GOP Sen. Ron Johnson keeps popping up in key aspects of Trump's Ukraine scandal

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is continuing to play an unexpectedly key role in President Trump's Ukraine scandal.

Former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko tells The Washington Post he met with Johnson, chair of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, on Capitol Hill for at least a half-hour, as well as with Senate staffers for five hours. During the meeting, they discussed "the DNC issue," Telizhenko said, meaning the unproven claim that the Democratic National Committee worked with Ukraine to help Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. The meeting reportedly took place in July.

The Post notes that this "underscores the GOP senator's involvement" in the Ukraine story as the impeachment inquiry heads toward a Senate trial. The House is investigating whether Trump abused his power by pushing for Ukraine to open investigations that he thought might help him in 2020. As part of efforts to dig up dirt on Democrats, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani also met with Telizhenko, the Post reported in May.

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This meeting "points to Johnson's emerging role as the member of Congress most heavily involved in the Ukraine saga," says the Post. The senator also previously discussed being informed by U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland that Ukraine needed to "get to the bottom of what happened in 2016" in order to receive military aid, though Johnson says Trump denied a quid pro quo.

With that in mind, the Post writes Johnson's "knowledge of key events" in the case may "complicate his role as a juror in a trial by the Senate" and raise the question of whether he'll face calls to recuse himself. Johnson declined to comment on whether he might do so. Read the full report at The Washington Post.