DOJ Initial Russia Hearings

[Lil' Red]

[RedDenver]

 

When initially asked to comment on the exchange, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Ryan, said: “That never happened,” and Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy, said: “The idea that McCarthy would assert this is absurd and false.”

 

After being told that The Post would cite a recording of the exchange, Buck, speaking for the GOP House leadership, said: “This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor. No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians. What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity.”

 

The backpedaling at the end is awesome. "It was a joke. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. A joke."

[RedDenver]

This is what we needed. Hopefully the facts can come out and we can have a non-partisan discussion of what to do based on the facts.

 

Both Trump supporters and critics should be happy about this.

[Danny Bateman]

 

House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump

 

KIEV, Ukraine — A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

 

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

 

Before the conversation, McCarthy and Ryan had emerged from separate talks at the U.S. Capitol with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.

 

News had just broken the day before in The Washington Post that Russian government hackers had penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee, prompting McCarthy to shift the conversation from Russian meddling in Europe to events closer to home.

 

Some of the lawmakers laughed at McCarthy’s comment. Then McCarthy quickly added: “Swear to God.”

 

Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks...This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

 

Evan McMullin, who in his role as policy director to the House Republican Conference participated in the June 15 conversation, said: “It’s true that Majority Leader McCarthy said that he thought candidate Trump was on the Kremlin’s payroll. Speaker Ryan was concerned about that leaking.”

 

McMullin ran for president last year as an independent and has been a vocal critic of Trump.

 

When initially asked to comment on the exchange, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Ryan, said: “That never happened,” and Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy, said: “The idea that McCarthy would assert this is absurd and false.”

 

After being told that The Post would cite a recording of the exchange, Buck, speaking for the GOP House leadership, said: “This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor. No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians. What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity.”

 

 

I like how he immediately shifts his story when they tell him they've got the recording. That's how you can tell it's real. Reminds me of how Trump was obviously being SARCASTIC about 2nd amendment people or Obama being the founder of ISIS.

 

Turns out, he gets misinterpreted a lot.

 

This definitely happened. And neither Ryan nor McCarthy are going to have the spine to admit it.

 

They joke about it behind closed doors and instead decide to latch onto Trump in public and prop the guy up.

 

How is it that I find something to make Paul Ryan seem more pathetic to me almost every single day?

[knapplc]

 

[Red Five]

That sucks for the rank and file aides that are caught in the crossfire.

 

Didn't Hillary have a quote about leaving the WH in 2000 broke because of legal fees?

[BigRedBuster]

Sooooo....I'm assuming he goes to jail???

 

[ZRod]

Sooooo....I'm assuming he goes to jail???

 

https://twitter.com/AP/status/865225072918880256

He's rich, white, amd connected so doubtful.

[knapplc]

Now it's a criminal investigation. Interesting.

 

[knapplc]

And now they're investigating someone working inside the White House right now.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Oh my....

 

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if Bannon was the one that was working with the Russians all the time and Breitbart is actually a front for a vast Russian conspiracy to affect American politics along with other right wing "news" outlets like Infowars????

[ZRod]

And now they're investigating someone working inside the White House right now.

 

https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/865645246285086720

Fake news right, Dewiz?

[RedDenver]

Oh my....

 

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if Bannon was the one that was working with the Russians all the time and Breitbart is actually a front for a vast Russian conspiracy to affect American politics along with other right wing "news" outlets like Infowars????

If there really is someone high up in the WH involved, I'd put my money on Jared Kushner. If you're looking for biggest surprise/drama, that'd be Pence.

[NM11046]

Pence is the first one I thought of - that would turn the world upside down.

[BigRedBuster]

 

Oh my....

 

 

Wouldn't it be interesting if Bannon was the one that was working with the Russians all the time and Breitbart is actually a front for a vast Russian conspiracy to affect American politics along with other right wing "news" outlets like Infowars????

If there really is someone high up in the WH involved, I'd put my money on Jared Kushner. If you're looking for biggest surprise/drama, that'd be Pence.

 

I'm thinking it would be a bigger shock and upheaval if Bannon, Breitbart and Infowars are all tied to Russia. It would possibly cause at least some of these brainwashed people into figuring out these people don't have the "truth" anywhere close to the top of priority.