Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, unloaded on his ranking minority member after a false claim that he had assisted Russian disinformation.
“It’s just galling, and I just have to point out that they are the purveyors of Russian disinformation … that’s where the disinformation is coming,” Johnson said. “I can’t sit by there and listen to this. We’re not gonna be able to just move on without bringing up the irregularities, examining them.”
The moment came as former cybersecurity official Chris Krebs—whom Trump fired for repeatedly second-guessing and undermining the legal challenges to the election outcome including public tweets and a “rumor control” website—suggested that the constitutionally sanctioned process was harmful to democracy.
Johnson interjected to remind Krebs and Democrats that they were, in fact, proven to have been the agents of foreign disinformation.
In fact, he noted, ranking Democrat Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., had himself led a personal attack against Johnson and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Neb.
Peters tried to deflect by claiming Johnson’s invocation of the outrageous smear was simply a distraction.
“This is not about airing your grievances,” he said. “I don’t know what rabbit hole you’re running down.”
However, Johnson quickly gaveled him out of order.
Congressional Democrats tried to undermine Johnson’s work on an investigation into Hunter Biden by claiming that it was a Russian hoax and that the Republicans had relied on information by a Russian agent, Andriy Derkach.
They continued, prior to the election, to downplay the damning evidence of Hunter Biden’s hard drive, which proved Biden family corruption.
Only after the election did many in the media acknowledge it when Hunter, himself, admitted to being under federal investigation.
Democrats and NeverTrumpers continued to wage heavy resistance to efforts to address the vote fraud concerns.
As Sen James Lankford, R-Okla., noted, 46% of people believe there were vote fraud, compared with 45% who believe there was not.
Republicans also questioned the relevance of Krebs’ proffering his opinion on matters he had no expertise in.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., noted that Krebs’s job was to prevent foreign interference—and he succeeded—but that he had not examined any evidence on the types of vote fraud that occurred through the unprecedented reliance on mail-in ballots and last-minute rule changes.
“I think his job was keeping the foreigners out,” Paul said. “… I don’t think you have examined any of the problems that we have heard here.”
