Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Gary Peters of Michigan got in a heated spat over whether Peters was accusing Johnson of pushing Russian disinformation.
The spat between the Republican chairman and the Democratic ranking member of the committee broke out during a Wednesday hearing in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about election integrity.
Peters had asked expert witness Chris Krebs (the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within the Department of Homeland Security whom President Trump fired last month after Krebs declared the 2020 election the “most secure in American history”) how foreign adversaries such as Russia are “taking advantage of false claims of broad election fraud by the President.”
That question appears to have reminded Johnson of claims from Democrats during the election season that he and other Republicans cited alleged Russian disinformation in other congressional investigations.
“I can’t sit by here and listen to this,” Johnson said. “This is not disinformation. This hearing today, this is getting information we have to take a look at to restore confidence in our election integrity.”
Peters protested, and the two men raised their voices at each other.
“You lied repeatedly in the press that I was spreading Russian disinformation,” Johnson said to Peters. “I told you to stop lying, and you continue to do it.”
“This is not about airing your grievances,” Peters shot back. “I don’t know what rabbit hole you’re running down.”
The Michigan senator later added, “This is terrible what you’re doing to this committee.”
“It is what you have done this committee,” Johnson responded. “Falsely accusing the chairman of spreading disinformation — nothing could have been further from the truth.”
At the beginning of the committee hearing, Johnson’s last hearing as chairman, the Wisconsin Republican said that he regrets the “rancorous” nature of some of the committee investigations and hearings under his leadership.
