Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), who narrowly won re-election in last year’s midterms, appeared on the Sunday morning NBC program Meet the Press this weekend — and it didn’t go well for the Republican Senator, who often seems inclined towards conspiracy theories.
Host Chuck Todd asked Johnson about his thoughts regarding the selection of a special counsel for handling a federal probe into classified docs found at a series of locations connected to President Joe Biden evidently tied to his time as vice president, and Johnson replied in part by arguing for a more primary role for members of Congress in dealing with investigations, at least into potential wrongdoing by political figures.
Eventually — and predictably, Johnson turned to Hunter Biden, the often maligned son of the current president, seemingly alleging to Todd that an investigation Johnson helped lead was stifled by authorities. Todd pointedly asked Johnson about apparent implications of his remarks, including what would appear to be his push to smear targets of a criminal investigation who might otherwise be cleared, since it sounded like Johnson wanted some kind of further role for Congress beyond the expansive opportunity for involvement and oversight it already has.
Todd also tried to ask Johnson whether there was a specific crime of which he believed Hunter Biden was guilty, and the Senator replied by pointing to a report detailing “potential crimes,” as Johnson put it — which Todd cut in to observe was more innuendo. Todd then asked the Senator about some of the other potential corruption to which his supposed concerns could apply. “Senate Democrats want to investigate Jared Kushner’s loan from the Qatari government when he was working in the government negotiating many things in the Middle East,” Todd observed. “Are you not concerned about that? And I say that because it seems to me if you’re concerned about what Hunter Biden did, you should be equally outraged about what Jared Kushner did.” The loan Todd referenced was through a third-party where the Qatari government made investments and supported a flagship property in the Kushner family’s holdings.
“I’m concerned about getting the truth — I don’t target individuals,” Johnson said, evidently glossing over the energy he just expended mere moments prior targeting Hunter Biden, who is an individual. After Todd cut in to point that out, Johnson began predictably and haughtily ranting about the supposedly liberal bias.
“Part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don’t invite me on to interview me, you invite me on to argue with me,” the Senator whined, evidently upset about a moderately challenging interview associated with him holding a role only 99 other Americans can have at a time — something he evidently is opposed to warranting some kind of serious reckoning with the truth on TV. “I’m all for a free press — it needs to be more unbiased,” Johnson said, evidently missing that claiming he supports freedom and then immediately promoting restrictions on that freedom is relatively contradictory. “You can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want,” Todd replied. “I understand it’s part of your identity.” Todd also asked Johnson about the potential connections between the Capitol riot and recent political violence targeting government buildings in Brazil, and Johnson was entirely noncommittal.
Watch Johnson below:
