Stunning Evidence Suggests The Republican Party May Have Taken Illegal Russian Donations In 2016

[ffr]

Evidence from notes taken off of Paul Manafort's cell from the infamous meetings with Russians at Trump Tower has RNC written near the word donations.


Evidence from notes taken off of Paul Manafort’s cell from the infamous meetings with Russians at Trump Tower has RNC written near the word donations.

NBC News reported:

Paul Manafort’s notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included the word “donations,” near a reference to the Republican National Committee, two sources briefed on the evidence told NBC News.

….

Manafort’s notes, typed on a smart phone and described by one briefed source as cryptic, were turned over to the House and Senate intelligence committees and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They contained the words “donations,” and “RNC” in close proximity, the sources said.

If the Republican Party did accept donations from a foreign individual, those donations would be illegal. The bigger picture is that the Russia scandal could be much larger than the Trump campaign. The RNC, and by extension, the Republican Party could have colluded with or taken money from the Russians. The Russians being involved with the Republican Party would explain why party leadership has not condemned Trump for his refusal to stand up to Russia. It would also explain why Mitch McConnell wouldn’t issue a joint statement with President Obama during the 2016 campaign.

Republicans in Congress can’t be trusted to investigate the Russia scandal if the RNC took any donations from Russians. Should this turn out to be true, an independent investigation will be needed immediately into the Russia scandal. Reince Priebus and his RNC allies getting high profile White House jobs make a lot more sense now.

The Russia scandal is more than Trump. The Russians may have bought themselves a US political party. PoliticsUSA.com

Sitting here stunned, mouth gaping.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. Not surprised if true

Could help explain their desire to cover up for Trump/Russia because it may lead back to them..... Wasn't there also a report that information from the DNC hack wound up being used in some congressional campaigns too?

[Volaris]

38. Right?

Nice of them to finally get up to speed tho. Most of us have suspected that McConnell and Ryan were in on the Fix since at least oct of last year.

[Amaryllis]

60. Way more than those two. Nunes...I can't even remember all of them any more.

[L. Coyote]

50. Old news also. Posted many times here on DU. Apr 2017

Link to tweet

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[WhiteTara]

57. Now we know the real reason

Burr has been recalcitrant about the investigation. He would have to investigate himself.

[Midnight Writer]

70. Thank you, Scott Dworkin. I have seen some of your stuff here, and it seems to pan out, eventually.

[calimary]

80. Nail him! Nail the whole miserable lot of them!

[Alice11111]

81. I thought we already knew that, all of the evidence.

It seems like articles keep coming out w things that we already know. I suppose it's good, but mostly the choir is listened.

[Alpeduez21]

2. I have no doubt this election was corrupt

Unfortunately, there is no way to address that. It's not like anyone will ask for a do over. No way all the corrupted politicians lose their seat to the person who lost. No way they have enough integrity to resign there post. I hate republicans.

[bettyellen]

7. You adress it by prosecuting the people involved or it will happen again

[DBoon]

9. something that should have been done many times

But wasn't, further embolden in criminals starting with Nixon

[bettyellen]

13. Loads of Nixons staff did go to jail, and he resigned in disgrace.

That is far from getting away with it, and it matters. Telling the truth about our past matters too.

[DBoon]

18. Nixon was pardoned

And enough of his henchmen escaped accountability to plague us to this day

[bettyellen]

36. He resigned as the biggest disgrace ever to sit in the Oval. That matters. Of course it matters.

And many of his underlings went to jail. His entire administration went down and it hobbled the next president. Of course that matters.

Just because some people expect somehow wrongly it could be easy to send top officials to jail, it's not. I think we already know our society and its Justice are not perfectly egalitarian and fair across class lines, we already know that a charge like "treason" has an impossibly high bar. Honestly if some had their way, HRC would be carted off to jail w no charges against her, and Trump too. I can live with accepting and working harder to improve the system we have instead of throwing my hands up and thinking it's a waste of time.

[Gore1FL]

63. At least the biggest disgrace for the next 43 years. nt

[bettyellen]

66. True. I think Trump is a failure of historic proportions.

[mgardener]

23. Yes, you do.

Nixon should never have been allowed to resign.
He should have been held accountable.
The Republicans have been riding on that mistake for 40 years.

[unblock]

41. you mean he should never have been pardoned

surely you aren't advocating that a crook like nixon should have been forced to stay in power??

[volstork]

79. Ford pardoning Nixon led to

the resurgence of cheney, wolfowitz, and rumsfeld in the bush I and II years. Continued disaster. We need to put these assholes UNDER the jail.

[delisen]

39. Depends on whether they face jail tie or massive fines. That is

when they will be willing to make deals to right their wrongs.

Only then will they do the right thing.

[Dustlawyer]

45. The next one will be too!

[Skittles]

3. NO SHIT

[dalton99a]

4. Wouldn't doubt it one bit

[Stuart G]

5. Note the word..."donations"..in the story.. Suggest this is posted in Latest News.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. LOCK THEM ALL UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sinkingfeeling]

8. LOCK THEM UP

[ancianita]

26. The FBI can do that. The FBI don't play. I hope they're quaking in their shoes.

[BigmanPigman]

10. Who is going to lock them up? They guilty party has the keys to the jail!

The GOP won't lock up Pence, Ryan and McConnell and 45 will pardon everyone who doesn't also have crimes in state courts.

