Russian Oligarch Money Flows Freely Into The Upper Reaches Of The GOP

[fleur-de-lisa]

https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/report-russian-oligarch-money-flows-freely-into-the-upper-reaches-of-the-gop-9uQEBlPCZEeVv3KCfTz7vg/?fbclid=IwAR3RR9UALT7aAT7aY3yzoBuZwASO-YVGblsbygMJsKqMm71r_IKLhWNm6K4&utm_source=Cheri&utm_medium=Cheri&utm_campaign=Cheri&utm_term=Cheri&utm_content=Cheri

A close look at public campaign finance reports reveals a network of Russian oligarchs increasingly contributing to top Republican leadership in recent years, according to the Dallas News. And thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizens United in 2010, the donations are perfectly legal.

An example is Len Blavatnik, a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. Blavatnik's family emigrated to the U.S. in the late '70s from the U.S.S.R. and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late '80s.

The Russian billionaire is one of the U.K.'s wealthiest, with an estimated net worth of $20 billion. Prior to the 2016 election season, Blavatnik's political donations were bipartisan and meager.

In 2015-16, everything changed. Blavatnik's political contributions soared and made a hard right turn as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham.

[lagomorph777]

1. I don't think even Citizens United legalizes foreign contributions.

If these guys are just laundering Roubles and passing them along to McTurtle, Lyin Ryan, Dana Russiabacker, and Devil Nunes, that would still mean legal trouble for Russiapublican crooks.

[triron]

2. Yep.

[spanone]

3. K&R...

[lindysalsagal]

4. If it's profits from money laundering, it's illegal. Also, if they're under sanctions.

It's not as simple as "a donation". There are other issues the dems should be screaming about.

[ffr]

5. Pennies on the dollar in their war of disinformation against the West

The complicit illiberal GOP needs to be fired on November 6th.