Explaining the potus corruption: How Putin's Oligarchs Funneled Millions Into GOP Campaigns

[lindysalsagal]

Ruth May, Contributor, Dallas News.com
Editor's note May 8, 2018: This column originally published December 15, 2017. New allegations about $500k in payments from a Russian oligarch made to Trump attorney Michael Cohen have placed it back in the news.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team probes deeper into potential collusion between Trump officials and representatives of the Russian government, investigators are taking a closer look at political contributions made by U.S. citizens with close ties to Russia.

Buried in the campaign finance reports available to the public are some troubling connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to President Donald Trump and a number of top Republican leaders. And thanks to changes in campaign finance laws, the political contributions are legal. We have allowed our campaign finance laws to become a strategic threat to our country.

In 2017, donations continued, with $41,000 going to both Republican and Democrat candidates, along with $1 million to McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund.

[watoos]

1. I consider where our candidates get their campaign funds,

Several of our candidates are not accepting lobbyist money, those candidates are on my list. It may not be as important to other Democrats and that is fine with me. I will vote enthusiastically for whoever our nominee is.

[KPN]

5. I'm with you. If the elected representatives

won’t change our campaign finance system, it is all we are left with. The wink and nod ultimately turned into Citizens’ United. This won’t go away on its own. Only voters can make that happen. Daunting.

[G_j]

2. Link?

[lindysalsagal]

6. From a personal friend who is a psychiatrist. No link.

[G_j]

8. Ok, thank you

for posting!

[Fritz Walter]

3. In light of recent news from Kentucky, this connects the dots

From WFPL, the NPR station in Louisville:

Kentucky Aluminum Plant Investor Is Russian Company Formerly Under U.S. Sanctions

Russian aluminum company Rusal announced Monday it plans to invest in a new Kentucky aluminum mill to be built near Ashland in eastern Kentucky. The $200 million investment in Braidy Industries is Rusal’s first U.S. project since the Trump administration lifted U.S. sanctions placed against the company.

Rusal had been sanctioned by the U.S. government because its major controller, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, faces accusations of “a range of malign activity around the globe” by Russia, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Those actions include interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and meddling in neighboring Ukraine.

Deripaska also has close business ties to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who has been convicted of tax evasion and money laundering. Deripaska is suing the U.S. to have sanctions against him removed.

And who was it that broke this news to Kentucky voters? None other than Mitch McConnell, who's up for re-election in 2020.

[lindysalsagal]

7. Until the press runs these stories, authoritarians gain power.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

4. America for sale...

Wonder if the republicans listed it on Zillow?