WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 03: Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) holds up a redacted document during a hearing about the Crossfire Hurricane investigation in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 03, 2020 in Washington, DC. Crossfire Hurricane is the code name for the FBI's 2016 counterintelligence investigation into possible links between President Donald Trump's associates and Russian officials. A Justice Department Inspector General report found no political bias in the initiation of the investigation, which resulted in the Mueller Report finding that the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with the Russian government. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) drew the audience’s laughter during a debate when he said he had been “set up” by the FBI.
Johnson is known for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories. He made the allegation in response to an attack by his Democrat opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, that the Kremlin was trying to turn him into a “Russian asset.”
In 2020, the FBI provided a briefing to Johnson about how influential politicians had been targeted to spread falsehoods intended to damage Joe Biden in his campaign for the White House.
“In response to the wild charge of the Lt. Gov. Barnes, the FBI set me up,” Johnson said, being interrupted by audience members laughing.
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The senator claimed the FBI report was a “corrupt briefing.”
He confirmed he was warned by the agency in August 2020 in an interview.
Johnson, a fierce Donald Trump‘s ally, is the incumbent senator in Wisconsin and faces Barnes, the Democratic challenger in the November election.
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