According to Steve Schmidt, the Russians had infiltrated John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.
Schmidt tweeted:
2/ a pro Russia faction. The pro democracy faction was led by Weaver and the pro Russia faction was led by a Washington lobbyist who was in business with Paul Manafort. Like Manafort, he had a Trump Tower residence. He was in charge of the campaigns finances and bankrupted the
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 8, 2022
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4/Rick and it explains how we met. I’ll attach a story from @thenation that I only read recently, though it is from 2008. It is spot on @MeghanMcCain. Your Father tolerated his campaign chairman being in business and working for Putin through his association with Yanukovych.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 8, 2022
6/ 70th Birthday by his top aide? It was a McCain guy who represented the interests of the Russian Government in the Montenegro Independence referendum. Weaver was aghast. This is why the campaign went KABOOM in July of 2008 and your father went from front runner to middle seat
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 8, 2022
8/ In return, 14 non stop years of abuse from @MeghanMcCain, the singularly most rotten person I have ever met. The McCain Institute is supposed to fight for freedom and liberty but it has Putin and Yanukovych alumni on the Board. It is gross and we live in an era that requires
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 8, 2022
10/ @olex_scherba was outrageous then and it is outrageous now. Here is the serious part. The person I’m talking about, is the one who was in charge of VETTING the VP candidate. True. Putin’s guy, the one who was Victor Yanukovich’s henchman was in charge of ALL of the DUE
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 8, 2022
11/ DILIGENCE around Palin. I wasn’t. This was reported at the time and is detailed in Game Change. I was focused on dealing with a different catastrophe. Get back to me @MeghanMcCain if you want to hear more. Here’s a preview
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) May 8, 2022
Schmidt says that one of John McCain’s greatest failings was that he turned a blind eye toward the corruption of his campaign aides.
Schmidt knows a lot more than what wrote in the Twitter threads, but the important takeaway is that the Russians have been infiltrating the Republican Party at the highest levels for at least 15 years.
Trump’s nomination and election to the presidency appear to have been part of a long operation by the Russians.
John McCain, the war hero, had Russian influence in his presidential campaign right under his nose.
Even after Sen. McCain’s death, the McCain Institute has Putin’s people on its board.
What started out as a rebuttal by Schmidt to the latest attack on his character from Meghan McCain turned into Steve Schmidt getting a lot of things off of this chest that he has been carrying around for years.
There are a lot of dirty secrets surrounding the John McCain presidential campaign in 2008, and one of the biggest secrets that Schmidt is exposing is the fact that the Republican Party appears to have been under Russian influence at very high levels since at least 2008.
America needs to pay attention to what Steve Schmidt is saying because the truth is coming out about the GOP.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
