.
Many of the details were discussed at length during Trump’s impeachment
investigation and trial.
Biden has maintained he
was attempting to root out corruption in the Ukrainian government and was
urging the removal of Ukraine’s prosecutor, Viktor
Shokin, a goal shared by the U.S. State Department and
international allies. At the time, Shokin had an open investigation into
Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company. Hunter Biden, the vice president’s
son, sat on Burisma’s board.
Since the announcement
of his investigation in March, Democratic congressional colleagues of Johnson’s
have raised concerns that it could serve as a breeding ground for Russian
interference, while also questioning the senator’s motives for conducting the
investigation during a presidential election year.
Democrats took a formal
step in raising the alarm on Johnson’s investigation by publicly releasing a
letter to the FBI, voicing serious concerns over members of Congress being
targeted by foreign powers, such as Russia. According to multiple news media
reports, Johnson’s investigation was among the Democrats’ concerns as a vehicle
for foreign influence campaigns to damage Biden ahead of the November general election.
In a statement to
Politico, Derkach said he had sent Johnson, among other GOP lawmakers,
information on Biden. However, Johnson denied receiving or using information
from Ukrainian nationals in a joint statement with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
The senators also affirmed that during a March staff briefing the FBI
advised there was, “nothing to preclude the continuation of our investigation.”
Derkach is the same
Ukrainian lawmaker who met with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer,
to discuss the release of audio recordings of phone calls between Biden and
former Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko.
The recordings were
presumed to highlight Biden’s conflict of interest in protecting his son by
pushing for the removal of Shokin.
However, the tapes
failed to confirm that allegation. Instead they proved what was widely
known, that Biden linked loan guarantees for Ukraine to the removal of Shokin
as a matter of policy reform to end corruption.
Though Johnson denied
receiving information from Derkach, he has said his investigation is
considering information from a different foreign national, Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian
diplomat who worked for Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm that lobbied
the Obama administration on behalf of Burisma.
Johnson said Blue Star
Strategies was using Hunter Biden’s name to, “strong-arm the State Department
to curry benefits for a corrupt Ukrainian oil company,” during a recent Fox
News interview.
Steven Pifer, a senior
fellow at the Center on the U.S. and Europe at the nonpartisan Brookings
Institution and a retired Foreign Service officer, serving over 25 years with
the State Department focused on U.S. relations with Russia and Europe, said
that by continuing to push his investigation, Johnson is trying to make a story
about Biden acting inappropriately when there isn’t an apparent story to be
told.
Pifer said: “The vice
president’s effort to get Shokin fired, that was not just the vice president.
That was the view of the U.S. government, the EU, the IMF, and most Ukrainian
officials. Shokin was not part of the solution on corruption. He was part of
the problem.”
Though Shokin had an investigation into Burisma, the Ukrainian
prosecutor failed to bring any convictions. Notably neither did his successor.
Pifer also said: “I’m
very dubious of this investigation. Sen. Johnson did not conduct this
investigation in 2019, not in 2018 and not in 2017. He only launched it in
earnest in spring of this year ... when it became obvious that Joe Biden was
going to be the Democratic candidate for president.”
However, the owner of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky,
faced accusations of prioritizing government contracts to companies he owned
and embezzling public money. In a move that Pifer said is considered typical
behavior when foreign companies want to build rapport with Western nations,
Burisma appointed Hunter Biden to its board in 2014 and the Wall Street Journal
estimated he was paid roughly $50,000 a month. Three years later, Cofer Black,
a former CIA official and foreign policy adviser to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and
his presidential campaign, was also appointed to its board.
By 2018, when Joe Biden
announced his presidential run, Hunter Biden was no longer on Burisma’s board.
Black, however, is still a board member. During a Homeland Security committee
hearing in May, top Democrat Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), released a strongly worded
statement admonishing Johnson’s investigation and described his subpoena
request for Blue Star Strategies as “misguided.”
Peters added: “This is
not a serious, bipartisan investigation in the tradition of this committee, and
we should not be going down this dangerous road. We are the Homeland Security
Committee. We have jurisdiction over election interference, and we should be
working together to strengthen our national security and fight against foreign
interference.”
Under Johnson’s tenure
as chairman, his committee hearing activity dropped more than 50%, with policy
and legislative hearings falling more than 60%, according to the Lugar Center,
a nonprofit policy and research organization founded by former Sen. Richard
Lugar (R-IN).
The Lugar Center created
a Congressional Oversight Hearing Index, which grades current Senate and House
committees on their performance based on the record of that committee in the
previous five Congresses.
Then Jaime Spitz,
assistant policy director for bipartisan governance at the Lugar Center and
part of the team managing the Congressional Oversight Hearing Index said: “It’s
clear from his past performance on the committee, and this goes back for the
last two Congresses, that he has not really lived up to his responsibilities of
properly overseeing the executive branch.”
NOTE: The
Lugar Center’s Congressional Oversight Hearing Index has given Sen. Johnson’s
committee an “F” for two consecutive years.
By definition, Johnson’s
committee has the broad mandate to scrutinize government operations which
includes overseeing the Department of Homeland Security, jurisdiction of the
decennial U.S. Census, the National Archives and the Postal Service among other
areas. Johnson, as chairman, has final say over what issues the committee takes
on. Since the announcement of the Biden investigation, the senator’s intentions
have caused alarm.
Johnson told The Hill he
plans to release an interim report of his investigation by September 15, which
is more than a month later than his original timeline. The senator originally
planned to release his report before the month-long congressional recess which
just began.
My 2 cents: Note
that Sen. Johnson’s office declined multiple interviews requests for this
story. And, this from Speaker Nancy Pelosi who said: “They're not equivalent to
say that Russian election interference is more serious than that of China
and/or Iran.” That story is here from USA TODAY.
I agree with Sen.
Schumer who said “The full DNI report should be declassified and released to
the public,” and I add, of course, after sources and methods are deleted or
redacted for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, the public has a right to know and
read and see for themselves the impact of any potential or real interference
during this upcoming election cycle to help better prepare them and overall the
entire voting public to be 100% alert and prepared and defensive.
Trump’s favorite
word other than “fake news and witch hunt” is of course “hoax” and that my
friends is precisely what this Sen. Ron Johnson’s “investigation” is – a
solution he and many GOPers to a problem that does not exist, just to appease
and prop up Trump for 2020.
This is truly
pathetic but just another chapter in a long history of GOP “dirty tricks”
dating back to Lee Atwater’s time right through Karl Rove and Roger Stone in
more modern days. Please stay alert in this hectic election cycle that is apt
to be the worst ever in modern political history.
Also, my post
after this one addresses Iran, China, and Russia attitudes and such vis-à-vis
Trump in this 2020 campaign.
Thanks for stopping by.
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