Ron Johnson says Ukraine report will show Joe Biden’s ‘unfitness for office’
Sen. Ron Johnson on Monday said the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which he chairs, is poised to release a damning report on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s dealings in Ukraine.
“Stay tuned. In about a week we’re going to learn a whole lot more of Vice President Biden’s unfitness for office,” the Wisconsin Republican said on a call with supporters, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Johnson’s committee has been investigating Hunter Biden’s employment by a Ukrainian energy company during the time his father led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.
President Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate the dealings of the former vice president and his son resulted in his impeachment in December. Republican senators acquitted Trump in February of charges he abused his power and obstructed Congress.
Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said Johnson “wasted months diverting the [committee] away from any oversight of the catastrophically botched federal response to the [COVD-19] pandemic,” and that Johnson’s efforts “subsidize a foreign attack against the sovereignty of our elections with taxpayer dollars.”
Bates said Johnson’s inquiry is “an attack founded on a long-disproven, hardcore rightwing conspiracy theory” linking Joe Biden’s public boast of forcing the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin — in exchange for $1 billion in US loan guarantees — to an investigation of Hunter Biden’s employer.
Democrats say the prosecutor was corrupt and the probe was dormant. Bates pointed out that Johnson himself signed a letter calling for “reforms” to Shokin’s office.
Trump did not directly comment, but retweeted radio host Joe Pagliarulo’s posting that “Ron Johnson is trending because he’s made it clear he will inform us about Joe Biden.”
“The left here is freaking about because — other than what’s obvious in his ridiculous appearances — they don’t want the world to see how bad a candidate ol’ Joe Is. Follow the trend. They mad,” Pagliarulo wrote in the tweet shared by Trump.
Trump often asks “Where’s Hunter?” in his public remarks, alleging the son was involved in numerous shady business dealings linked to his father’s official position, including accepting investment from China after flying there aboard Air Force Two.
Hunter Biden, 50, is a recovering drug user and father of four, including a child whose fatherhood was recently determined in a court case. He briefly dated his late brother Beau Biden’s widow and last month introduced his father at the Democratic National Convention.
In Ukraine, Hunter Biden earned $83,333 monthly on the board of the energy company Burisma Holdings, despite no relevant industry experience.
During Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, defense attorney Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, highlighted US government assessments that the company was corrupt and sought to tie Joe Biden directly to his son’s employment.
“Here’s how Hunter Biden came to join Burisma’s board in April 2014: He was brought on the board by Devon Archer, his business partner,” Bondi said. “Public records show that April 16, 2014, Devin Archer meets with Vice President Biden at the White House. Just two days later on April 18, 2014, is when Hunter Biden quietly joins Burisma.”