The NRA and The Russians. Oh Yeah, They Did.
It’s been a bad week for LaPierre & the gun grifters. The Supreme Court declined to hear two of their appeals against state laws that restricted unrestricted weaponry possession, and now this.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is [investigating] the role the National Rifle Association played in connecting the Trump campaign with Russians, according to letters from the panel’s top Democrat.
And here’s why. Trump, Jr. talked with Alexander Torshin, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the deputy head of the country’s central bank, at an event hosted by the National Rifle Association.
Maria Butina
That meeting was arranged by Maria Butina, the deputy to Torshion.
Butina has bragged that she helped connect the Trump campaign with the Kremlin, according to The Daily Beast, and it’s possible her statements were not just bravado. Torshin requested that Trump meet with him on the sidelines of the National Rifle Association’s convention in May 2016. He never met with then-candidate Trump, but he did succeed in securing a meeting with Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.
So, Boris and Natasha meets Annie Get Your Gun meets pick your favorite James Bond movie.
I am beginning to think that Trump, Jr. met more Russians than Field Marshal von Manstein did at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Thanks to Scott for the heads up.
One of the best lines in the WashPost this morning was book reviewer Michael Dirda calling Trump “P.T. Barnum’s evil twin” in a review of “Bunk” by Kevin Young. Brazen lies piled on brazen lies– nope, nobody here ever talked to any Russians. But Trump trusts Putin more than seventeen US intelligence agencies.
1Considering this along with the news that they’re stealing from each other, it boggles my mind that snacilbupeR can win any election at all, let alone enough of them to control a state government or the, ahem, greatest deliberative body in the world. Are the Democrats really that clueless?
2Considering this “web”, are there any spiders attached?
3BFSMan says:
…Are the Democrats really that clueless?
Simple answer: Yes. The proof is in the DC pudding (and in most state and local governments, which the Rethugs also own).
4This will continue until the Democrats have some effective, long game oriented true leadership; which they haven’t had since about 1968 (as bad as that was), or perhaps 1963.
Oh, Good Gawd!
All that’s missing are Moose and Squirrel.
5@Lunaragent
That may be the approach to deal with Putin. Equate him and Boris Badenov or Fearless Leader or Mr Big. Or alternately, all three. Let the Rocky and Bullwinkle games begin.
6The NRA is a very private organization, especially when it comes to transparency about its funding sources. Alexander Torshin is a fairly high profile oligarch/banker/politician/mobster in the Pirate Republic of Russia.
Like any illegal enterprise, the Russian consortium has to find a way to conceal the source of its profits, or at least launder its ill-gotten gains. It’s also understood that Mueller’s staff scrutinizes testimony before the relevant congressional committees. I’d bet that before long, Wayne LaPierre discovers that he loves the 5th Amendment even more than he does the 2nd.
Torshin is well known to Spanish authorities:
https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/31/inenglish/1490984556_409827.html
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