Lev Parnas was a Ukrainian American businessman who worked closely with Rudy Giuliani in the recent past, and their work had a specific focus: The goal was to dig up dirt on Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Parnas, who ultimately went to prison, later turned on Team Trump and brought damaging allegations to the public about the anti-Biden smear campaign.
It was against this backdrop that Parnas appeared at the latest House Oversight Committee hearing, where he delivered sworn testimony that Republicans probably didn’t want the public to hear.
“The American people have been lied to by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and various cohorts of individuals in government and media positions,” Parnas said. “They created falsehoods to serve their own interests knowing it would undermine the strength of our nation.”
But of particular interest was Parnas’ comments about Team Trump’s congressional allies who helped spread anti-Biden misinformation.
The witness specifically told lawmakers, for example, that there were people “doing the bidding for the Russians — people in Congress, like Sen. Ron Johnson.” Referring to his disinformation efforts with Giuliani, Parnas added, “Ron Johnson was our guy in the Senate.”
"Ron Johnson was our guy in the Senate" — Lev Parnas on pushing disinformation pic.twitter.com/znmh2UaRoS
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 20, 2024
As The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, the Wisconsin Republican wasn’t altogether pleased with the testimony.
A spokeswoman for Johnson dismissed the comments as “baseless.” … “Anyone who ties Senator Johnson’s legitimate and accurate oversight work to Russia is amplifying a despicable lie that Democrats spread in 2020 to discredit the senator’s work and protect Joe Biden.”
I can appreciate why the GOP senator is a bit sensitive about such accusations. It was, after all, just last month when the public learned that Alexander Smirnov — the witness at the heart of the Republican Party’s impeachment crusade against President Biden — was arrested for lying to the FBI about the Bidens and allegedly received information from foreign intelligence officials, including lies from Russia.
Ron Johnson wasted little time in declaring that Smirnov is “innocent until proven guilty,” and suggested that the Justice Department’s investigation might be “corrupt.”
A couple of weeks earlier, Johnson denounced U.S. aid to Ukraine, criticized U.S. sanctions against Russia, and expressed agreement with Vladimir Putin’s recent rhetoric.
Years earlier, Johnson conceded that he received an FBI briefing, warning the senator that he was a target of Russian disinformation. (He blew off the warnings.) Before that, U.S. intelligence officials warned senators and their aides that Russia was engaged in a campaign “to essentially frame“ Ukraine for Russia’s 2016 election attack. Soon after, Johnson nevertheless appeared to endorse Russia’s line. A year earlier, Johnson was part of a Senate delegation that spent the 4th of July in Moscow. Upon his return, the Wisconsin Republican questioned the utility of U.S. sanctions against Russia. And now a former Giuliani associate and former Trump ally has delivered sworn testimony that Johnson could be counted on to do “the bidding for the Russians.” This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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