GOP Senator Johnson has direct knowledge of the situation.
Top House Republicans have requested information about President Donald Trump’s Ukraine dealings from GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, according to a letter sent to the senator over the weekend, CNNreported.
The request came from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee.
“Accordingly, because the Democrats have abandoned fundamental fairness and objectivity in their ‘impeachment inquiry,’ we reluctantly write to request any firsthand information you have about President Trump’s actions toward Ukraine between April and September 2019,” the letter read.
Johnson said he does not expect to be called to testify before the intelligence committee, but he will provide written information detailing his knowledge of the subject being investigated for potential impeachment.
“They’re not going to call me because certainly Adam Schiff wouldn’t want to be called by the Senate,” Johnson said on “Meet the Press.”
“There’s going to be a separation there, but I think I will reply to that and I will supply my telling of events which is difficult to do in eight to 10 minutes on a show like this.”
Johnson attended the inauguration of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky with a delegation that included former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, EU ambassador Gordon Sondland, and former Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker. Johnson was also involved in a debriefing on Ukraine with the aforementioned officials and President Trump.
According to Johnson, Sondland told him that the president was making security aid to Ukraine conditional upon a public announcement of investigations by Ukraine. Johnson said he asked President Trump about the issue, and the president denied any such conditions.
“So, I’m the one that raised the issue from my phone call with Gordon Sondland the day before, where he described some type of— something that Ukraine had to do before President Trump would release the funding,” Johnson told CNN. “And when I brought up that scenario, President Trump immediately — and I have described as adamantly and vehemently — denied it.”
Sondland and Volker are among those who will testify publicly during the second week of impeachment inquiry hearings, beginning Tuesday.
House Republicans are asking Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who has defended President Trump’s handling of Ukraine, to provide information in the impeachment inquiry.
In a letter sent to Johnson on Saturday, Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Devin Nunes(Calif.), the top Republicans in the impeachment investigation, called for Johnson to provide any firsthand information relevant to the inquiry.
“According to information obtained during the Democrats’ ‘impeachment inquiry’ and news reports, you have firsthand information about facts at issue in this inquiry,” the two wrote in the letter.
The letter noted that Johnson was a part of the U.S. delegation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration earlier this year, as well as part of a debriefing by that delegation of Trump. It also said Johnson had held conversations with several witnesses in the impeachment inquiry, including acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordan Sondland, who will testify Wednesday.
“You also participated in phone calls with Ambassador Sondland and President Trump, and a meeting with President Zelensky, Senator [Chris] Murphy [(D-Conn.)], and Ambassador Taylor in Kyiv on September 5. These events are relevant to the ‘impeachment inquiry,’” the letter said.
Johnson defended the president during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, stating that he does not believe U.S. security assistance to Ukraine was contingent on the country publicly announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
“I got a letter last night from Jordan and Nunes asking for, basically, my telling of events. I’ll be working on that today. I will lay out what I know,” he said, adding that he does not believe he will be called before the House Intelligence Committee to testify.
Sondland in closed-door testimony to the Intelligence Committee has linked the security assistance to investigations, and other witnesses have also drawn a link between the two. The security assistance was eventually sent to Ukraine, but only after a lengthy delay that unnerved officials in Ukraine and the Trump administration.
Jordan and Nunes blasted the inquiry as “one-sided, partisan, and fundamentally unfair” in their letter.