While Senator Ron Johnson acknowledged that he had received “an FBI briefing” in the summer of 2020, “warning me that I was a target of Russian disinformation,” the Wisconsin Republican went out of his way to say that he found the FBI’s counsel “completely useless and unnecessary.”
That seemed an odd response from a senator who, at the time that the FBI briefed him, was using his position as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to amplify charges that then–Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had, during his previous tenure as vice president, inappropriately sought to influence affairs in Ukraine. Media outlets had carried reports suggesting that those charges were based on Russian disinformation, and now the FBI was offering what it referred to as a “defensive briefing.” But Johnson made no apologies when asked about the matter in the spring of 2021. “Regarding reports that I received an FBI briefing warning me that I was a target of Russian disinformation, I can confirm I received such a briefing in August of 2020,” Johnson said in a statement to The Washington Post.
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