ARGUMENT: Useful idiotsHow Sen. Ron Johnson’s Investigation Became an Enabler of Russian Disinformation: Part I

Published 11 August 2020

Senator Ron Johnson’s investigations involving Ukraine have become a conduit of Russian disinformation, Ryan Goodman and Asha Rangappa write. Johnson has been warned before about being used as a vehicle for Russia disinformation, but chose not to heed those warnings. Goodman and Rangappa write: “Part of the Kremlin’s effort is to drive a wedge between Ukraine and the United States, part is to sow political discord inside the United States, and another part is, as now confirmed publicly by the U.S. intelligence community, to support Trump’s re-election bid. Johnson has enabled all three.”

Senator Ron Johnson’s investigations involving Ukraine have become a conduit of Russian disinformation, Ryan Goodman and Asha Rangappa write in Just Security.

Earlier this month, Johnson defended himself on a local Wisconsin news station, and on Monday, 10 August, the senator published an 11-page defense of his actions. Goodman and Rangappa write that the senator surely knows better, and his 11-page document reveals it. They add:

the letter itself contains apparent products of Russian disinformation. And while Johnson denies taking information directly from two specific Ukrainians linked to Russia and its disinformation efforts, he makes no mention of his staff taking information directly from one of those individuals’ principal collaborators, which  reportedly occurred over the course of several months.

Fellow Republican Senators — including the previous and current Chairs of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sens. Richard Burr and Marco Rubio — have warned Senators Johnson and Chuck Grassley that their Ukraine investigations could aid the Kremlin. Johnson and Grassley appear committed to going further down that path regardless, taking some of their Republican colleagues down with him.

Goodman and Rangappa provide a roadmap for understanding this Russian disinformation operation currently in progress, a clever Russian campaign which uses U.S. elected officials as a vehicle. They note that Johnson has been warned before about being used as a vehicle for Russia disinformation, but chose not to heed those warnings.

In late October or November 2019, the FBI reportedly warned senators that the conspiracy alleging Ukraine interference in the 2016 election was part of a years-long campaign by the Kremlin. As for the Russian channels of spreading disinformation, the FBI reportedly explained that “Russian intelligence officers conveyed the information to prominent Russians and Ukrainians who then used a range of intermediaries, like oligarchs, businessmen and their associates, to pass the material to American political figures and even some journalists,” the New York Times reported.

On 21 November 2019, in a powerful moment during the impeachment hearings, former senior White House official Fiona Hill directly explained how members of Congress’ perpetuating these narratives in defense of Trump enabled the Kremlin’s disinformation operations. On the conspiracy that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, Hill said, “This is a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.” “I would ask that you please not promote politically derivative falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests … we need to be very careful as we discuss all of these issues not to give them more fodder that they can use against us in 2020,” she stated in her prepared remarks.

It was in a 5 December 2019 meeting that then-Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr privately told Johnson and Grassley that their investigation targeting Biden could aid Russian efforts.

Other experts on the Kremlin’s disinformation agree. “It’s in Russia’s interest to amplify this issue because it wants Ukraine to be undermined,” Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert at the nonpartisan Wilson Center, told the Associated Press earlier this year.

Goodman and Rangappa conclude: “Part of the Kremlin’s effort is to drive a wedge between Ukraine and the United States, part is to sow political discord inside the United States, and another part is, as now confirmed publicly by the U.S. intelligence community, to support Trump’s re-election bid. Johnson has enabled all three.”