Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) complained on Sunday that the whistleblower’s complaint about President Donald Trump’s call with Ukraine “has exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed.”
During an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Johnson lamented “the damage that is being done to our country through this entire impeachment process” against Trump over his scheme to withhold military aid to Ukraine to pressure Ukraine into investigating 2020 rival Joe Biden.
“And by the way, those individuals that leaked this, you know, if their interest was a stronger relationship with Ukraine, they didn’t accomplish it,” said Johnson. “Having this all come out into public has weakened that relationship, has exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed.”
Johnson, who visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) in early September to discuss the delayed military aid, argued that he and other senators could’ve handled the situation on their own, and in any case, Ukraine ended up receiving the aid.
“So, this would have been far better off if we would have just taken care of this behind the scenes,” the Republican senator said. “We have two branches of government.”
The whistleblower’s complaint compiled accounts from several unnamed officials who expressed concern over Trump’s July call with Zelensky, during which Trump asked Zelensky to do him a “favor” and investigate Biden as the two leaders were discussing military aid to Ukraine. The complaint led to the sprawling House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s use of American foreign policy to help his own reelection prospects.
Watch Johnson below:
WATCH: @SenRonJohnson says the whistleblower complaint “exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed.” #MTP #IfItsSunday
"If the whistleblower's goal is to improve our relationship with Ukraine, he utterly — or she — utterly failed." pic.twitter.com/FBPxpT0BL1
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) November 17, 2019
RoJo thinks all the facts should have stayed in the quiet room
Their interest was the Rule of Law…
The United States Constitution…
And the solemn Oath that every federal office holder – including Johnson – takes.
This dickwad needs his ass fired.
Yeah Ron. Let’s just ignore the pattern and practice of Donald Trump securing foreign assistance to besmirch his political opponents and to undermine our electoral system. How Republican of you.
Note that Johnson hasn’t challenged the veracity of the testimony as he attempts to shoot the messengers