September 23, 2020
THEY HAVE TO TRANSLATE THE TRANSCRIPTS OUT OF CYRILLIC...:
"Political hit job": GOP's Biden report littered with debunked claims and "Russian disinformation" (IGOR DERYSH, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020, Salon)
Democrats expressed concerns during the investigation that Johnson's probe relied on Russian misinformation aimed at hurting Biden. The GOP report devoted 10 of its 87 pages to countering allegations that their probe had fueled a Russian disinformation effort.Democrats said the Republicans advanced a narrative pushed by sanctioned pro-Russia Ukrainian lawmaker Andrii Derkach, who provided information to the committee. The report claimed that Johnson and Grassley "did not receive" and were "unaware of" the information sent by the lawmaker, arguing that "it is impossible that Derkach's efforts could have shaped the committees' investigation in any way."But Politico noted that Johnson's allegations "mirror those pushed by Derkach." The Ukrainian lawmaker also met with Trump attorney Rudy GIuliani, who led the off-book investigation in Ukraine which ultimately led to Trump's impeachment.Johnson also had contact with former Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko, who worked for Blue Star Strategies, a lobbying firm that represented Burisma, and advanced the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.The report cited "confidential sources" nearly 100 times, whose identities remain unclear. Republicans also did not immediately release transcripts from witness interviews, instead only releasing selective quotes from the interviews.Democrats slammed Republicans for withholding the transcripts. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said releasing the report without simultaneously releasing the transcripts was a "direct violation" of rules that weakened "the committee's ability to effectively carry out its responsibilities on behalf of the public in the future."
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 23, 2020 9:48 PM
