Ron Johnson, Russia and Ukraine - 3 years of developments

I keep going back to a Bruce Murphy article in Urban Milwaukee from January 2017 titled “Ron Johnson Asleep on Russian hacking”? That article showcased how Johnson knew about the Russians interfering in the country’s elections in September 2016, when he was part of a ”Gang of 12” meeting, as the Chairman of the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee.

But Johnson went along with Moscow Mitch McConnell in burying that information from Wisconsin voters before his election that November. Worse, Johnson lied to the public when asked about it, both before November, and after unsuspecting Wisconsinites (who were subjected to Russian memes and other psy-ops) re-elected Johnson in November.

… After the CIA publicly released a report in January concluding that Russia meddled in the presidential election to help Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election, Johnson issued a statement to the Wisconsin State Journal saying he would “would need more definitive information before drawing further conclusions.” Johnson did not reveal that he had been informed back in September this was happening.

Johnson went on to complain to CNBC that the CIA refused to brief him on Russian hacking, saying “I have not seen the evidence that it actually was Russia,” while failing to note the CIA report’s echoed the briefing he’d received from other intelligence leaders in September.

Johnson also complained that Obama had failed to confront the Russia government with strength, even though the Obama administration had proposed a strong stand on cyber hacking which Johnson declined to join.

So things stood until this week, when Johnson did an about face and declared his concern about Russia’s cyber hacking of his country. Why the sudden shift of position?

Perhaps because Trump’s election was certified last week so Russia’s efforts to help elect him can’t be used to pry away any electoral votes. Or perhaps because of the Senate hearing last Thursday, where senators on both sides of the aisle expressed concern about testimony by intelligence leaders on Russian hacking. As GOP Sen. Lindsay Graham noted, Republicans could be the next target of cyberattacks. “Could it be Republicans next election?” he said. “It’s not like we’re so much better at cybersecurity than Democrats.”

Huh, wonder why Lindsey Graham doesn’t seem as concerned about cyberattacks these days? kompromat

Anyway, Johnson has continually tried to sidetrack any further discussion of Russian hijinks in the 2016 election, or President* Trump’s attempts to extort Ukraine into blackmailing Joe Biden and other potential political rivals. And as events have progressed over the last 34 months, that article from Bruce Murphy continues to rear its head to remind me why RoJo doesn’t want people to ask questions about what really happened in 2016 to help Republicans in Wisconsin and other states, and what might happen in 2020.

So I have attempted to keep the article visible so that others might give it some attention and recognize the context of Ron Johnson’s actions. I recognized it as a big story from day 1, and it has only gotten bigger.

Jake formerly of the LP says: January 10, 2017 at 6:44 pm

For Ron Johnson so loved this country, that he covered up this story so that we would not be subjected to a GIRL being in charge, and that we would avoid the scourge of poor people getting health insurance.

That was well worth selling out the sovereignty of the USA, right? And for golden showers on a bunch of Russian whores, no less? Well done, dumb Dohnal! Well done, stupid white redneck Wisconsinites! You sure showed us smarty-pantses, didn’t ya?

Seriously, this is treason, and people voted in November under false pretenses and false information because of the cover-up that the GOP Senators pulled. I’m sure (mo)Ron Johnson doesn’t care, because he’s got a 6-figure, taxpayer-funded job for the next 6 years. But I wouldn’t be so sure about that, the way things are going. If this disgusting episode isn’t reason to enshrine a right to recall for members of Congress, nothing is.

RESIGN, while you can.

In fairness, I was selling Trump short here. It wasn't just potential tapes of him in compromising positions with women, it was more of a straight pay-for-play deal along with repaying debts. I also was a bit harsher a couple of years ago, and I'm a little less profane now....in print, anyway.

By the way, Johnson is still doing events with senile racist dope Bob Dohnal, including one last weekend in West Allis.

Now let’s go on to the comments I’ve given over time as this scandal has developed.

January 11, 2017 at 5:31 pm
BSH lives up to his name, because that is some BULL-S**T there, son!

Johnson was in the room when the Russian interference and propaganda was revealed in September, he lied about knowing about it when asked at the time, and he benefitted from it in the November elections. He has no moral core.

This isn’t hard to figure out

February 14, 2017 at 5:08 pm
BUMP. Seems a bit interesting given today’s news, eh? Especially with (mo)Ron blaming the leakers instead of actually asking what did Flynn and the Trump Administration know and when did they know it.

Can you say “Cover up?”

March 2, 2017 at 11:40 am
BUMP. The plot thickens with Sessions’ lies and Johnson’s vote to confirm him as AG. It’s pretty obvious that Johnson has been given plenty of info on how deep this goes, and we deserve to know as well

Might be interesting to hear (mo)Ron answer that question from a constituent. You know, if (mo)Ron ever does another in-person, unscripted town hall.

March 20, 2017 at 12:01 pm
BUMP. Especially now that we know the FBI was investigating this before the election, and Johnson covered it up.

May 26, 2017 at 9:18 pm
BUMP. This story looks even more interesting today, doesn’t it, especially seeing how McConnell is likely tied up deep I this?

Also add in the fact that McConnell’s superPAC took $2.5 million from a pro=Putin Ukranian money launderer in 2015…and Scott Walker’s SuperPAC took $1 million from the same guy.

https://twitter.com/funder/status/867110768029949953

And that was even before we knew about Scott Walker’s buddies from NRA/Russia, which explained another reason RoJo didn't want to bring up Russian involvement in 2016.

We continue

July 9, 2017 at 12:04 pm
BUMPSKY.

Funny how Ron hasn’t said a word as the story of Russian election interference gets bigger and bigger, and it becomes increasingly obvious that Trump is owned by Putin. Even odder that no one seems to ask him about it.

Couldn’t be because he owes his re-election to Russian propaganda tricking the rubes into voting for him and other Republicans, could it? NAAHHHH!

September 22, 2017 at 6:58 pm
BUMPSKY. Now that the Wisconsin Elections Commission revealed today that the Russians tried to hack Wisconsin’s voter registration system and other election-related information.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/09/22/wisconsin-one-20-states-targeted-russian-hacking-elections-systems-2016/694719001/

Why didn’t Johnson say anything? Because the Russians helped him through propaganda and other tactics. And that’s the LEAST sketchy of the scenarios out there.

Also, how convenient of the Trump people to sit on this for 11 months and then dump it on a Friday afternoon, isn’t it?

December 1, 2017 at 11:53 am
BUMPSKI, now that Flynn is pleading guilty to lying about working with on the Trump campaign’s behalf when meeting with the Russians.

What did Johnson know, and has he tried to cover it up in his committee?

January 23, 2018 at 9:54 pm
BUMPSKY. This story sure looks all the more relevant now that Joe Biden confirmed that McConnell got Obama to keep the Russian interference concealed until after the election.

And now RoJo is running around with anti-FBI conspiracy theories as evidence piles up that the Russians laundered big-time money and influence during 2016 and early 2017. You don’t think it’s because Mueller is finding out that RoJo and other GOP Senators got a little Ruskie help in Nov 2016, do you?

January 25, 2018 at 12:11 pm
Now it turns out Johnson was clueless about the “secret society” stuff, and was clearly trying to throw garbage against the wall to distract from the #TrumpRussia noose clearly tightening around the necks of most GOPs in DC. Can you say “COMPLICIT”?

(Mo)Ron embarrassed the state yet again this week, and this story gives us a good indication why he might have. And why only paid-off hacks and SUCKERS like WashCoRepub are the only dopes who are buying Johnson’s and the GOP’s BS these days

February 17, 2018 at 10:01 am
BUMPSKY. After seeing yesterday’s indictments of Russians for their online efforts and illegal campaign contributions to help Trump and other Republicans, this makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it? Johnson knew about this stuff before the election, and said nothing because he was being helped by the propaganda efforts.

And it’s also why he wants to distract from the Mueller investigation in 2018. Because it’s revealing that Johnson and Trump are illegitimate, and are complicit with a foreign enemy that interfered in our elections.

