Special consul Robert Mueller was “appointed too soon” and his Russia probe has hampered congressional investigations on the issue on Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election, Sen. Ron Johnson said Sunday.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” the Wisconsin Republican asserted “the public's right to know… trumps everything else.”
“What I've always said about it was, the special counsel was named far too soon,” he said. “I would've much rather had the Senate and House Intelligence Committees complete their report. There are completely different goals of a special counsel versus congressional oversight.”
“When you have a criminal investigation, it's that much more difficult for Congress to get the information, to allow the American public to understand what's happening,” he added.
Johnson replied “yes… absolutely” when asked if the probes by the Senate and House were being hampered by the Mueller investigation.
“My concern with special counsel Mueller is he's so close to the FBI,” he said of the agency’s former director.
Johnson also hailed President Donald Trump’s plan to sit down with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un as a good idea — but warned that “it's extremely important that China is fully involved. “
“I think it was actually good that Kim Jong Un met with President Xi [Jinping], who cannot be happy with” Kim’s missile testing, Johnson said.
“So President Xi, it is not in China's best interest [for] North Korea to have nuclear capability combined with ICBM and start proliferating throughout the region.”
He added the United States should also “maintain” sanctions against the North.
“We met with defectors,” he said. “And as much as it's hurting North Korean people, their advice to us is, maintain the pressure. Ratchet it up. It's the only thing that's going to solve this problem without… military conflict.”