BREAKING: Ron Johnson Didn’t Subpoena a Drug Manufacturer. Then it Donated to His Campaign
MADISON, Wis. — A new report revealed that Ron Johnson received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a giant pharmaceutical company after he tried blocking an investigation into their role in the opioid epidemic.
The Cap Times: Ron Johnson didn’t subpoena a drug manufacturer. Then it donated to his campaign
Key Points:
- Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, while serving as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in 2018, declined to subpoena Teva Pharmaceuticals as part of a Democrat-led investigation of the drugmaker’s role in the opioid epidemic.
- In the months to follow, Teva would donate to both Johnson’s campaign and an affiliated PAC.
- The subpoena would have been on behalf of former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat and ranking member of the committee who was leading a probe into several drug manufacturers and distributors exploring the companies’ role in the epidemic.
- McCaskill accused Teva, which was voluntarily providing information as part of her inquiry, of “stonewalling” her work.
- In May 2018, a spokeswoman for the Israeli drugmaker rejected that claim, telling Stat News the company had “worked with her to give her everything that she’s asked, minus a few things.”
- McCaskill asked Johnson to issue a subpoena to Teva to compel the company to produce any omitted information. In a January 2018 letter, the senator from Wisconsin declined to do so, saying he wasn’t convinced the drug manufacturer wasn’t cooperating.
- In the year and a half after the public disagreement between Johnson and McCaskill, Teva’s political action committee made two donations, totaling $3,500, to Johnson’s campaign and an affiliated PAC.
- On Dec. 5, 2018, Teva donated $2,500 to Johnson’s leadership PAC, Strategy PAC.
- Nine months later, on Sept. 30, 2019, Teva then donated $1,000 directly to Johnson’s campaign.
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