Johnson and Grassley blast colleagues for 'false narratives' about oversight investigation

Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent letters to two of their Democratic colleagues, lambasting them for claiming that an investigation regarding U.S. policy in Ukraine during the Obama presidency is tainted by Russian disinformation—Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut are the recipients of the August 20 letters.

The investigation that the Democrats have said is poisoned by Russian disinformation pertains to possible conflicts of interest in America's Ukraine policy when Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter served on the board of Burisma.

A press release says that the two Democratic senators have "falsely claimed that Grassley and Johnson are relying on information from Andriy Derkach as part of their ongoing oversight, despite the chairmen’s clear denials of having any communication with Derkach."

The Republican Senators in their letters said that as far as they know the sole instance of disinformation injected into the investigation has come from Democrats.

"Regarding reports that we have received 'packages' of information from certain Ukrainian nationals – that is false. Further, the only relevant disinformation that we are aware of are documents that Minority Leader Schumer, Senator Warner, Speaker Pelosi, and Chairman Schiff referenced in their recent letter that your Democratic colleagues have introduced into our investigation," the senators wrote in the letters to their Democratic colleagues.  

"For example, the Schumer letter references a document, created by a Ukrainian national that mentions our names along with other Republican senators and administration officials, to suggest falsely that we might have received information from this individual.  Liberal media outlets have picked up that reference, clearly from a leak, even though we have not received any information from that person, including tapes, and we have publicly and privately stated as much.  To repeat, the only document in our investigation that has been described as disinformation is a document that your Democratic colleagues, not us, introduced into the record.  If you and your colleagues are so concerned about disinformation, why do you continue to promote it?" Johnson and Grassley asked.