[ancianita]

29. The FBI's working on preventing that. Obstruction charges for pardons as an anti-constitutional

strategy might be among their legal arguments and indictments. Support for intent might come from evidence of intent to obstruct justice after other charges. Arpaio is just the start.

Let's see what Mueller's team does.

[NCcoast]

54. From your mouth to God's ear

We need this to happen. This would be the big reset we desperately need.

[NightWatcher]

11. Ryan and McCarthy admitted it and there's audio of the meeting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html

KIEV, Ukraine — A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[Wellstone ruled]

12. Believe we had a advance peek

at this story with the Steele Dossier. Mother Jones,Rolling Stone and other Mags have had stories about this Donation story. Seems to me,Ryan and McConnell were mentioned taking both money and captured Clinton and DNC e-mails. BTW,is not Adoption code for Clinton DNC e-mails?

People from Reagan Administration headed off to Jail=75.

People from Trump Administration headed off to Jail==All time record.

[RandomAccess]

17. Yep --

Scott Dworkin, Co-founder of the Democratic Coalition, recently released over 200 legally obtained Trump documents. After sifting through the them, Dworkin has put together a money trail using the documents that ties Russian money to several top Republican leaders.

The information therein is quite damning for the GOP stalwarts involved, and also further paints an incriminating picture of the Trump administration as related to possible Russian collusion.

Those who aren’t coming out of this looking good include the entire Republican National Committee, Senator Ted Cruz, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Senator John McCain, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, among others.

Link: http://www.bluedotdaily.com/trump-docs-leaked-russian-money-trail-tied-to-mcconnell-cruz-rubio-mccain-and-rnc/

[Wellstone ruled]

22. Hey,thank you for the link.

With old timers hitting big time,could not remember were I had seen this story. But,as usual,there are DU ers who bail my lamb brain out.

Understand,Chuckie Grass Job got a sizeable chunk for his and other Committer Chair Persons slush funds.

[RandomAccess]

28. always happy to help

[WinkyDink]

49. Aha! NOW we can see why Trump scorns McC. and McC.: Brother$ under the $kin to HIM.

[uponit7771]

30. +1

[mopinko]

14. once again, old news to most of us here.

amazing how long it takes for some of this stuff to rise to the surface.

[ffr]

15. Sure. It takes investigators to raid these liars residences to expose them for what they are

Spies and traitors!

[Wellstone ruled]

37. When this story broke,

the push back was massive and called fake news.

[TeapotInATempest]

16. Blame the Supreme Court, as well

for their Citizens United ruling. While these donations are illegal, NOTHING will change until we get money out of our elections.

This is no way to run a democracy.

[delisen]

19. This has potential to lead to a stunning congressional compromise

Last edited Thu Aug 31, 2017, 07:15 PM - Edit history (1)

on who finishes out Trump's term in office.

A lot depends on how deep into the Republican Party the Russian Rot disease goes and whether certain republicans prefer a deal that allows them to escape prison time.

[CrispyQ]

83. A whole lot of the GOP better be taken down or we'll be back here again. -nt

[malaise]

20. They stole the elections

We know that - lock them all up

[czarjak]

21. Reminds me of Rience...

"Republican policies are sound"

[jalan48]

24. I would definitely put a bet on former Utah Rep. Chaffetz.

[Amaryllis]

61. and Nunes.

[jalan48]

65. Yep-they were too quick to want to shut things down.

[Leith]

25. Knowing rethugs Like We Do

They will pass laws making it legal - and retroactive to before their first payment.

[Achilleaze]

27. The whole republican government is illegitimate

They stole the election from Americans using Russian money and technology. All republican treason weasels should be locked up now for the protection and defense of the United States of America.

[samnsara]

31. well hell eric or donniejohn jr were trying to recruit donations....

...from Australia and other foreign countries by sending out donation letters. They got a slap on the wrist back then so hell why not try it again?

[spanone]

32. remember: NOBODY, INCLUDING TRUMP, thought he was going to win. NOBODY

[Amaryllis]

62. Not true. I was watching all the hacking and was worried he was going to win. Russians breaking into

voter reg databases in over half the states....it goes on and on. So much out last summer that was a harbinger of things to come.

[FakeNoose]

33. You're kidding right?

This is all we've been talking about the last 9 months. How can you say this is "stunning?
It's not even a blip on the radar now.

Here's stunning: watching cops with tasers shoving Trump and 5 or 6 other old guys into a prison cell.

[delisen]

34. All of which is why Democrats must demand justice regarding 2016.

A Republican Party so compromised should not be in the Oval Office.

If they are guilty, they can't claim a "noble" motive-it was money and power. The will. all be ready to make a political deal to see themselves out of jail.

