The Trump administration wouldn’t offer up any officials on the Sunday political shows to defend Donald Trump. The closest one show got was Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wi). He appeared on Meet The Press and to put it mildly, it didn’t go well. Johnson seemed like a logical guest because the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that “he was told by an American diplomat in August that the release of U.S. aid to Ukraine was contingent on an investigation desired by President Trump.” One would assume that’s why Meet The Press booked him, but it was clear Johnson didn’t want to talk about Trump and Ukraine. Instead, he kept pivoting to conspiracy theories totally unrelated to Ukraine. Somehow Johnson found a way to blame the media, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Hillary Clinton, and others.

NBC News writes:

The combative interview prompted frustration from Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who followed Johnson’s interview.

“Ron’s a good friend, but I’m deeply scared by the positioning that Republicans have chosen to take. That interview was just a giant green light to the president of the United States to continue to solicit foreign interference in U.S. elections,” he said.

“This is wild, the lengths to which Republicans are going to try to avoid being criticized by this president.”

https://twitter.com/GovHowardDean/status/1180834266588045312

Watch the full interview here.