Ron Johnson said, 'The FBI set me up.' Here is what's behind the comment made during Wisconsin's Senate debate.
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During Wisconsin's final Senate debate Thursday night, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson made a comment that surprised many in attendance.
"The FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me," the Oshkosh Republican said.
The remark drew laughs from some in the crowd as Johnson explained he's been trying to uncover and expose alleged corruption within the FBI.
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is trailing Johnson with less than a month until election day, quickly made T-shirts of Johnson's quote in an attempt to raise campaign funds.
More: Five takeaways from second Wisconsin U.S. Senate debate between Ron Johnson, Mandela Barnes
Johnson's comment came after Barnes claimed Johnson "had to be sat down by the FBI and warned that he may be a Russian asset. We cannot trust Sen. Johnson to protect democracy abroad because we can't even trust Sen. Johnson to protect democracy here at home."
Here's what we know about the matter.
Disinformation warning came in 2020
It is true that the FBI in August 2020, months before the election, warned Johnson that he could be a target for Russian disinformation. But Johnson has dismissed that warning as a ploy.
Johnson, who is seeking his third term, has said the FBI briefing didn't include specifics and that he already knew of the threat from Russia. He said he believed he was being given the briefing so it could be used against him later.
As committee chair, Johnson was investigating Hunter Biden
That briefing came as Johnson spent much of 2019 and 2020 — when he was chair of the Homeland Security Committee — investigating the activities of Hunter Biden, the son of now-President Joe Biden who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
Johnson has put a focus in recent years on the younger Biden's laptop, which was the subject of controversy in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. He has accused the FBI of suppressing information about that device.
(Federal agents who had been investigating those foreign ties indicated earlier this month they had sufficient evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and for reportedly lying on paperwork to purchase a gun. The Department of Justice has not made a final decision on whether to issue charges.)
The Oshkosh Republican has also looked into whether Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 election.
U.S. intelligence agencies determined Russia intervened in the 2016 election and that Russia tried to blame the election interference on Ukraine.
"I asked the briefers what specific evidence they had regarding this warning, and they could not provide me anything other than the generalized warning," Johnson told the Washington Post last year about the FBI briefing. Without specific information, I felt the briefing was completely useless and unnecessary (since I was fully aware of the dangers of Russian disinformation)."
Democrats were worried hearings were part of disinformation campaign
The briefing also came weeks after Democratic leaders in Congress told the FBI they feared Johnson's investigation was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Johnson and his staff in 2019 met with Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko as the senator pursued the theory that Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 election.
The U.S. State Department later sanctioned Telizhenko and six others for attempting to undermine Biden's candidacy.
The sanctions led Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon to say Johnson's investigation of Biden was "based on Russian disinformation." Johnson has said he vetted the information Telizhenko provided before using it.
Johnson made a much-criticized trip to Russia
Johnson has also been criticized by opponents for his 2018 trip to Russia with other congressional Republicans in which he spent the July 4 holiday in the country.
Johnson at the time said senators "brought up" Russia's meddling in the election and called Russia an adversary. But he also indicated there should be dialogue between the two nations.
"This is an important relationship," Johnson said that month. "Russia is not going away."
In 2019, Johnson said Russia denied him a visa to enter the country with other members of Congress.
"The path Vladimir Putin has chosen for Russia is a tragedy of historic proportions," Johnson said in a statement at the time. "Unfortunately, Russian officials continue to play diplomatic games with this sincere effort and have denied me entrance to Russia. Regardless of this petty affront, I will continue to advocate a strong and resolute response to Russian aggression — and frank dialogue when possible.”
Barnes also faces Russia criticism
In the debate, Barnes also faced his share of Russia-related criticism.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday reported that Barnes did six interviews with RT, formerly Russia Today, in 2015 and 2016, in which he criticized American law enforcement.
RT is a Russian state-controlled international news television network funded by the Kremlin.
Johnson's campaign said the interviews, conducted during Barnes' second term as a state lawmaker, amounted to Barnes "allowing himself to be used by Vladimir Putin’s propagandists."
Contact Lawrence Andrea at landrea@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @lawrencegandrea.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said during debate that the FBI set him up