June 11, 2018 at 12:02 pm
BUMPSKY- McClatchy is reporting today that the NRA met with Russian oligarchs and church officials in 2015 and 2016 to get help for the 2016 elections. And by magic, the “nonprofit” NRA had millions more to spend to help Donakd Trump and…. NRA stooge Senators like Ron Johnson that faced tough re-elections.

http://amp.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article212756749.html?__twitter_impression=true

You don’t think that has somwthing to do with Johnson not wanting to look too deep into Russian interference, do you? Nor does it have ANYTHING to do with Johnson wanting the IRS to hide the names of donors to non-profits. I’m sure it’s all coincidence.

July 4, 2018 at 7:28 pm
BUMPSKY. Looks like Komrade RoJo is spending the 4th where all good patriots do. IN RUSSIA!

https://mobile.twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1014523651788607489

Sounds like a “thank you” trip to me. And I don’t see a single mention of this in “mainstream” Wisconsin media. Why?

July 15, 2018 at 7:50 am
BUMPSKY. Doesn’t this get curiouser and curiouser. Especially since the latest Mueller indictment shows that Russians grabbed the DNC’s voter analytics, which might explain why the Clinton campaign’s data was so far off that they thought they had Wisconsin in the bag, while Trump abd Johnson did not.

We even know that at least one “candidate for Congress” worked with Russians to use hacked material in August, and it’s pretty obvious from the indictment that Roger Stone (the same guy who said “Scott Walker has rigged 5 elections in Wisconsin.”) was working with Russian intelligence on relaying info and strategy.

And instead of holding hearings on this as Homeland Security Chair, Johnson wants to cover all this up, and shut down the Mueller probe? He’s acting like a scared boy who’s caught up in something really bad.

January 13, 2019 at 11:22 am
BUMPSKY, after Our Dumb Senator said this morning that it was OK for Trump to hide his [discussions] (sic!) with Putin.

The reason why? ROJO KNEW AND HAS DONE NOTHING ABOUT IT. BECAUSE it helped Johnson and Trump win in Wisconsin in 2016.

SAY IT, FOLKS!

January 17, 2019 at 4:40 am
And did Ron Johnson vote to lift Russian sanctions yesterday, which especially helps a certain oligarch who had dealings with Manafort in the 2016 campaign. Of course he did!

Well past time for media to admit RoJo, McConnell, and many others in the GOP are compromised. And it plays into the shutdown as well.

Then the Mueller Report came out this Spring, and even with Bill Barr scrubbing it of the REALLY bad stuff, we saw that Wisconsin was a direct target of the Russians’ involvement.

Which Homeland Security Chair Johnson seemed strangely uninterested in, and as the heat got turned up on this and the Ukraine situation, Ronnie has gotten more desperate.

April 19, 2019 at 8:10 pm
BUMPSKY. Now that the Mueller Report says Manafort shared polling data on Wisconsin with Russians, we should be asking why the Homeland Security Chair refuses to hold hearings on this.

The obvious answer is that RoJo benefited from this, likely owing his and Trump’s victories to it, and doesnt want others to think about it.

I want to see Ronnie and McConnell take the stand in the House and answer why they wanted to keep this information from the public, and why they don’t want to talk about it today.

May 7, 2019 at 11:51 am
BUMPSKY- Especially now that McConnell is trying to bury the Mueller findings while Johnson is running around trying to find leakers instead of holding hearings on what the Russians did in 2016, and what they and other foreign actors might do in 2020.

Combine that with Russian Ronnie heading to Moscow last July 4, and it seems obvious why he doesn’t want to talk much about the ops that helped get him and Trump elected.

August 14, 2019 at 8:23 pm
BUMPSKY. Tie this story into Moscow Mitch’s blocking of ekection security measures, and business/political connections to Russian oligarchs.

And yet Homeland Security Chair Ron Johnson won’t hold a hearing on these cyber-war actions. And Russian Ronnie voted against continuing sanctions on Russia earlier this year.

Hmmmm…..Any media want to follow up on this?

