Now that he seems to think that there was something improper about the Obama administration wanting to support the democratically elected government, not the Putin led Russians. Has he come around to support the Russians over democracy?
This does not mention the quid pro quo that lead to the investigation, but it is mentioned here -
"What's the latest and greatest from Camp Runamuck? Well, the top CIA lawyer is talking about a criminal referral based on the whistleblower's complaint. From NBC News:
The move by the CIA's general counsel, Trump appointee Courtney Simmons Elwood, meant she and other senior officials had concluded a potential crime had been committed, raising more questions about why the Justice Department later closed the case without conducting an investigation. In the days since an anonymous whistleblower complaint was made public accusing him of wrongdoing, Trump has lashed out at his accuser and other insiders who provided the accuser with information, suggesting they were improperly spying on what was a "perfect" call between him and the Ukrainian president.
But a timeline provided by U.S. officials familiar with the matter shows that multiple senior government officials appointed by Trump found the whistleblower's complaints credible, troubling, and worthy of further inquiry starting soon after the president's July phone call. While that timeline and the CIA general counsel's contact with the DOJ has been previously disclosed, it has not been reported that the CIA's top lawyer intended her call to be a criminal referral about the president's conduct, acting under rules set forth in a memo governing how intelligence agencies should report allegations of federal crimes.
And then, ah, there is Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, ol' Shreds of Freedom himself. Who thought he'd wind up not merely in the middle of the Ukraine scandal, but also that he would be one of the guys who gives the entire game away? From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson was blocked by President Donald Trump in August from telling Ukraine's president that U.S. aid was on its way amid accusations Trump was withholding it until the eastern European nation investigated his political rival. Trump rejected Johnson's request after also refusing in May to back new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Oshkosh Republican told reporters Friday.
“I was surprised by the president’s reaction and realized we had a sales job to do,” Johnson said during a constituent stop in Sheboygan. “I tried to convince him (in August) to give me the authority to tell President Zelensky that we were going to provide that. Now, I didn’t succeed."
With his comments Friday, Johnson made clear that he was aware of allegations Trump was withholding aid to Ukraine for political reasons weeks before the public knew of the accusation. Trump, who faces a fast-moving impeachment inquiry over the matter, has denied the claim and Johnson has defended the president.
Ron is in a bit of a tizzy. The current White House bullshit spin is that there was "no quid pro quo." While defending the president*, Johnson clearly was not with the program. From the Wall Street Journal, via Axios:
President Trump denied that he had linked military aid to Ukraine with a commitment by Kyiv to investigate the 2016 presidential election when pressed on the matter by a Republican senator in August, according to the lawmaker. In an interview, Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said he learned of a potential quid pro quo from the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who told him that aid to Ukraine was tied to the desire by Mr. Trump and his allies to have Kyiv undertake investigations that the president has sought.
And all of this was after it was revealed that Johnson had signed onto a letter with a bipartisan group of senators supporting then-Vice President Joe Biden's attempts to remove the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor—which the president* insists was part of a corrupt deal that Biden struck to benefit his son, Hunter. If Johnson keeps helping this way, the president* may be in Leavenworth by Christmas."
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