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BumRushDaShow

(129,608 posts)
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 08:37 AM Oct 2019

Sen. Johnson, ally of Trump and Ukraine, surfaces in crucial episodes in the saga

Source: Washington Post



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 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. “I was in Washington, and Sen. Johnson found out I was in D.C., and staff called me and wanted to do a meeting with me. So I reached out back and said, ‘Sure, I’ll come down the Hill and talk to you,’ ” Telizhenko told The Washington Post on Wednesday. An individual close to Johnson confirmed that staff for one of his committees met with Telizhenko as part of an ongoing investigation into the FBI and its probes of the 2016 election, but declined to say whether the senator was involved.

The meeting points to Johnson’s emerging role as the member of Congress most heavily involved in the Ukraine saga that has engulfed the White House and has threatened Trump with impeachment. The senator’s committee assignments place him at the center of U.S.-Ukraine policymaking: Johnson is chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation and vice chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, a bipartisan group formed in 2015 to boost ties between Washington and Kyiv. He is also chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, a panel with investigative powers.

More significantly, testimony from two blockbuster witnesses in the impeachment probe place Johnson at episodes that will be critical in assessing whether Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated military aid to Ukraine in exchange for political favors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faced pressure to announce investigations into the Bidens and the debunked conspiracy theory that a hacked DNC server was taken to Ukraine in 2016 to hide evidence that it was that country, not Russia, that interfered in the presidential election. Johnson’s knowledge of key events could make him a person of interest to House impeachment investigators, as well as complicate his role as a juror in a trial by the Senate, if one occurs. There are no rules forcing senators with possible conflicts of interest to recuse themselves during impeachment proceedings, and Johnson, through a spokesman, declined to comment on what he would do.

Read more: 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



The whole party is rotten to the core. A true example of racketeering.
28 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Sen. Johnson, ally of Trump and Ukraine, surfaces in crucial episodes in the saga (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 OP
And so another rotten republican gets sucked into the trump vortex. mwb970 Oct 2019 #1
Oh he was already in theVortex LakeArenal Oct 2019 #3
He and others like him were rotten long before Trump. cstanleytech Oct 2019 #4
Human scum UpInArms Oct 2019 #2
Yes the whole party is rotten to the core PatSeg Oct 2019 #5
He looks like the 2naSalit Oct 2019 #6
LOL BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #8
Thanks... 2naSalit Oct 2019 #10
.... BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #12
"conspiracy theory that a hacked DNC server was taken to Ukraine in 2016 to hide evidence" OAITW r.2.0 Oct 2019 #7
One wonders what "stable genius" cooked that up BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #9
The contents of the GOP server may well be mirrored in Russia... OAITW r.2.0 Oct 2019 #11
I expect that the contents of various GOP servers BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #13
It's like the GOP has morphed into the OCP. OAITW r.2.0 Oct 2019 #15
Yup. That's why pursuing charges based on RICO BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #16
In the senate trial, shouldn't he be forced then to recuse? ffr Oct 2019 #14
You would think, right? BumRushDaShow Oct 2019 #17
It will be IOKIYAR NewJeffCT Oct 2019 #21
Oh, my goodness! Yet another GOP senator is tainted...what is the count now? PatrickforO Oct 2019 #18
Ron was installed back into the senate by Russia Botany Oct 2019 #19
+1 BadgerMom Oct 2019 #23
And Trump says he "won" Wisconsin because he went there more than Hillary ... never mind the 200,000 Botany Oct 2019 #24
Seems there was a issue Wellstone ruled Oct 2019 #26
This was not the 1st or 2nd time for that Waukesha County Clerk to "find" votes ... when it looked Botany Oct 2019 #27
Thanks for the info. Wellstone ruled Oct 2019 #28
Ron Johnson aka RoJo is a toady want-ta-be. He will suck up to any RW con. Like Walker & Trump. usaf-vet Oct 2019 #20
That explains a lot. BlueWI Oct 2019 #22
whether Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated military aid to Uk scipan Oct 2019 #25

LakeArenal

(28,855 posts)
3. Oh he was already in theVortex
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 09:39 AM
Oct 2019

Johnson has been s Kochsucker, a Wankerlicker and now a Trumphumper.

He has aspirations of a presidency.

PatSeg

(47,625 posts)
5. Yes the whole party is rotten to the core
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:13 AM
Oct 2019

and it didn't happen overnight. They've been rotten for a long time, a party just waiting for a tyrant like Trump to bring all their deceit and corruption to the surface for all to see. In a rather bizarre sense, perhaps Trump unwittingly is doing the country a favor. We can't move forward without cleaning up the decades of filth and corporate influence in government.

2naSalit

(86,821 posts)
6. He looks like the
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:13 AM
Oct 2019

brat that I beat up in grade school... I'm female. Always getting in my face and when he stole a piece of candy right out of my hand and put it in his mouth and laughed at me... I decked him. He went running home to his mom. I think we were five or six.

