GOP Senator Plans To Investigate Whistleblower After Impeachment Trial Ends
One Republican senator wants to investigate the whistleblower whose allegations of misconduct against President Donald Trump started the chain of events that led to Trump’s current impeachment trial in the Senate.
“At some point in time, I’d kind of like to know how this all got generated,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told the Washington Examiner.
“I mean, what was behind all of this? I think there’s an awful lot of suspicious activity.”
Johnson, who serves as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, indicated that means lawmakers should direct their focus onto the whistleblower after the Senate trial ends, which he predicted would be soon, the Examiner reported.
Last week, the Wisconsin Republican criticized the impeachment process.
“This has been blown so far out of proportion,” Johnson told WTMJ.
“Once we complete phase one, we’ll pause and ask the question of what additional information do we need before proceeding with the trial,” he said.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, whose new book describes events regarding Ukraine in a different way than does the president, is a witness Democrats are clamoring to hear.
Bolton’s bottom line claim is that the Trump administration withheld aid to Ukraine until the Ukrainian government investigated activities in that country related to alleged corruption on the part of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Trump has denied that claim:
I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. With that being said, the…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
The Democrat controlled House never even asked John Bolton to testify. It is up to them, not up to the Senate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
“The House had an opportunity to call John Bolton,” Johnson told WTMJ.
“They decided not to. The House was in such a rush to do this impeachment. They did, from my standpoint, a pretty sloppy job. Now, they want the Senate to do their job for them.”
In his book, Bolton said Johnson was present during a May meeting in which Trump talked about Ukraine working against him, according to The New York Times.
A Johnson aide told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the senator’s comment on the matter was contained in an October statement.
“Senator Johnson does not recall in any meeting or discussion with the president, or any member of the administration, that the term ‘quid pro quo’ was ever used,” the statement read.
“Nor does he recall any discussion of any specific case of corruption in the 2016 election, such as Crowdstrike, the hack of the DNC servers, Hillary Clinton campaign involvement, or Hunter and Joe Biden, during general discussions of corruption, which is endemic throughout Ukraine.”
In speaking to WTMJ, Johnson said his awareness of events is a plus.
“I’m not a juror,” Johnson said.
“I’m a senator in an impeachment trial. So people that elected me, the people I represent, deserve to have a voice and deserve to have a vote in this process. From my standpoint, my firsthand knowledge makes me more qualified to pass judgment on this.”
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