C&B’s Senate Insider Ron Johnson Tells All

CLAY: We are joined now by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Appreciate you joining us, Senator. And I want to jump right in. There seems to be a lot of smoke suddenly around the Hunter Biden story that many of us have known was a hundred percent legitimate for essentially two years now, since this story came out in October of 2020.

And I know you talked about this a little bit with us recently. But I want to dive into it with you again. You were briefed by somebody at the FBI, Senator — and you can correct me if I’m wrong on this — who was trying to tell you that the Hunter Biden story was Russian disinformation as you were investigating and examining it. And it sounds like the same kind of briefing that Facebook got.

Mark Zuckerberg said on Joe Rogan’s podcast recently, “this appears to have been a concerted effort inside the FBI to keep this from being a story and discourage anyone who was asking questions about it at all.” What more do you know about this story, and what can you tell us?

SEN. JOHNSON: First of all, I think it was bigger and broader than that. I mean, we had literally an intelligence product produced out of whole cloth that accused Senator Grassley and I of soliciting and disseminating Russian disinformation from a guy I’d never heard of, Andre Derkosh. And this was actually published in February inside the CIA’s little newsletter, classified newsletter.

And it was, of course, leaked to the press. Smear. So, this is February 2020, you know, right during covid, as it’s starting out. And so, we continue to be accused of disseminating Russian disinformation. So, now that we know from whistleblowers to Senator Grassley’s office the FBI had developed a scheme in August of 2020 to downplay the derogatory information, basically deep six the investigation, now we’ll come to that briefing.

On August 6, I was walking back from a vote, my staff all of a sudden, walks up to me, you know, Senator you got a briefing with the FBI. What’s this about? Well, they want to talk to you. So, I go down there, and it’s completely BS briefing. Didn’t really say anything specifically about Hunter Biden. Just said that we’re a target of Russian disinformation. I kind of like looked at him like, duh.

I mean, is there any intelligence to back up this briefing? And why’d you call this? And they had nothing. And so, that’s when I knew it was a setup. So, I asked him right there, who directed this briefing? Guys, two years later we’ve done multiple public letters asking Christopher Wray, Merrick Garland, the DNI, who directed that briefing? We still don’t know.

Now, it was a setup because nine months later it was leaked to the Washington Post where they did a hit piece on me having been briefed that I was targeted by Russian disinformation. Again — so, it’s much larger than what — just the FBI involvement. By the way, who do you think coordinated — and I have no evidence of this, but just — who do you think coordinated the writing of that letter by 51 former intelligence officials to trash the Hunter Biden laptop, said that it had the earmarks of a Russian information operation?

Well, that letter was an information operation. And, by the way, the FBI and intelligence officials and the news media interfered in our 2020 election to a far greater extent than anything Russia or China or any other foreign power could ever hope to achieve.

CLAY: Amen.

SEN. JOHNSON: They’re just not willing to open up — you know, they’re not willing to own up to it and admit it.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Senator, if we’re gonna have any hope of getting real oversight and some real answers about what’s gone on with the FBI with regard to Hunter Biden, the DOJ, Mar-a-Lago raid, a whole range of issues, gotta have a Republican majority in the Senate for the senate to be able to do those kinds of fact-finding missions.

Your opponent, Mandela Barnes, what do we need to know about this individual’s record and what’s going to be different if you were to — what’s the top of the agenda, shall I put it that way, for you versus Mandela Barnes?

SEN. JOHNSON: He’s a radical leftist in sheep’s clothing. He’s in hiding. He’s taken a page out of Biden’s playbook and he’s just staying away from the press, no interviews, no access, no answers to questioning. But we do know that he thinks the founding of America was awful.

He thinks our National Parks are racist. I guess Old Faithful is racist. Again, he is a radical leftist. He’s for gun registration. Ought to upset the people that value the Second Amendment in Wisconsin. That’s for sure. He claims he really doesn’t want to defund the police, although he said everything but that. He’s supported by the groups that lead effort to defund police.

