Photo courtesy of U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R) of Wisconsin
President Trump was impeached for illegally withholding nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to defend Ukraine from Russia to try to force Ukraine’s president into conducting a phony investigation smearing Trump’s presidential opponent Joe Biden.
It would have been cheaper and less trouble just to let Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson carry out Trump’s fraudulent investigation in the first place. Johnson has eagerly used his Senate Homeland Security Committee to spread fabricated Russian intelligence trashing Biden’s son for serving on a Ukrainian energy company’s board without producing any evidence at all it interfered with efforts by Biden and President Obama to clean up political corruption in Ukraine.
Johnson and Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued a joint report on the phony investigation including unsubstantiated rumors Hunter Biden may have frequented prostitutes in Europe to provide a little sleazy fodder for rightwing websites.
Comrade Johnson?
The investigation turned out to be more of a political embarrassment for Johnson himself. Johnson was elected as a hardcore, anticommunist Republican in the 2010 Tea Party backlash against electing an African American president. But Johnson’s attempt to discredit Biden’s actions in Ukraine is actually based on Russian election propaganda fabricated by Vladimir Putin’s military intelligence agents.
Those were the conclusions of Fiona Hill, the National Security Council’s top Russia expert, testifying in the House impeachment hearings and more recently of William Evanina, director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of National Counterintelligence and Security. Evanina identified Andriy Derkach, who said he provided information to Johnson’s committee, as an “active Russian agent.”
Johnson and Grassley publicly denied using the Senate to launder Russian propaganda in a Putin disinformation campaign to interfere in another U.S. presidential election on Trump’s behalf. They claimed they didn’t rely on any information from Derkach. Instead their report cited exactly the same information provided by another pro-Russian former Ukrainian official named Andriy Telizhenko. That’s simply Russian disinformation laundering. Rightwing Republicans like Johnson who portray themselves as relentless foes of communism have no qualms about parroting Russian propaganda whenever it benefits Trump.
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Unproven Allegations
Before the release of his report, Johnson was all over rightwing radio in Wisconsin promising a blockbuster investigation that would prove Biden’s “unfitness for office.” “What our investigations are uncovering, I think, will reveal that this is not somebody we should be electing president of the United States.” Johnson proved nothing of the kind. The New York Times called his report “little more than a rehashing of unproven allegations.” Politico’s description was “strongly worded insinuations with little evidence to back them up.” Andrew Bates, a Biden campaign spokesman, said all Johnson did was “subsidize a foreign attack against the sovereignty of our elections with taxpayer dollars — an attack founded on a long-disproved, hardcore rightwing conspiracy theory that hinges on Sen. Johnson himself being corrupt.”
Dan Coates, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence overseeing the CIA and 15 other U.S. intelligence agencies, also had been an anticommunist Republican Senator from Indiana. Coates told journalist Bob Woodward he ultimately concluded Putin must have compromising information about Trump giving Russia control over the U.S. president.
Former FBI agent Peter Strzok oversaw the FBI investigation into Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election until Trump had him fired for sending private text messages to another agent disparaging Trump. Strzok reached a similar conclusion in his own book Compromised. Strzok said it “seemed conceivable, if unlikely, that Moscow had indeed pulled off the most stunning intelligence achievement in human history: secretly controlling the president of the United States.”
Trump’s Financial Crimes
Strzok speculated any evidence Russia might hold over Trump was most likely related to financial crimes since voluminous accusations of sexual misconduct against Trump have led to financial settlements but have never carried any political price for him. At least 26 women have accused Trump of rape and other forms of sexual assault. White House spokesmen have said Trump’s election in 2016 a month after the Access Hollywood tape became public of Trump bragging about grabbing women by their genitals proves voters don’t care about sexual allegations.
Johnson’s political future may depend on whether Wisconsin voters care about Johnson spreading Russian propaganda. Johnson’s Senate term expires in 2022. He once promised to serve only two Senate terms. He’s now frequently mentioned as a possible opponent against Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in two years. No one really knows yet how promising the future might be for Johnson and other Republicans after November in Washington or Wisconsin.
Under any president other than Trump, former anticommunist Cold Warriors like Johnson who have become agents of the Evil Empire are going to have a lot of explaining to do. That assumes Johnson has just gone overboard in demonstrating the loyalty Trump demands from elected Republicans. If Johnson defects to Russia and ends up living in Moscow instead of Oshkosh, all bets are off.
