Senator Johnson Tells Newsmax: Obama was ‘Fully Aware’ of Influence Peddling

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Newsmax Saturday that a “full investigation” of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings should include scrutiny of former President Barack Obama because he was “fully aware of a lot of this.”

“I know individuals in the Obama State Department were fully well aware of [Hunter Biden’s alleged influence peddling],” Johnson said during an appearance on Newsmax’s “America Right Now.” 

“Let’s face it. President Obama was briefed, together with Vice President Biden, by then-CIA Director John Brennan about the scheme that the Hillary Clinton campaign had to accuse the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia.”

“They were briefed about that in August of 2016,” he continued.

“President Obama knew full well that the Russian collusion scheme false narrative was a hoax. It was false. And yet he allowed the investigation to go forward. They certainly set up Michael Flynn so that he would never be involved in the Trump White House because he was just too dangerous. He knew too much. And so they totally took the legs out from underneath Gen. Flynn. I think Obama is fully aware of a lot of this and is as corrupt when it comes to this episode as so much of federal law enforcement and certainly the Biden family.”

After acknowledging in June the existence of some 5,400 emails and electronic records associated with then-Vice President Joe Biden’s use of alias email accounts, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) missed the Aug. 31 deadline to turn over the documents to the House Oversight Committee, which is conducting the Hunter Biden probe.

Last week, NARA said it sent the tranche of documents over to the Biden White House and former President Barack Obama, requesting permission to release the records to the Oversight Committee.

“Sen. Grassley and I have written multiple letters, three to the White House, starting in the summer of 2021, asking for those same documents that were written, those emails under the pseudonym of Joe Biden,” Johnson said.

“So, this is something the White House has been aware of and they’ve been stonewalling us. I think it’s interesting, during our 2020 investigation, we requested documents from the National Archives that President Obama also had to sign off on and he signed off on it. He allowed the National Archives to release that. I don’t know why he’s not allowing to release them now.”

“That’s one of the reasons you’d probably have an impeachment inquiry,” he continued. “That really signals, for example, to the courts, that the Congress is doing its constitutional oversight, its constitutional duty, when it comes to impeachment and it allows those subpoenas to become much more enforceable by the courts.”