Says he doesn’t want to abolish ICE, but he’s got a big old picture of him with a smile on his face holding up a T-shirt that says, “Abolish ICE.” So again, you can’t be honest with Wisconsin voters. The guy’s — I’m up against a huge challenge here. If we had an honest media — it’s not a level playing field. I mean, got a media try to take me out for two years.

But just think about what I said about the FBI. They smeared me in May 2021. And so there are people in Wisconsin think I’m some kind of tool of Vladimir Putin. Nothing could be further from the truth. So, the FBI not only impacted the 2020 election, but they’re impacting the 2022 Wisconsin U.S. Senate election as well. So, this corruption in our agencies needs to exposed, the American people deserve the truth, and you’re right.

If I get reelected, and we have the majority, I’ll be the chairman of the permanent subcommittee investigation. I’ll be like a mosquito in a nudist colony. It will be a target rich environment. But I’m gonna need help. RonJohnsonforSenate.com. They’ve already spent more than $50 million smearing me, lying about me, assassinating my character, plus they got the mainstream media in their corner, and that support is priceless to them.

CLAY: Senator, you’ve said this before, but I think it’s important. We’re number one in Milwaukee. We’ve got a massive audience all over your state. We’re talking about a fine razor’s edge decision here for the people of Wisconsin. It’s gonna be a close race.

What would you tell people out there — they may be your supporters, but there’s a lot of independent people, to your point, who may not pay a lot of attention on a day-to-day basis. They know that you have been — and I think it’s fair to say — targeted by the same people who tried to target President Trump in 2020. There are a lot of people who don’t want you asking those questions in the Senate.

What would you tell your supporters to tell people who may not know enough about you, what they can say to help get more supporters in this tent, given how close this election’s gonna be?

SEN. JOHNSON: Well, first of all, talk about the main issues that are concerning Wisconsinites. I mean, it is 40-year high inflation, record gasoline prices, rising crime. And we don’t have enough baby formula. There are the open borders that create the lanes for the deadly drugs killing our citizens. It’s all those issues that Democrats cannot talk about.

They can’t defend their record; so, all they have are lies, character assassination, and the politics of personal destruction. So, in terms of defending myself, I’ve got a pretty good record of accomplishment in the U.S. Senate. I’m the guy that made sure that more than 20 million business tax filers got a tax cut. Without me, only 5% of American businesses, C cops would have got a tax cut.

I’m the guy ’cause I’m a private sector guy. I’m a small business guy, I recognized that and dug my heels in ’til that happened. I championed the right-to-try law, which is saving people’s lives and, you know, we’re doing something in Wisconsin calls the Jolson Project which is transforming lives.

People formerly incarcerated, drug and alcohol abusers by getting them good-paying jobs, manufacturing, and it’s transforming their lives. So, I’ve got a great track record. I’m what you really want in a member of Congress. I lived a full life, raised a family, had a full career in manufacturing. I didn’t ship jobs overseas. I shipped plastics to China. Okay.

I’m an accountant. We’re $30.8 trillion in debt. You need somebody who understands numbers. Not enough people here do that. And also need somebody who has the courage to tell people the truth relentlessly. So again, I — you know, I think the choice is quite obvious. But Mandela Barnes is gonna hide from Wisconsinites who he is and the mainstream media is gonna back him all the way.

BUCK: Senator Ron Johnson, where can people go to help out, donate, do what they can?

SEN. JOHNSON: RonJohnsonforSenate.com. And if you want to find out the truth, WisFacts.com, w-i-s, f-a-c-t-s, I write up all the rebuttals to, you know, the major lies. It’s kind of hard to keep track of all of them. But RonJohnsonforSenate.com. And again, they spent well over $50 million smearing me and lying about me; so, I’m going to need (unintelligible) to help counter those lies.

BUCK: Well, you’ve got a lot of Wisconsinites listening now, and I think they recognize how important it is that we keep you in the Senate. Thank you, Senator.

SEN. JOHNSON: God bless you. Have a great day.

CLAY: We got get that guy back in the Senate. He’ll ask tough questions and he’ll fight the battles that matter. Buck and I obviously are endorsing him full-throated appeal. I hope that many of you in Wisconsin will do the same.