TAPPER: So in addition to the transcripts which hopefully you will push for to be released as well, I'm wondering, did you also ask to declassify the reports that justify why these unmaskings were requested and approved? Because just listing the names and dates and the fact that it resulted in the unmasking of General Flynn, we don't know what this is about. Obviously he was an unregistered foreign agent for Turkey at the time. He later registered retroactively. So there are a whole bunch of questions that people might have had. Are you going to ask for that to be released as well, the justifications?

JOHNSON: One thing we found out is the FBI was ready to close the file on General Flynn on January 4th, because they found nothing. You mentioned those other possibilities. They didn't find anything wrong. They were going to close the file until the 7th floor, that's James Comey's office, kinda called down and talked to Peter Strzok and said let's keep this open. Then they started talking about the Logan Act and apparently President Obama was aware of this as well. So, there are an awful lot of unanswered questions going back to the text I continue to highlight, December 15, 2016,
Strzok texts Page, "I think our sisters are leaking like mad, scorned, worried and political, they're kicking into overdrive." Our committee conducted a study and it showed 125 leaks in the first 126 days, 62 had to do with national security. That compares with eight under the Obama administration. Something is amiss here. Something was going wrong. I don't know exactly what happened, we're getting a clear picture of it. I think the chickens are coming home to roost. Hopefully myself with the other Senators --

TAPPER: What does that mean -- obviously there are questions about FBI behavior, Peter Strzok was fired, Lisa Page resigned. James Comey is no longer on the scene. What exactly are you alleging by the Obama administration? I have yet to see any facts at all supporting this grand conspiracy that the Trump administration is pushing?

JOHNSON: Jake, it's because a lot of members of the media have not been asking the questions or looking. Let's face it, there were selective leaks that ramped up this entire Russian collusion hoax, and it was a hoax. Who's theory recipients of the leaks? 18 different outlets.

TAPPER: I don't know what you mean by a hoax.

JOHNSON: I would like to see members of the press looking into the leaks and how this story got spun up as a result of the special council to put this country through three years of a mini constitutional crisis. That's what I would like to see.

TAPPER: Senator, it's not a hoax that the Russians attempted to interfere in the 2016 election. You know that.

JOHNSON: They put Russian disinformation into the Steele dossier that was bought and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. That is what they found out, Jake, you gotta look at the evidence.

TAPPER: I'm not disputing it, I'm not disputing the idea we don't know what was in the Steele dossier or whether it was disinformation. But that's not what I'm talking about. You're suggesting the entire Russian interference campaign was a hoax, it was not. The Senate Intelligence Committee run by a Republican has concluded it was not. Every single. inspector general of the intelligence community and of all these agencies said it was not a hoax. The Russians were trying to interfere.

JOHNSON: The hoax was that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The disinformation that Russia put into the 2016 campaign flowed through the Steele dossier and Hillary Clinton. I'm not trying to deny Russia they tried to intervene in our election.