Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) tried to stick to GOP talking points during a Meet The Press appearance on Sunday, but moderator Chuck Todd wasn’t having any of it.
Todd repeatedly pressed Johnson on the Republican Party’s obsession with investigating Hunter Biden, questioning why the party sought to examine the actions of a private citizen who didn’t appear to have committed a crime.
“Senator, do you have a crime that you think Hunter Biden committed?” Todd asked. “It is not a crime to make money off of your last name.”
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Johnson pointed to a report written by Marco Polo USA, an organization co-founded by former Trump White House adviser Garrett Ziegler (famous for blasting the Jan. 6 committee with profanities and doxxing alleged FBI agents), that alluded to “potential” crimes committed by the younger Biden.
“Let me stop you there,” Todd insisted. “This is potential. Potential is innuendo.”
Johnson tried to characterize his comments as providing “just some information” but Todd would not have it, asking the senator if he was just as bothered by Jared Kushner taking a loan from the Qatari government while working on Middle East policy in the White House.
After an awkward moment of silence, Johnson side-stepped. “I’m concerned about getting to the truth,” he said. “I don’t target individuals. I target the truth.”
When Todd pressed him on the fact that he’d just targeted Hunter Biden repeatedly, Johnson simply changed subjects all together.
“Part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don’t invite me on to interview me. You invite me on to argue with me,” Johnson complained. “[Conservatives] were suppressed. [Conservatives] were censored. [The FBI] interfered in the 2020 election. Conservatives understand that. Unfortunately, liberals and the media don’t. And part of the reasons are our politics are inflamed, is we do not have an unbiased media. We don’t. It’s unfortunate. I’m all for a free press.”
“Look, you can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want,” Todd shot back. “I understand it’s part of your identity.”
