Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson appeared to lose patience with CNN anchor Jake Tapper during a brief exchange on the House Democrats’ continued push for impeachment.
Johnson made an appearance on Sunday morning’s episode of “State of the Union,” and the conversation quickly turned to the most recent testimony about President Donald Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (RELATED: Impeachment Trial Or Campaign? Amy Klobuchar Tells Jake Tapper It’s ‘An Easy Question’)
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“A lot of people, whether it is Gordon Sondland or Fiona Hill or LTC Vindman, one after the other understood your point of view from oh, the president opposes corruption in Ukraine and who wouldn’t oppose corruption but in actuality and I think Fiona Hill used the term ‘code,’ this is actually ‘code’ for ‘investigate the Bidens,'” Tapper began
“Again, that is their impression. I’ve never heard the president say, ‘No I want to dig up dirt on a potential 2020 opponent,'” Johnson replied. “What I always heard the president consistently concerned about is what happened in 2016. ‘Why did this — how did this false narrative of Russian collusion with my campaign occur?’ ‘Why was I strapped with the special counsel?'”
“And there are two investigations about that, right. There were two investigations —” Tapper interrupted
“It is a very human desire,” Johnson finished his thought before turning on Tapper. “Jake, you are interrupting me but go ahead and interrupt me again,” he shrugged.
Tapper pushed back, arguing that there were already two investigations into the origins of the Mueller investigation. “In May the Attorney General appointed a former U.S. Attorney John Durham who is very respected to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation. There is also the Inspector General for the Justice Department investigating whether or not the FBI conducted any FISA abuse or any other abuses,” Tapper protested.
“And by the way I continue with my oversight with Senator Chuck Grassley and interesting things have occurred,” Johnson pushed back. “The Politico article back in 2017 named Alexandra Chalupa as an American Ukrainian hired by the DNC and now through the Freedom of Information Act we found out she visited the White House 27 times during the campaign.”
Johnson went on to say that she had met with over a dozen Ukrainian journalists, which he tied to the information that brought down Paul Manafort, adding that Nelly Ohr had also talked about meeting with Ukrainians.