2naSalit

(86,821 posts)
10. Thanks...
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:27 AM
Oct 2019

I have a brother, 1.5 years older, and he started being oppressive at an early age so I had to learn to defend myself by the time I was walking. My mom tells me I started walking months earlier than normal kids because of him.

I don't take any guff from anyone. And I mean anyone.



OAITW r.2.0

(24,645 posts)
7. "conspiracy theory that a hacked DNC server was taken to Ukraine in 2016 to hide evidence"
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:16 AM
Oct 2019

This is beyond stupid. Why would anyone move a freakin server to a foreign country to hide the info? How does that make the server more secure? Why not simply destroy it in the USA?

You betcha it's racketeering. The GOP has morphed into the OCP. The Organized Crime Party.

OAITW r.2.0

(24,645 posts)
11. The contents of the GOP server may well be mirrored in Russia...
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:31 AM
Oct 2019

And I doubt that was done on purpose by the GOP, though they are now laboring to comply with the demands of their blackmailers.

But to insinuate that a political party would actively decide to move a server to another country is laughable. Outsource to a 3rd Party friendly political entity in the US? Sure....the GOP already did that in the Bush Administration. The ".gop" domain name was not "owned" by the GOP, IIRC. Millions of party communication emails were never recovered or accounted for. They "privitized' their communications platform.

But 30,000 Hillary emails....total bullshit.

BumRushDaShow

(129,608 posts)
13. I expect that the contents of various GOP servers
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:41 AM
Oct 2019

were neatly packaged into individualized folders of "kompromat" on each of these douchebags that you see out there shilling for Drumpf.

The GOP has been privatizing even as far back as 2004 and Ken Blackwell's RNC server that got voting results in OH diverted through it, so there is motherlode of stuff on the GOP ripe for extorting.

OAITW r.2.0

(24,645 posts)
15. It's like the GOP has morphed into the OCP.
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:45 AM
Oct 2019

Organized Crime Party.

How would organized crime act any differently than the GOP when it comes to internal communications? It's like they are trying to hide their real agenda from public scrutiny.

BumRushDaShow

(129,608 posts)
16. Yup. That's why pursuing charges based on RICO
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 10:57 AM
Oct 2019

would be helpful here. And apparently some of that is already in motion (probably jammed up in the courts since this article was written but still in play) - https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-trump-probe-looks-a-lot-like-a-rico-investigation

BadgerMom

(2,771 posts)
23. +1
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 11:40 AM
Oct 2019

Glad I’m not the only one paying attention. Never forget the Fourth of July he celebrated in Moscow in 2018.

Botany

(70,593 posts)
24. And Trump says he "won" Wisconsin because he went there more than Hillary ... never mind the 200,000
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 11:59 AM
Oct 2019

voters who were purged from the voter rolls prior to the election. And where were these voters
from? Dane and Milwaukee counties. Russia going through the data of registered voters in WI
let them and people like Brad Parscale know how many votes would needed to be flipped and or
how many people needed to be deleted from the voter rolls.

BTW I'll never believe that Scott Walker "won" his recall vote and his later re-election.

I'm a nerd but I watched Wisconsin prior to Walker's recall race and very red counties in
N.W. Wisconsin had more people signing recall petitions then who voted for him in the prior
governor's race.


 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
26. Seems there was a issue
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 03:39 PM
Oct 2019

in Waukasuah County where the Clerk did a number crunching thing and 10k votes suddenly switched columns. BTW,this Clerk was tied to Walker so how.

Botany

(70,593 posts)
27. This was not the 1st or 2nd time for that Waukesha County Clerk to "find" votes ... when it looked
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 05:20 PM
Oct 2019

a demo was going to win a state supreme court seat she "found" 10 or 20 thousand votes in her own
lap top that just hadn't been added into the state totals. I think it was the raw vote for the 2nd biggest
city in the county, Brookfield.

Right wing hate talk radio, Fox news, and their pastors have poisoned the minds of millions of Americans
where they are now OK with cheating and even if Russia does it because that stops "the liberal agenda."


BTW How about them Buckeyes?

 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
28. Thanks for the info.
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 05:25 PM
Oct 2019

One of our DUers from the East Side of Wisconny brought that to our attention as I recall now. Waukasuah County was always a outlier back in the Fifties and Sixties.

Loved the story of the Tabulators laying in a pile on the floor with all the Seals Purged. Then later thrown in the Dumpster at the back of the building.

usaf-vet

(6,215 posts)
20. Ron Johnson aka RoJo is a toady want-ta-be. He will suck up to any RW con. Like Walker & Trump.
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 11:23 AM
Oct 2019

If it weren't for his wife's family money he would be a nobody.

BlueWI

(1,736 posts)
22. That explains a lot.
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 11:29 AM
Oct 2019

Hard to be found in Wisconsin since he took office.

This paid-off non-statesman sorely needs to be sent home in 2022.

scipan

(2,361 posts)
25. whether Trump was withholding nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated military aid to Uk
Mon Oct 28, 2019, 03:03 PM
Oct 2019

That's already been determined, WaPo.

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