Tag: trump russia
Evidence Of GOP Complicity In Kremlin Assault On America Is Now Overwhelming

Evidence Of GOP Complicity In Kremlin Assault On America Is Now Overwhelming

On February 23, a federal judge in California ordered marshals to seize Alexander Smirnov at his lawyers' office only days after he had been released on bail by a different judge, with the clear implication that he might be preparing to flee the country. Smirnov is the much touted prime witness in the House Republican impeachment campaign against Joe Biden, accusing the president of having taken $5 million in bribes from Ukrainian oligarchs. It's all a lie manufactured by Russian intelligence.

Smirnov's initial arrest was ordered by special counsel David Weiss, the Trump-appointed Republican investigating Hunter Biden, who has indicted the star witness for fabricating his entire story and lying to the FBI. In subsequent court filings, the prosecutor charged that the lies transmitted by Smirnov originated with Russian spies.In other words, the number one Republican witness in the public and repeated smearing of President Biden -- on the floor of Congress and in right-wing media -- was a knowing conduit for Kremlin disinformation. The intent is nothing less than to help elect Trump again.

What makes this scandal so much worse -- and so embarrassing to Johnson, if he were capable of shame -- is that Smirnov's deception emanated from the much broader Russian penetration of American politics that began ... when?

Perhaps with that Trump Tower meeting in 2015, when Donald Trump Jr. enthusiastically welcomed the idea of a Russian dossier on Hillary Clinton from a Russian intelligence operative. And then it continued with the Kremlin's cyber assault against Clinton in 2016, and Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort's secret cooperation with a Russian spy named Konstantin Kilimnik. After Trump became president, he withheld weapons from Ukraine while demanding a phony probe of Biden. Trump's blackmail attempt triggered his first impeachment.

Along the way, a gang of Trump associates led by Rudy Giuliani worked with various Putin stooges in Ukraine and elsewhere to invent mendacious nonsense about the Bidens. Giuliani worked closely with Putin crony Andriy Derkach and other dubious characters, who were later indicted for attempting to interfere in the 2020 election.

For years, it has been blindingly obvious that the "investigation" of Joe Biden and Ukraine emanated not from any legitimate source but directly from this country's enemies. And yet while those accusers were repeatedly exposed and discredited, congressional Republicans insisted on pursuing the bogus case invented in Moscow.

But Johnson's undermining of American security has gone well beyond the assistance he and Republicans have provided to the Kremlin in subverting American democracy. Now refusing to fund U.S. military assistance to Ukraine in its courageous struggle against Russian invaders, they have helped Putin gain a critical victory in the battle of Avdiivka and jeopardized the Western alliance that is fundamental to European and American security. Johnson has admitted he's taking his orders from Trump, who worships Putin. The cowardice of Johnson and the Republicans has become crucial to Putin and his savage war.

Johnson has his own little Russian secrets. The speaker must still explain the laundered campaign funds from Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian oligarch and confederate of confessed convicted Kremlin spy agent Maria Butina. She served a prison sentence here after the exposure of her successful scheme to penetrate the National Rifle Association and other right-wing groups, including some of the "Christian nationalist" outfits that Johnson promotes.

What attracts extremists like the House speaker -- and his puppet master Trump -- to the Russian dictator who looms above them is an authoritarian political orientation that smells of fascism. Putin is a threat from without, and they are a threat from within.

Trump Asks Putin For ‘Dirt’ On Hunter Biden

Trump Asks Putin For ‘Dirt’ On Hunter Biden

Only the Republican Party is capable of continuing to make this noxious irrelevant windbag still relevant. Donald Trump is out with a new "exclusive" interview in Just The News (i.e. couldn't get a real outlet to bite) in which he calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release damaging information about Hunter Biden's financial dealings in Eastern Europe.

Trump cited a 2020 claim by Senate Republicans that Hunter, President Joe Biden's son, received a $3.5 million payment in 2014 from a Russian oligarch. The younger Biden has denied the claim and neither Senate Republicans nor Trump have ever provided evidence indicating such a payment would have been corrupt or illegal, according to CNN.

