Unanimous Consent Request
Floor Speech
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Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I reserve the right to object.
I want to first point out--I want to thank the previous Presiding Officer for pointing out the fact that if this is not a violation of rule XIX, it is coming pretty darn close.
What you just witnessed here is this: We have witnessed Democrats doing what Democrats do so well, accusing the other side of doing exactly what they do--only 10 times or 100 times worse.
Earlier today, I chaired a business meeting of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, precipitated, created, made necessary by the fact that the ranking member of my committee presented an absurd, ridiculous interpretation of our rules. Based on the subpoena authority I received earlier on June 4, the ranking member said, in order to actually schedule a subpoena or schedule a meeting--a deposition--I could come back for another vote.
During my opening statement of that business meeting, having just described that level of meddling--which, by the way, the ranking member also provided that ridiculous interpretation to our witness, the witness, Jonathan Winer, an individual, by the way, who decided not to cooperate with the Department of Justice inspector general in his report on the FISA abuse. He decided not to show up for his deposition that had been previously scheduled. Having just explained that in my opening statement, I would like to read the next part, which describes the duplicity and the hypocrisy of the Democrats.
I said: The most recent example of this hypocrisy was a letter and classified addendum created by senior Democratic leaders that accused Senator Grassley and me--
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Mr. JOHNSON. I appreciate the warning. I don't think I did that.
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Mr. JOHNSON. Let me continue.
The most recent example is a letter and classified addendum created by senior Democratic leaders that accused Senator Grassley and me of relying on foreign disinformation. This ``intelligence product,'' which was full of false allegations, was produced, classified, and then leaked to the press more than a week before Senator Grassley or I were given access to it. Many in the media dutifully reported this hot tip. Democrats then used those media reports to repeat, distort, and embellish the false charges. This coordinated smear--and that is what you have to call it. It is a coordinated smear which continues today on the floor of the Senate--culminated in an August 7 opinion piece in the Washington Post submitted by Senator Richard Blumenthal.
But John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence, wrote:
I can confirm the IC did not create the classified addendum to the 13 July letter, nor did we authorize its [release].
The foreign information we were falsely accused of receiving--we have a misprint here.
The foreign information we were falsely accused of receiving utilized--purportedly comes from a Ukrainian named Andriy Derkach, who has since been sanctioned by the Treasury Department. Although neither Senator Grassley nor I ever sought, received, or used any information from Mr. Derkach, the media has continued to report otherwise for weeks, despite our repeated and unequivocal denials.
But it is true that a chart produced by Mr. Derkach is now part of our investigatory record, not because of me or Senator Grassley but because Senator Peters' staff introduced it into the record.
So as was the case in the 2016 election, the only foreign disinformation being used to interfere in this investigation has been introduced by Democrats against Republicans and not by Republicans.
Given all the concerns expressed by Democrats over foreign disinformation, it is notable that we have not heard the same concern over disclosure of the Steele dossier containing Russian disinformation. We are aware of this fact because, during the course of this investigation, my chief counsel uncovered it buried in four classified footnotes to the Department of Justice inspector general FISA report. We also know the FBI was aware of this as early as 2016. Think about that. The FBI knew that Russian disinformation was contained in the Steele dossier as early as August of 2016. Yet they continued the investigation, and that investigation spilled over into a special counsel and disrupted America's Government and politics for years.
We also note that the Steele dossier was bought and paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign. Apparently, Democrats are willing to look the other way when they pay for or use disinformation against Republicans.
That is what I read in my opening statement at our business meeting earlier today.
As I look at this resolution, the last ``whereas'' talks about a congressional investigation that alleges the same discredited claims by Derkach. I don't know who Derkach is. As I said earlier, Senator Grassley and I have repeatedly, unequivocally, denied we did not solicit; we did not accept; we did not receive any information from Mr. Derkach whatsoever. Yet Democrats persist in pushing this false allegation.
As a matter of fact, I am not sure our committee has alleged anything yet. About the only thing that I have alleged is the glaring and obvious conflict of interest.
I have to step back here. I just have to give a little history about Ukraine. In February of 2014, Ukrainians, courageous Ukrainians-- basically two factions: one that wanted to integrate closer to the West and the younger Ukrainians who wanted to rid themselves of the corruption of the Soviet legacy--joined together in massive protest on the Maidan. Approximately, February 20, 21, over 80 Ukrainians were slaughtered by snipers protesting to rid Ukraine of corruption and increase their ties to the West.
