A prominent U.S. Republican Senator learned directly from an American ambassador that President Donald Trump was attempting to extort dirt on his top Democratic opponent via the president of Ukraine in exchange for the release of $400 million in military aid. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), a loyal Trump supporter, confronted President Trump on the quid pro quo allegations. Trump denied the facts. The Senator did not pursue it any further.
Senator Johnson serves on the Committee on Foreign Relations, so he has a fiduciary responsibility to investigate the allegations that were made to him in August against the president by the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland. But Senator Johnson is also the Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, meaning it is literally his job to look into executive branch abuses of power, especially related to military aid to foreign countries.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in an interview Senator Johnson said he had “raised the issue with Mr. Trump in a phone call on Aug. 31, shortly before the senator was due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the call, Mr. Trump flatly rejected the notion that he directed aides to make military aid to Ukraine contingent on a new investigation by Kyiv, Mr. Johnson said.”
Text messages, including those to and from Ambassador Sondland, released late Thursday night by House Democratic chairman reveal Trump’s declaration of innocence to be a lie.
“Mr. Johnson, who supports aid to Ukraine and is the chairman of a Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the region, said Mr. Trump was adamant on the issue,” The Journal adds.
“He said—expletive deleted—‘No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?” the Wisconsin senator recalled. Mr. Johnson told Mr. Trump that he had learned of the arrangement from Mr. Sondland.
Sen. Johnson on Thursday was exposed by CNN for supporting President Donald Trump’s false smears against Joe Biden, while having signed a 2016 letter demanding Ukraine reform its top prosecutor’s office – the same prosecutor then-Vice President Joe Biden had been demanding be removed for not prosecuting known corruption.
Johnson also came under fire Thursday for saying he supports President Trump’s very public and illegal request that China invetigate Trump’s top political opponent, Joe Biden.