Chuck Todd Tells GOPer He's Done 'Exactly' What Russia's 'Trying To Get American Politicians To Do'

[babylonsister]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chuck-todd-tells-goper-hes-done-exactly-what-russias-trying-to-get-american-politicians-to-do

Chuck Todd Tells GOPer He’s Done ‘Exactly’ What Russia’s ‘Trying To Get American Politicians To Do’
By Cristina Cabrera
December 1, 2019 1:34 p.m.


NBC News’ “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd put Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on blast after the Republican pushed yet another unhinged conspiracy theory about Ukraine election interference on Sunday.

During his interview with Todd, Kennedy admitted he was wrong to argue last week that Ukraine, not Russia, may have hacked the DNC’s email server in 2016; one of President Donald Trump’s debunked conspiracy theories that allegedly originated from the Kremlin itself.

However, Kennedy still insisted that Russia and Ukraine had both meddled in the 2016 elections–and then he made the astounding claim that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had “actively worked for” Hillary Clinton.

“Russia was very aggressive and they are much more sophisticated,” the Republican senator said. “But the fact that Russia was so aggressive does not exclude the fact that President Poroshenko actively worked for Secretary Clinton.”

Todd was visibly flabbergasted.

“‘Actively worked for Secretary’–I mean, my goodness, wait a minute Senator Kennedy, you now have the president of Ukraine saying he actively worked for the Democratic nominee for president. I mean, now come on,” he said. “I mean, I gotta put up–you realize the only other person selling this argument outside the United States is this man, Vladimir Putin?”

The NBC News host then read aloud a recent quote from Russian President Vladmir Putin applauding the spread of the Ukraine election hacking conspiracy theory among U.S. lawmakers.

“You just accused a former president of Ukraine. You’ve done exactly what the Russian operation is trying to get American politicians to do,” Todd told Kennedy. “Are you at all concerned that you’ve been duped?”

“No, because you–just read the articles,” the Republican said without specifying exactly which articles he was referring to.

Watch Todd and Kennedy below:

Link to tweet

[meow2u3]

1. Chuck Todd should have asked Neely this question

I would have ask Neely how much money Russian mob bosses funneled into his campaign.

[Poiuyt]

2. So he believes articles written by Pravda over our own intelligence services?

I think he's trying to outstupid Ron Johnson.

[spanone]

7. they were both in Russia for the fourth of July....

GOP Senators Tell Contradictory Stories About Moscow Trip

A top Republican senator shocked his colleagues when he suggested, after returning from a trip to Moscow with fellow GOP lawmakers, that U.S. sanctions targeting Russia were not working and the Kremlin’s election interference was really no big deal.

Now, the senators who joined him for the series of meetings with senior Russian officials are sharply disputing not only Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) conclusions—but also his account of what went on behind closed doors in Moscow.

“I think the sanctions are hurting them badly both in terms of their pocketbooks and in terms of their status in the world,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who joined the congressional delegation last week, said in an interview. “I don’t want to over-state this, but these were very tense meetings.”

In public, the American lawmakers directly appealed to Russia for a better relationship. But in private, according to the senators who attended the meetings, they confronted their Russian counterparts over a host of issues, most notably Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-senators-tell-contradictory-stories-about-moscow-trip

[renate]

16. I hope the public hears more about these GOPers' trip to Russia

They are so obviously compromised. The question is how—just money, or kompromat?

[orangecrush]

3. This is good

When Chuck finds his spine, you know things are snowballing.

[dewsgirl]

4. Seth Abramson is currently tweeting a thread for media,

on this subject.

[onecaliberal]

6. Kennedy is hitting all the defense points Seth says dump will try to use.

[dewsgirl]

10. Kennedy and the GOP are spouting Kremlin talking points.

I am happy SA is trying everything he can to gain the media's attention, most of them follow him, I really hope they listen.

[onecaliberal]

11. I hope so too. Based on what I've seen from the MSM it appears to be falling on deaf ears.

[dewsgirl]

12. Which sucks, because for the last month he has been

saying just that, that they will fail if they don't cover the impeachment properly.
A member on DU one day compared Seth Abramson to Scott Dworkin, I like SD mind you and we follow each other, but I felt the comparison was totally unfair.
I have read all of Seth's Proof of books, he is the only one I have notifications on for out of the almost 5000 people I follow, love him. Maddow is the only one that appears to be paying attention.😔

[onecaliberal]

13. Seth has been spot on through this whole mess.

He’s not hyperbolic, nor does he hold back. He is truthful and factual. I follow him and make sure to read his twitter feed daily.

[triron]

17. Putty has so ordained.

[Andy823]

5. One thing for sure

Whatever trump has on him has to be pretty bad to claim crap like this.

Everyone who has been compromised ends up selling their soul in order to pleas trump, and they hope and pray that trump doesn't throw them under the bus!

[Thunderbeast]

8. Difficult to believe...

Senator Kennedy was a Rhodes Scholar who returned from Oxford as a Democrat supporting John Kerry.

What do they put in the water in Louisiana?

[Evolve Dammit]

9. Seriously?? Please shed light, cuz this guy seems Louis Gohmert-like...

[Thunderbeast]

14. Wikipedia's entry:

Born in Centreville, Mississippi, Kennedy graduated from Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia School of Law before attending University of Oxford (Magdalen College) in Oxford, England. Kennedy was a member of the staff of Governor Buddy Roemer before unsuccessfully running as the Democratic candidate for state attorney general in 1991.

[Evolve Dammit]

20. curious where he stood in his class, and also wonder how a former Dem could be such a rabid Gooper?

[Elwood P Dowd]

15. Lots of money from Russia.

Along with threats from Moscow Mitch.

[uponit7771]

18. +1, Russia or Trump has emails that show over 75% of the kGOP knew they were taking Russian ...

... money due to CU.

If they cut their Russian money sources off they collapse as a party, no one wants their BS policies any longer.

[Garrett78]

19. A survey of Louisiana Republicans indicated that more of them blame Obama than blame GWB...

...for the response to Hurricane Katrina.

I'll say it again, the next Democratic president should declare that US ignorance is a national emergency. It's time to shine a spotlight on this massive, massive problem, highlighting the fact that tens of millions of people subscribe to utter nonsense. I'm not kidding. The next Dem president should prioritize education reform and media reform. She/he should put together an official task force to tackle US ignorance. This could be announced at the new president's first SOTU address. It'll piss off those who are proud of their ignorance (while they simultaneously deny their ignorance), but it would spur a conversation (about, for instance, how a much greater proportion of people in the US don't accept the reality of evolution, as compared to populations in other democratic nations). And maybe being blunt about the fact that people are subscribing to nonsense will at least get a portion of the population to strive to be less ignorant. If nothing else, we can influence the next generation by prioritizing education reform and media reform.

Until we lessen ignorance, we'll keep spinning our wheels on climate change, systemic racism, equal pay for women, wealth inequality, health care, etc.