[Initech]

35. They. Are. All. In. On. It.

That's the big secret to this whole thing, and it doesn't take Mueller to figure it out!

[Historic NY]

40. Entire GOP is a criminal enterprise..

[joanbarnes]

42. This is not the first time I have seen this and it explains a lot.

McConnell, Walker, etc. No wonder they won't condemn Putin and his puppet.

[ffr]

43. Who's covering and not covering this.

Last edited Thu Aug 31, 2017, 09:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Covering:
MSNBC and online news organizations
Edit: ==> The Hill - Just picked it up this afternoon.

Not covering:
ABC News, CBS News, CNN
...and probably Fox Noise too.

Huh. I wonder why they wouldn't want to carry this story. Are they complicit too?

[elias7]

44. And scooped by Louise Mensch, Claude Taylor and John Schindler months ago

[WinkyDink]

51. The Dan Rather Skeered Effect.

[yuiyoshida]

46. Take them ALL Down!

[spanone]

47. K&R...

[WinkyDink]

48. And boy, are the Koch Bros PO'ed!

[tanyev]

52. That would explain hella lot.

[kentuck]

53. Wasn't there a story about Mitch McConnell and Senate Campaign Committee taking overseas money?

It was a large amount of money, as I recall..... something like $250 million dollars?

[ffr]

55. See post #50 by L Coyote.

[Nevernose]

56. There's also that audio recording of half the RNC admitting it

They specifically name Rohrabacher and Trump, reiterate that it's true, and then Ryan makes them promise to keep it secret.

(Also, the Manfort "notes" were on MSNBC, too, so it's gone mainstream)

[Iggo]

58. Oh yeah. Stunning.

[Awsi Dooger]

69. I'm so shocked I'm trembling

Amounting to anything is always the problem.

The offenses were far worse than anything we can imagine, let alone have heard of.

[Amaryllis]

59. How utterly shocking. None of us would have EVER guessed. NONE of us ever thought the scandal could

possibly extend as far as the RNC. And certainly the behavior of GOP leadership has provided no clues.

[L. Coyote]

64. RNC, the Real Notorious Criminals

In business non-stop since Nixon was selling used cars.

[Raster]

72. If you were able to type this with a straight face, you win the internets.

[C Moon]

67. And that stunt Trump pulled today closing the Russian consulate, makes it all the more obvious.

Sometimes I think the Trump clan wasn't smart enough to try to pull this off.

[AllyCat]

68. And the GOP congress will do exactly nothing.

[Raster]

71. If Bad Vlad and his oligarchs want to sprinkle financial love on the GOP...

...Comrade Ryan and Comrade McConnell certainly won't argue... or investigate. BTW, where is Comrade McConnell getting the bucks for his superPAC?

[GoCubsGo]

73. RNCRussian National Committee

And, I am not the least bit stunned at this revelation. I learned decades ago not to put anything past these slime bags. Nothing they do surprises me anymore.

[sharedvalues]

74. Story has been corrected. Less damning now.

Josh Marshall's take is likely most true I think

"Donations" refer to dirt brought to meeting by Russians about illegal donations to DNC. Russians got this dirt via hacking.

[Sunlei]

75. Stein as well, sitting at the swanky resort table IN Russia planning Republicans attack against USA

[blue-wave]

76. The Russian National Committee

Been waiting for this to rise to the top. Those who were suggesting a President Hatch months ago might be close to the mark after all.

[stopbush]

77. I have long said that McTurtle and Eddie Ryan Munster were neck-high

with tRump in the Russian collusion. Whether by design or by chance, they went along with tRump because they never thought tRump would win.

The loss was supposed to take any spotlight or investigation off tRump and his R cohorts. They would focus all their investigative bodies on Hillary. With all the screaming at Hillary and the Ds, they thought they would effectively bury any tRump investigation. At the least, they would use their prosecutions of Hillary as a preemptive gambit to portray any pursuit of tRump as a case of Ds trying to deflect attention by playing the projection card.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

78. This is bone chilling news. I don't see how we avoid Constitutional Crisis

And we will continue down the path of Authoritarian rule. They aren't patriots. They're in it for the corrupted powerful 1%. Who will stop them?

[Kablooie]

82. Don't get too excited yet. "May have" could also mean "Didn't" .

Sure we want to hear this but it's not news yet so calm down.

[pansypoo53219]

84. my uncle was telling me last night about this evil libertarian cabal under the influence of this

guy names james buchanan. lady found his paper & wrote a book. need the title. but its basically a plan to destroy american democracy by little bites so they can have their ayn rand 'utopia'. and i was thinking about this party reversal on russia & getting cozy w/ putin if this isn't part of the plan to massage american into anti democratic moves.

[cstanleytech]

85. Given how much Mitch, Ryan and the rest of the Repugnants have resisted the Russian investigation

and attacked the media reporting on it I would honestly not be surprised in the least if they were in bed with the Russians not of course that it will matter to the Repugnants water carrying base as they will simply utter the same old cries of "but Obama", "but Hillarys emails" or the old "Benghazi!!!!".

[calimary]

86. Kicking.