The Senate Judiciary Committee released hundreds of transcripts and details from its investigation into the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Russians. The Committee says the documents suggest the Kremlin used the NRA as a means of assisting Donald Trump and his campaign.
Not only has the committee found multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials or their
intermediaries “which warrant further investigation,” but also, “The committee has obtained a number of documents that suggest the Kremlin used the National Rifle Association as a means of accessing and assisting Mr. Trump and his campaign,†the report reads.
Other findings according to the report:
The NRA might also have been used to secretly fund Trump’s campaign.
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The report finds that the Trump campaign was willing to accept a hostile foreign government’s assistance.
The Trump campaign officials did not report the offer of Russian assistance to proper authorities.
“The June 9, 2016, meeting is one piece of a much larger puzzle and confirms that the Trump campaign was willing to accept Russia’s assistance. The Committee’s staff interviews reveal that top Trump campaign officials were frustrated and angry that the meeting did not produce enough damaging information on their opponent. Their efforts to conceal the meeting and its true purpose are consistent with a larger pattern of false statements about the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia,” said Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris in a statement sent to PoliticusUSA.
There are many moving pieces to this Trump Russia puzzle, but one important piece is the role of the National Rifle Association, which has played a huge role in our elections in terms of dark money and negative campaign ads. The NRA has long been affiliated with Republicans, since Republicans largely side with the rights of gun manufacturers over those of the people, while only a smattering of Democrats and Independents do. The NRA hunts for stooges for the profit margin of gun companies and punishes those of either party who don’t obey.
If a hostile foreign government was able to use the NRA in what security experts call an ongoing act of war against the United States, it raises the question of just how infiltrated the Republican Party might be by a Russian agenda.
It also raises the question of why this Republican-led Congress has failed so egregiously to do their most basic duty to their country of protecting it from enemies without and within.
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
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