October 3, 2019 at 5:44 pm
BUMPSKY. Now Johnson claims Trump asking for foreign assistance in 2020 is just “Trump being Trump”, and that the real issue to investigate on foreign influence is……Hillary’s emails?

And lookie here, Ron Johnson’s 2016 campaign is named in ANOTHER lawsuit that alleges illegal coordination between the NRA and the GOP. While the NRA was a willing recipient of Russian money and assistance.

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/765037952/senate-report-reveals-nra-was-foreign-asset-to-russia-ahead-of-2016

It’s pretty obvious what is going on here, and we need to have Russian Ronnie called before the impeachment inquiry as to why he’s obstructing and burying information about the historic corruption and scumminess coming out of the White House.

October 4, 2019 at 6:16 pm
Johnson knows about this more than we so. He has willfully COVERED THIS UP, and it’s because he benefitted from the hacking.

Do not pass this off to Johnson’s stupidity. He is a CROOK who does not care if the country gets sold out on his watch. His changing stories are a major tell (not that we didnt know already).

October 6, 2019 at 2:57 pm
And now Johnson got called out on national TV by CHUCK FREAKING TODD, because (mo)Ron couldn’t give a straight answer on Ukraine, and was throwing out debunked “deep state” conspiracies.

Johnson is complicit. And he is scared. As Pat Jursik noted above, just look at how this has developed over time, and you can see Johnson’s guilt, and why he is scared.

October 28, 2019 at 8:37 pm
BUMPSKY- top story in the Washington Post today.

“Sen. Ron Johnson met in July with a former Ukrainian diplomat who has circulated unproven claims that Ukrainian officials assisted Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, a previously unreported contact that underscores the GOP senator’s involvement in the unfolding narrative that triggered the impeachment inquiry of President Trump.

In an interview this past week, Andrii Telizhenko said he met with Johnson (Wis.) for at least 30 minutes on Capitol Hill and with Senate staff for five additional hours. He said discussions focused in part on “the DNC issue” — a reference to his unsubstantiated claim that the Democratic National Committee worked with the Ukrainian government in 2016 to gather incriminating information about then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Telizhenko said he could not recall the date of the meeting, but a review of his Facebook page revealed a photo of him and Johnson posted on July 11.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-johnson-ally-of-trump-and-ukraine-surfaces-in-crucial-episodes-in-the-saga/2019/10/28/40b9e44c-f684-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html#comments-wrapper

And of course, Manafort gave Wisconsin poll data to Russians, who helped Johnson win in 2016 througb online propaganda.

Sure sounds like Adam Schiff and other House Democrats should serve Sen Johnson with a subpeona to find out more about this trip to Ukraine, eh? Time for Russian Ronnie to be fried in public for what he’s covered up these last 3+ years.

Which brings us to this week, and now Russian Ronnie is making headlines as national media connects the dots to his….excessive interest in helping Donald Trump the Ukraine case.

November 18, 2019 at 7:06 am
BUMPSKY- Now Russian Ronnie says some things shouldn’t have the whistle blown on them, and that they should be covered up.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.esquire.com/news-politics/amp29823122/ron-johnson-meet-the-press-whistleblower/

Oh, and now he wants Schiff and other House Dems to be subpoenaed to his committee, but he will likely duck a subpeona to address the impeachment committee. Whatcha scared of, Ronnie?

In his opening statement, Gordon Sondland said: I shared concerns of the potential quid pro quo regarding the security aid with @SenRonJohnson. And I also shared my concerns with the Ukrainians. https://t.co/tUh9FD1kiB via @journalsentinel

— Mary Spicuzza (@MSpicuzzaMJS) November 20, 2019

November 20, 2019 at 11:41 am
BUMPSKY. And now Sondland confirms he told RoJo about the “aid for Biden dirt” deal. Enjoy your time in testimony, Ronnie.

Time for Russ to be given his seat back. Johnson is illegitimate.

Yes, yes he is. And it’s well past time for WisDems and our lame state media say this FACT.

Plaster it in billboards and other ads all over the sticks and the burbs, and break the Bubble of BS that Johnson is constantly trying to pump up over his involvement in what may well be the biggest political scandal this country has ever had to deal with.