Chuck Todd Accuses Sen. Ron Johnson Of Raising ‘Fox News Conspiracy Theories’ To Defend Trump

Chuck Todd interviewed Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) yesterday on his Sunday morning show Meet The Press. The discussion was supposed to be about Johnson’s remarks on Friday to the Wall Street Journal that he “winced” on learning from the U.S.’s European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland of the telephone conversation between President Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Johnson had discovered from Sondland that Trump told Zelensky he would only transfer financial aid to Ukraine for its military defense against Russia only after it proceeded with investigations in the allegations of meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections and the financial dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden‘s son, Hunter Biden.

Johnson, Chairman of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday that Trump had denied any quid pro quo in his dealings with the Ukrainians.

SLIDESHOW: TOP DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020

When asked about the story, Johnson attacked Todd and the mainstream media as biased and brought up an unrelated conspiracy theory about text messages between FBI agents Peter Stzrok and Lisa Page during the Hillary Clinton email probe. Todd hit back saying Johnson was regurgitating “Fox News propaganda.”

In the next interview, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) said he was terrified by the insular and petty partisanship on display in the Johnson interview.