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About a month ago, Lev Parnas appeared on Capitol Hill and delivered some striking testimony. According to the Ukrainian American businessman, he used to work closely with Rudy Giuliani on digging up dirt on Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
“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.”
In the same testimony, Parnas told lawmakers 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.”
With his background in mind, it might be tempting to think the Wisconsin Republican would be cautious about pushing rhetoric that Moscow wants to hear. Evidently, however, Johnson can’t seem to help himself.
As a bipartisan security aid package — which included military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia — was poised to clear Capitol Hill, Johnson appeared on a conservative outlet called Real America’s Voice to explain his opposition to the legislation.
“We now know that there were peace negotiations occurring in Istanbul that apparently the Biden administration and [former British Prime Minister] Boris Johnson helped scuttle, unfortunately. But the reality of the situation is that Vladimir Putin will not lose this war. So what has happened now is, this has devolved into, pretty much a proxy war between the West and Russia.”
So to sum up, Johnson suggested that the United States and its ally bear at least some responsibility for the lack of peace in Ukraine, and he believes that Russia is simply too powerful to lose.
This is, oddly enough, exactly what the Kremlin is hoping to hear from prominent American officials.
What’s more, it’s part of an extraordinary pattern. Circling back to our earlier coverage, it was just a couple of months ago 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.
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.
This week, for whatever reason, Johnson added to this deeply unfortunate record.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.