Less than 2 months later--and I have asked my colleagues: Is there any disinformation here? Is this anything from Russian sources? Two months later, here are the series of events that occurred.
On April 16, 2014, Vice President Biden met with his son's business partner, Devon Archer, at the White House. That is kind of a big deal-- anybody meeting with the Vice President at the White House. Hunter Biden's business partner got to do that.
Five days later, Vice President Biden visited Ukraine. The media described him as the public face of the administration's handling of Ukraine. The next day, April 22, Archer joined the board of Burisma.
Again, Burisma is this company that is owned by what George Kent from the State Department called an ``odious oligarch,'' Mykola Zlochevsky. It is hard to say Ukrainian names.
Six days later, after Archer joined the board, British officials seized $23 million from the London bank accounts of Burisma's owner, Mykola Zlochevsky. Fifteen days later, on May 13, Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma. And over the course of the next, approximately, 4 to 5 years, Hunter and his firms were paid more than $3 million for his and Archer's board participation.
Again, Ukraine had just gone through a revolution. Their leadership was desperate for U.S. support. We all have to believe that Mr. Zlochevsky, an odious oligarch, would have made those Ukrainian officials well aware of the fact that the son of the Vice President of the United States, the public face of the administration's handling of Ukraine, was sitting on his board.
So what kind of signal did that send to Ukrainians who were trying to stand up and were being pressured by U.S. officials to rid their country of corruption? It basically said: If you want U.S. support, don't touch Burisma
The fact is, when all was said and done, Burisma and Mykola Zlochevsky were never held to account. The investigation, the prosecution of him was ceased. It never occurred.
In terms of Russian disinformation, these false charges, these wild claims against me and Senator Grassley--I was way ahead of the curve when it came to Russian disinformation. Back in 2015, as chairman of the European Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I held three hearings focusing on what Russia does to destabilize the politics in countries--an attempted coup in Montenegro and other places in Eastern Europe. So I am well aware of what Russia is doing--well aware. I don't condone it. I condemn it. I am not having any part of pushing it.
But I have to say, for all the crocodile tears the Democrats shed in terms of Russian disinformation, the effects on our politics, I would argue that the Russian disinformation that has been perpetrated on our politics and the effect it has on the election pales in comparison to the false allegations, for example, that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign. It was promoted by Democrats for years, culminating in a special counsel and finally an impeachment. But how Democrats have used and how the media has promoted and carried the water for Democrats all this time has had a far greater effect, by orders of magnitude, in terms of destabilization and affecting the politics and affecting the elections. That is basically the truth.
I would just ask my colleagues and I would ask the American public to take a look at what has really been happening here. The false allegations, the basic playbook the Democrats engage in, time and again, create a false narrative, create a false intelligence product, accuse the other side of things that you are doing tenfold. That is what is happening here.
I, personally, am tired of it.
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Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, a quick response because in my other paper here, I did not have the full quote from John Ratcliffe. I would like to read it now.
This is referring to the intelligence product that senior Democratic leaders created, leaked to the press, accusing Senator Grassley and I, falsely, of receiving information from Andriy Derkach.
John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence, wrote:
I can confirm the IC did not create the classified addendum to the 13 July letter, nor did we authorize its creation. The IC was not consulted prior to its creation and subsequent release to the entire membership of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Then, referring to that addendum, he said it ``by no means reflects the full and complete analysis of the IC.''
I would ask unanimous consent to enter into the Record an article that was published today by John Solomon talking about the extensive-- extensive--contacts by members of the Obama administration in terms of the NSC and the State Department and the Ambassador with Andriy Telizhenko. It is right here.
We have a nice picture of House Member Elliot Engel as well.
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Mr. JOHNSON. The same person they are saying is just this dangerous Russian agent, they were using extensively throughout the Obama administration to set up contacts. He actually had the ability to go to meetings in the White House, and he attended those. This is the person whom now they are saying, because we spoke to him and got a little bit of information from him, we are dealing in Russian disinformation.
If they had that level of concern, why did Democratic lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies employ him for over a year, and why did Democrats deal with him so frequently during the Obama administration?
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