We should NOT let McCarthy and Ryan define and dismiss this as just a "joke":

[deurbano]

http://www.salon.com/2017/05/18/kevin-mccarthys-explosive-joke-points-toward-a-darker-questions-how-long-have-leading-republicans-known-about-donald-trumps-russia-problem/

MAY 18, 2017

Kevin McCarthy’s explosive “joke” points toward a darker questions: How long have leading Republicans known about Donald Trump’s Russia problem?

"Putin pays ... Trump," said the House majority leader a year ago. "Swear to God." How much did he really know?

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

<<...Adam Entous, the Washington Post reporter who broke, the story appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews last night and said that when he first asked the offices of Ryan and McCarthy for comment, they denied that any such conversation had ever taken place. He then told them he had a transcript of he conversation, and they claimed it was fake. Only after they were told that Entous actually had a recording that the move to the position that it had all been a big joke. (Some of President Trump’s defenders have been saying his alleged comment to James Comey about letting Flynn off the hook was also a joke. There’s no word on why he wouldn’t have been able to make such a wisecrack with Jeff Sessions and Mike Pence in the room.)

If there is one person we can count on to spill the beans, it’s Kevin McCarthy. He has the worst case of foot-in-mouth disease in Washington. Recall that he was widely considered to be former House Speaker John Boehner’s heir apparent until he went on TV and admitted what the Republicans were up to. McCarthy said, “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable.”...

...Keep in mind, McCarthy said this just one day after the Washington Post had reported for the first time that Russians were suspected of hacking the DNC. We don’t know what information any of them had at the time, but it’s clear that these top-level Republicans were talking among themselves about possible interference in the election a full year ago. Maybe they genuinely thought it was hilarious but the fact that they never bothered to step up at any point as this issue emerged and have stonewalled the investigations all along suggests other possible interpretations.

But then, as I’ve written before, the GOP House majority was a major beneficiary of Russian hacking themselves, a fact that rarely seems to get mentioned in all this. So I’ll ask once again, in light of the fact that Ryan and McCarthy seem to have been aware of these possible Russian shenanigans much earlier than the rest of us: What did the majority leader and the speaker of the House know about Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump? And when did they know it?...>>

[Wounded Bear]

1. People have been screaming about the Russia connection...

since the beginning of the campaign.

The entire GOP is complicit in this. It's another 2018 campaign issue.

[SHRED]

2. I don't think Mueller will think this is a joke.

[Skittles]

3. they knew about the RUSSIA THING while they were screaming about HILLARY'S EMAILS

FUCK THOSE FUCKING TRAITORS

[furtheradu]

4. Republikers have twisted senses of humor

What they think is funny is sick, hate FULL &/or dangerous.
Creepy JERKS.

They KNEW at LEAST a year ago. . they are ALL complicit.