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The campaign of Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running to unseat U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, declared Tuesday that the Republican incumbent "is bought and paid for by Big Pharma."
That charge came in response to Johnson's Monday comments about Medicare negotiating the cost of certain prescription drugs, which is included in the Inflation Reduction Act that U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law Tuesday afternoon.
Appearing on "The Brian Kilmeade Show," Johnson told the Fox News host that "when you start punishing the pharmaceutical industry, you're gonna have less innovation; you're gonna have fewer lifesaving drugs. That's not a good thing."
Barnes—who won the Democratic primary last week—said Tuesday that "while Ron Johnson is worried about protecting the bottom lines of big pharmaceutical companies, I'm worried about working families across Wisconsin who are forced to choose between putting food on the table or affording the medication they need."
"For over a decade, Ron Johnson has put big corporations and his wealthy donors before the working people he was elected to represent," he asserted. "In the Senate, I'll hold Big Pharma accountable and ensure every Wisconsinite has a fair shot."
The progressive Democrat's campaign also highlighted recent reporting by The Cap Times that Johnson, while chairing the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 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 that followed, the company donated to both Johnson's campaign and an affiliated political action committee (PAC).
Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning told the Madison-based newspaper that the "senator appreciates the support that people offer, but he doesn't personally track who gives what, and donations never impact his views on issues or how he votes." She added that asking about Teva's contributions "is another politically motivated hit job by the corporate media and cheered on by their allies in the Democrat Party."
Barnes' campaign, meanwhile, said Tuesday:
Ron Johnson has a long history of selling out Wisconsinites in favor of his large corporate donors. Earlier this year, Johnson justified sending 1,000 good-paying, family-sustaining jobs out of Wisconsin by claiming, "It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin." Reporting later showed the company shipping jobs out of state, Oshkosh Corp., "ranks seventh among Johnson's top career contributors."
Johnson, a businessman, was elected to the Senate in 2010 and won a second term in 2016.
In his bid to replace Johnson, Barnes has secured the support of various progressives groups across Wisconsin and the nation along with local, state, and federal elected officials, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
On the healthcare front, Barnes backs not only drug pricing reforms like those in the new law but also putting the United States on a path to universal healthcare by passing Medicare for All legislation at the federal level.
"In the richest nation in the world," the candidate says in a campaign video, "no one should be going bankrupt because of their medical bills."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) search of Mar-a-Lago was specifically focused on the recovery of a "personal 'stash' of hidden documents" reportedly kept by former President Donald Trump, according to two high-ranking U.S. intelligence officials.
Speaking to Newsweek, inside sources shared details about the FBI's investigation. The FBI agents reportedly justified the highly publicized search by going "into Trump's residence on the pretext that they were seeking all government documents, says one official who has been involved in the investigation."
"They collected everything that rightfully belonged to the U.S. government but the true target was these documents that Trump had been collecting since early in his administration," said the source, who spoke anonymously.
A former official for the Trump administration also shared details about the specific documents that were being sought.
"Trump was particularly interested in matters related to the Russia hoax and the wrong-doings of the deep state," one former Trump official told the news outlet. "I think he felt, and I agree, that these are facts that the American people need to know."
Another official, who also opted to remain nameless also weighed in on the classification status of the documents and the legal requirements for those documents.
"All official documents, regardless of classification, are required to be returned to the Archives under the Presidential Records Act," one official said. "And surely the FBI was going about its business of retrieving everything."
READ MORE: Ex-federal prosecutor: DOJ may believe Donald Trump possesses more secret documents
Explaining the sensitive nature of the documents, one official also explained why these documents are particularly important.
"What we're talking about here is not just documents that the Archives was seeking to fulfill the provisions of the Act," one official said. "They were also after some number of documents that they considered more sensitive, but also documents that they felt the former president had no intention to return."
READ MORE: Time to negotiate is 'long gone': Former official explains why the FBI raided Trump
Chicago police investigating whether racist and anti-gay posts on 4chan came from real officer
A person purporting to be a Chicago police officer has been posting on the anonymous message board 4chan in the politics board. It has prompted a conversation over whether the poster is an actual officer, reported Fox23. Users of the site only get a serial number when they post
Many of the posts are racist or homophobic and they include photos of the Chicago police uniforms, ID badge and a gun, but they're covered so that the owner can't be identified.
"The person making the posts claimed to be a military veteran and a beat cop who worked in the Rogers Park and Chicago Lawn police districts. Among other things, the user bragged about racially profiling people and being involved in two on-duty shootings," said the report.
The site has long been a gathering place for antisemitism, racism and white supremacy and far-right extremist ideologies. It became the spot where QAnon launched the conspiracy theories that continue to cause problems for the Republican party and, indeed, law enforcement themselves.
IN OTHER NEWS: How Wisconsin voters are reacting to the Jan. 6 committee revelations about Trump
In 2017 a person claiming to be a high-level government official began posting on the site. According to the person they had "Q-level clearance," which is a clearance level used at the Environmental Protection Agency. Conspiracies persisted throughout former President Donald Trump's administration.
Someone reached out to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to issue a complaint on Monday about the possible officer, which sparked the probe.
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