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Senator Ron Johnson Lays Into ‘Meet The Press’ Host, Accuses Him of Bias

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and NBC “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd have gotten into arguments before but this most recent one may be the most contentious.

On Sunday Johnson and Todd clashed when Todd pressed the senator on why he is focused on Hunter Biden and the senator shredded him, and the rest of the media, for what he says was a partisan bias.

“Senator, senator, do you have a crime that you think Hunter Biden committed because I’ve yet to see anybody explain. It is not a crime to make money off of your last name,” the host said.

“So, Chuck, you ought to read the Marco Polo report, where they detail all kinds of potential crimes. You know, Senator Grassley has certainly uncovered the –,” the senator said before Todd interrupted him.

“Oh, hold on, let me stop you there. Potential. This is — senator, potential is innuendo,” he said.

“About, about, about, about, $30,000 –,” Johnson said before Todd again interrupted.

“This is why you do investigations,” he said.

“I mean, Chuck, is it a crime to be soliciting and purchasing prostitution in potentially European sex trafficking operations? Is that a crime? Because Chuck Grassley and I laid out about $30,000 paid by Hunter Biden to those types of individuals over December of 2018, 2019, about $30,000. That’s about the same time that President Biden offered to pay about $100,000 of Hunter Biden’s bills. I mean, again, that’s just some information. I don’t know exactly if it’s a crime,” the senator said.

And then the two started talking over each other, as was a theme during the interview.

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CHUCK TODD: Here’s what I don’t get. All right, Senator —

SEN. RON JOHNSON: It doesn’t really look — it sounds sleazy as you know what.

CHUCK TODD: I’ll — I’ll take you, I’ll take you at your word that you’re ethically bothered by Hunter Biden. I’m curious, though, you seem to have a pattern —

SEN. RON JOHNSON: Are you not? Are you not?

CHUCK TODD: You seem to have a pattern. I’m a journalist. I have to deal in facts.

SEN. RON JOHNSON: Are you not?

CHUCK TODD: I deal in facts. Senator, my question to you is, I’m always worried, I have skepticism of both parties. I sit here with skepticism of a lot of people’s work —

SEN. RON JOHNSON: So do I.

I’m curious, are you, were you at all concerned? This — Senate Democrats want to investigate Jared Kushner’s loan from the Qatari government when he was working in the government negotiating many things in the Middle East. Are you not as concerned about — are you not concerned about that? And I say that because it seems to me if you’re concerned about what Hunter Biden did, you should be equally outraged about what Jared Kushner did,” the host said.

“I’m, I’m concerned about getting the truth. I don’t target individuals, target individuals. I target the truth,” the senator said before arguing began again.

“You don’t? You’re targeting Hunter Biden multiple times on this show, Senator,” the host said. “You’re targeting an individual.”

“Chuck, Chuck. My concern — you know, Chuck. You know, part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don’t invite me on to interview me, you invite me on to argue with me. You know, I’m just trying to lay out the facts that certainly Senator Grassley and I uncovered. They were suppressed. They were censored. They interfered in the 2020 election. Conservatives understand that. Unfortunately, liberals in the media don’t. And that’s part of the things that — part of the reasons our politics are inflamed is we do not have an unbiased media. We don’t. It’s unfortunate. I’m all for free press,” the senator said.

CHUCK TODD:

Well, Senator —

SEN. RON JOHNSON:

It needs to be more unbiased.

CHUCK TODD:

Senator, look, this is —

SEN. RON JOHNSON:

There’s misinformation on both sides —

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CHUCK TODD:

Look, go to partisan —

SEN. RON JOHNSON:

— but the censorship and suppression –

CHUCK TODD:

Senator — Senator — look, we’re trying to do issues here and facts.

SEN. RON JOHNSON:

Test your skills with this Quiz!

— primarily occurs on the left.

CHUCK TODD:

Partisan cable —

SEN. RON JOHNSON:

It’s frustrating.

Look, you can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it’s part of your identity,” Todd said.

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