Sen. Johnson: 'All whistleblowers are not created equal'

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Sen. Johnson: All whistleblowers are not created equal

Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says he believes whistleblowers deserve protection against retaliation.

Every whistleblower cannot expect the same level of secrecy and anonymity in their case, because they are not all created equal, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Thursday on "America's Newsroom."

"I really do believe the whistleblowers deserve protection against retaliation," he said. "But at the same time, all whistleblowers are not created equal. I've learned that in my nine years here in the Senate. Some whistleblowers have an ax to grind. Some people have a political ax to grind."

Johnson argued that it's not a "particularly reasonable expectation" that the whistleblower would remain anonymous given the allegations leveled against the president.

"If the whistleblower had come out against a Democrat, his or her name would have been leaked to every corner of the media, he added.

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"I don't know what is going on right now in the press," he said. "I've certainly read accounts on who the likely whistleblower is, but, for whatever reason, the press isn't reporting that... To a certain extent, that shows bias. If this were a whistleblower against a Democrat they would probably have that whistleblower's name plastered all over the place in the New York Times."

Johnson singled out House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for making false statements and said the GOP won't stop searching for the origin of the impeachment probe.

"How this complaint was lodged, the false statements by Congressman Schiff in terms of his committee not having access to the whistleblower. -- how this complaint even got brought to the attention of Congress, I think that's part of the process that we do need to take a look at when we evaluate the entire situation," he said.

Johnson responded to Republican Sen. John Kennedy's claim that Republicans may seek to question Joe Biden and his son Hunter to explore their connections with Ukraine, in the interest of conducting a full and thorough investigation.

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"I do not think it is possible to fairly litigate this entire issue without answering a second very straightforward question," Kennedy said. "What did Hunter Biden do for the money? And I don't think any of us have the answer to that. But I predict we will before this is over with."