Growing body of evidence shows GOP has a paramilitary wing

[Kid Berwyn]

10. Axis of Weasels

It really is no wonder Mitch McConnell and Co. were loath to look into Putin and GRU. Turns out the large part of the GOP wet their beaks.

Why Marsha Blackburn fell on a grenade for Donald Trump

Tennessee senator blocks a bill to mandate reporting foreign election aid, Because the GOP has a Russia problem.

Sophia Tesfaye
Salon, June 14, 2019

At least a dozen Republican congressional campaigns used materials stolen from Democrats by Russian hackers during the 2016 election. Several other Republican campaigns received millions in contributions from an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2018, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called on the National Republican Congressional Committee to make a bipartisan pledge not to utilize stolen or hacked information in House elections. After months of negotiations, in September of 2018, House Republicans backed out and refused to sign the pledge. These are just some of the often-overlooked reasons why Republicans have been so reluctant to criticize President Trump’s willingness to accept “dirt” on an opposing candidate from a foreign government.

One day after Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he wouldn’t necessarily go to the FBI in the event his re-election campaign is contacted by foreign groups, Senate Republicans killed legislation to safeguard American democracy from foreign interference.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., failed in his attempt to unanimously pass a bill that would require candidates to report election assistance offered by foreign governments to federal officials. Under Warner’s Foreign Influence Reporting in Elections (FIRE) Act, campaigns would have to report contacts with foreign nationals who are trying to make campaign donations or coordinate with the campaign to the Federal Election Commission, which would then notify the FBI. It’s already illegal for electoral campaigns to knowingly accept help from a foreign entity or power.

“This legislation is pretty simple, even for this body. It would require that any presidential campaign that receives offers of assistance from an agent of a foreign government has an obligation to report that offer of assistance to law enforcement, specifically the FBI,” Warner said on Thursday. “We ought to make clear that if any foreign power tries to intervene again in an election, the least we can do is ask for a requirement to report it to law enforcement.”

Continues...

https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/why-marsha-blackburn-fell-on-a-grenade-for-donald-trump/

Who’d ever imagine that the Kremlin could successfully subvert the USA through the hypocrites on the right wing?



Besides Maj. Marco, I mean.

PS: A hearty welcome to DU, joetheman!