Sen. Ron Johnson Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - Trump previews SCOTUS nominee as 'totally brilliant' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Ginsburg lies in repose CHC leaders urge Senate to oppose Chad Wolf nomination MORE (R-Wis.) on Sunday dismissed testimony from current and former White House officials that contradicted President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE, saying it was “just their impression” of the situation.

Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper Jacob (Jake) Paul TapperThe media's misleading use of COVID-19 data Julia Louis-Dreyfus: 'We can't spend much time grieving' Ginsburg Pence aide dismisses concerns rushed vote on Trump nominee will hurt vulnerable senators MORE on “State of the Union” that he believed Trump wanted aid withheld from Ukraine was because the president perceived the country and its officials as corrupt and not worthy of American taxpayer dollars.

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The Wisconsin senator said he confronted the president when U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told him that aid was contingent on “something Ukraine had to do.”

“When I brought up that scenario, President Trump immediately — and I described as — adamantly and vehemently denied it,” Johnson said.

Sen. Ron Johnson on his phone call with President Trump on August 31 discussing Ukraine aid: "I was trying to get him to give me the clearance to tell President Zelensky the aid was going to be provided. And so when I asked him that, he was, again, very consistent" #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/bKohXUWdY1 — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 10, 2019

Tapper then asked Johnson about the testimony from Sondland, former presidential aide Fiona Hill and Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. The CNN host brought up Hill’s indication that the mention of corruption “was code” to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenFormer Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick Bloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida MORE and his son.

“Well again, that’s their impression,” Johnson said. “I’ve never heard the president say, ‘I want to dig up dirt on a potential 2020 opponent.’ What I’ve always heard was the president was consistently concerned about is what happened in 2016.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiDemocratic senator to party: 'A little message discipline wouldn't kill us' Overnight Health Care: New wave of COVID-19 cases builds in US | Florida to lift all coronavirus restrictions on restaurants, bars | Trump stirs questions with 0 drug coupon plan Overnight Defense: Appeals court revives House lawsuit against military funding for border wall | Dems push for limits on transferring military gear to police | Lawmakers ask for IG probe into Pentagon's use of COVID-19 funds MORE (D-Calif.) launched an impeachment inquiry into President Trump after a whistleblower report detailed him asking the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden and his son days after withholding military aid.

Since then, several former and current Trump officials have testified behind closed doors in front of House impeachment investigators, with several backing up allegations that Ukraine aid was held up until the country committed to examining the Bidens. Witnesses are scheduled to publicly testify for the impeachment inquiry starting Wednesday.