Early 1990s to 2008 In numerous writings and interviews in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Johnson de-emphasized the threat stemming from
terrorism. In 1998, he commented on
Osama bin Laden, saying that bin Laden was possessed by "hatred and craziness", and if left unanswered, "he would continue to terrorize Americans around the world. He has no compunction about killing women and children. He's a complete egalitarian in his murderous attitude." In later interviews (1999, 2000), Johnson said Americans exaggerated the threats stemming from bin Laden. In July 2001, two months before the
September 11 attacks, In May 2003, Johnson joined members of
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) in condemning the manipulation of intelligence for political purposes. Johnson became a strong critic of the
Bush administration in May 2003 for its conduct of the
war in Iraq and, a few months later, for its role in the outing of CIA operative
Valerie Plame Wilson. In a July 2006 post at
Daily Kos, Johnson harshly criticized ex-CIA analyst
Michael Scheuer (calling him, among other things, "a vicious little prick") and called
Israel's invasion of Lebanon "stupid."
2008 to present Michelle Obama hoax According to
The New York Times, Johnson is "best known for spreading a
hoax... in 2008 that
Michelle Obama had been videotaped using a
slur against Caucasians". On May 16, 2008, Johnson posted an item entitled, "Will Barack Throw Mama From the Train?" which alleged that a tape existed of Michelle Obama "railing against 'whitey' at
Jeremiah Wright's church." Johnson claimed that
Republicans were in possession of the tape and it "is being held for the fall to drop at the appropriate time." In a subsequent post, Johnson claimed that Obama's appearance had occurred when she was on a panel with
Louis Farrakhan. He also explained that he himself had not seen the tape, but had spoken with "five separate sources who have spoken directly with people who have seen the tape." The Obama campaign's "Fight the Smears" website denied the rumor, saying, "No such tape exists. Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word." On October 21, 2008, Johnson said that, according to one of his sources, the
McCain campaign "intervened and requested the tape not be used."
War crime accusations against John Kerry In 2013, Johnson falsely accused
John Kerry of war crimes in Vietnam, alleging that Kerry had "raped some poor Vietnamese woman." To support his claim, Johnson used a
YouTube video that contained audio clips from a 1971 debate on
The Dick Cavett Show between
John Kerry and
John O'Neill. The original interview audio was altered to piece together words that Kerry spoke at different times during the debate, falsely making it sound as if he said, "I personally raped for pleasure." When the falsehood was exposed by a reader of Johnson's blog, Johnson deleted the article without apology.
Allegations that British intelligence wiretapped Donald Trump In March 2017,
Andrew Napolitano said on
Fox & Friends that
GCHQ,
Britain's
signals intelligence service, had
wiretapped
Donald Trump's
2016 presidential campaign on orders from President Obama. Johnson was the source for Napolitano's claim.
Sean Spicer, President Trump's
press secretary, repeated the claim. Since Russia launched its
full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Johnson has made regular appearances on Russian media and expressed support for its war effort. He has been cited hundreds of times in pro-Kremlin Russian media, including
Izvestia, Sputnik, and
RIA Novosti. In March 2025, Johnson was one of three media personalities invited to interview Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
2026 Iran War On April 20, 2026, Johnson was a guest on a podcast hosted by
Andrew Napolitano during the
2026 Iran war. He claimed that
Donald Trump had attempted to access
nuclear weapons launch codes during an emergency White House meeting, but that General
Dan Caine, who is
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had intervened to prevent Trump from gaining access to the launch codes. The allegation
went viral and was spread across many social media platforms.
Newsweek magazine stated that "no credible news organization or government official has verified that nuclear launch authority was ever invoked" and
Business Times wrote that "fact-checkers say there is no verified evidence that such an incident occurred." The UK edition of the
International Business Times observed that "Unverified claims about nuclear decision-making carry real weight in a live conflict." ==Notes==