Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said the quiet part out loud during a radio interview this week, bragging that his investigation of the Russia probe and U.S. intelligence agencies is indeed meant to help President Donald Trump win a second term in office.
According to Politico, Johnson told Minneapolis-based radio hosts Jon Justice and Drew Lee:
“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.”
Call it Benghazi redux, a politically-motivated investigation cooked up by Republicans in a desperate attempt to thwart the momentum of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who is leading Trump in key battleground states and nationally by nearly eight percentage points, according to the latest Real Clear Politics poll of polls.
The Biden camp said Johnson’s remarks are proof-positive that Johnson’s investigation of the American intelligence community and the former vice president’s diplomatic efforts in Ukraine are nothing but theater, meant to distract from President Trump’s many scandals:
“This damning acknowledgment totally exposes that Ron Johnson’s disgraceful conduct is the definition of malfeasance,” said Biden spokesman Andrew Bates. “It is beyond time for him to end this embarrassing and deeply unethical charade once and for all — as a number of his Senate Republican colleagues have long wanted.”
Johnson is also facing dissent from members of his own party, with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) saying Johnson’s investigation reeks of partisanship and appears to be motivated by political considerations.
In response, Johnson fired off an angry 11-page letter in which he claimed Democrats and the media are trying to undermine his efforts:
“The very transparent goal of their own disinformation campaign and feigned concern is to attack our character in order to marginalize the eventual findings of our investigation. They are running the same play, out the same playbook they have been using for the last three and a half years.”
As if Sen. Johnson needs any help marginalizing the findings of what he himself has now admitted nothing more than a sop to an unpopular sitting president.
Featured Image Via NBC News
