How Sen. Ron Johnson's Investigation Became an Enabler of Russian Disinformation: Part I

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https://www.justsecurity.org/71947/how-sen-ron-johnsons-investigation-became-an-enabler-of-russian-disinformation-part-i/

How Sen. Ron Johnson’s Investigation Became an Enabler of Russian Disinformation: Part I

Senator Ron Johnson’s investigations involving Ukraine have become a conduit of Russian disinformation.

Earlier this month, Johnson defended himself on a local Wisconsin news station saying, “What have I published, what have I reported on, that is not true, that is any form of Russian disinformation? There has been nothing.” Similarly, in his 11-page letter, Johnson asserted, “It is neither me, Chairman Grassley, nor our committees that are being used to disseminate Russian disinformation.”

The senator surely knows better, and his 11-page defense of his actions reveals it. Published on Monday, Aug. 10, the letter itself contains apparent products of Russian disinformation. And while Johnson denies taking information directly from two specific Ukrainians linked to Russia and its disinformation efforts, he makes no mention of his staff taking information directly from one of those individuals’ principal collaborators, which reportedly occurred over the course of several months.

Fellow Republican Senators — including the previous and current Chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sens. Richard Burr and Marco Rubio — have warned Senators Johnson and Chuck Grassley that their Ukraine investigations could aid the Kremlin. Johnson and Grassley appear committed to going further down that path regardless, taking some of their Republican colleagues down with him.

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Manafort’s Reward: Sen. Ron Johnson and the Ukraine Conspiracy Investigation: Part II

https://www.justsecurity.org/72148/manaforts-reward-sen-ron-johnson-and-the-ukraine-conspiracy-investigation-part-ii/

After three years of insisting that unvetted information should never form the basis for an investigation into an active presidential candidate, Republican members of the Senate would never attempt to do such a thing themselves, right?

Wrong. That is exactly what some are attempting to do in the home stretch of the 2020 election. Specifically, Senator Ron Johnson has been laying the groundwork to undertake Ukrainegate 2.0: An attempt to accomplish through a congressional hearing what President Donald Trump was unable to achieve through his quid pro quo to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, namely, to put Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, under a cloud of suspicion before the country votes this November. And rather than wait for any report voted out by his committee, Johnson has taken to penning an open letter and tweeting out insinuations.

But Ukrainegate 2.0, like the original, has a dual purpose. The goal isn’t just to smear Biden, but also to shift blame for 2016 election interference to Ukraine. An architect of that false narrative about Ukraine is Paul Manafort, and the probe has accordingly served the former Trump campaign chairman’s interests along numerous fronts in Ukraine politics and at home. With regard to his personal interests, Manafort is currently serving a 7 1/2-year federal sentence for bank fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, acting as an unregistered foreign agent, false statements, and witness tampering. Manafort has attempted to use the Ukraine’s “election interference” conspiracy to discredit the evidence that led to his own prosecution.

What’s not received sufficient attention is how Johnson’s efforts have worked in tandem with Manafort’s – as Johnson’s probe looks to discredit the same Ukrainian officials responsible for working with American investigators in bringing charges against Manafort. Undermining Manafort’s prosecution offers a basis for President Trump to tie up the last loose end from the charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign and finally give the pardon he had dangled to Manafort over a year and a half ago.

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