But who cares about the facts—it sounds seedy. So why not just go ahead and solicit dirt on the sitting President of the United States from a U.S. adversary making war on the West, not to mention the very notion of American democracy. I mean, it's not like Trump is orchestrating a coup or anything, even though a federal judge has concluded he "likely" did orchestrate a coup on January 6.

In the Just The News interview, Trump questioned why the alleged payment was made.

"I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,” Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Trump, the guy who was impeached for trying to extort Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for dirt on Hunter Biden, wants answers... from Putin!

Um, just for context, there's a war going on. Putin launched it. And after a series of epic strategic missteps, he's mostly getting his ass handed to him by a heroic but much smaller and less-resourced Ukrainian military along with thousands of brave civilian fighters who picked up a gun to defend their country. So Putin may be a tad preoccupied right now. Perhaps he'll find a few moments down the road to humor Trump.

Honestly, could Trump be any smaller and more irrelevant at this moment in history? Putin's not a "genius" and his invasion wasn't "a great negotiation" that went bust. Putin's a maniac who is so removed from reality he blundered his way into making Russia an international pariah with a crippled economy and a disgraced military.

Read the room, Trump.

Good god, Trump cannot remain in power (to borrow a phrase)... except in the Republican Party, where irrelevance and stupidity reign supreme.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Asked About Ukraine, Trump Answers With Weird Rant Against ‘Windmills’

Asked About Ukraine, Trump Answers With Weird Rant Against ‘Windmills’

There’s only one thankful aspect to Russia’s horrific and illegal invasion of Ukraine: Failed one-term President Donald Trump isn’t leading the U.S. as it happens.The orange monster recently sat down with the bros from the Ultimate Fighting Championship podcast Full Send, and although it’s anyone’s guess what they expected, what they got was an off-the-rails answer to the war in Ukraine.

Trump initially began with the usual, talking about how great his leadership was, that “Putin would not have done it [invaded Ukraine],” and if he’d been in office there’d be “no war.”

Side note: Somehow the twice-impeached dolt seems to have completely forgotten about his illegal phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pressuring him to work with Rudy Giuliani on a probe into then-candidate Joe Biden’s son.

After being asked about how the Ukraine conflict would look in the future, whether or not it would drag on for some reason, Trump launched into a bizarre rant about—wait for it—windmills?

“I said this a long time ago, if this happens we are playing right into their hands—green energy,” he said, adding: “The windmills, they don’t work. They’re too expensive, they kill all the birds, they ruin your landscapes.

“And yet the environmentalists love the windmills. I’ve been preaching this for years … the windmills are the most expensive energy you can have and they don’t work.”

Trump went on to say: “By the way, they last a period of 10 years and by the time they start rusting and rotting all over the place nobody takes them down. They just go onto the next prairie or land and destroy that.”

Trump has long proffered weird and false claims about wind energy. In 2019, he claimed windmills “killed all the birds.” He added that windmills cause cancer.

Meanwhile, former failed Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen went to the Ukrainian border, asking for thoughts and “prayers” for Ukrainian refugee families and donations to the relief organization @SamariansPurse, a “non-denominational evangelical Christian organization” that provides worldwide aid.

Trump’s full interview here, if you can stomach it:

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

#EndorseThis: Watch Kimmel Shred 'Capt. Bone Spurs' For Adoring Putin

#EndorseThis: Watch Kimmel Shred 'Capt. Bone Spurs' For Adoring Putin

Once again, former defeated President Trump is droning on at the insane asylum in Mar-A-Lago about how much of a "stable genius" he is and how the invasion of Ukraine (something Trump laid the groundwork for during his clownish time in office) would've never happened during under his watch, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin had an "affinity" for him. It was the other way round: Trump was a useful patsy for Putin to prepare his aspirations to seize the sovereign land of Ukraine.

In this video Jimmy Kimmel wonderfully mocks Trump, noting that he can’t help but lie about himself and Putin, whom he has consistently praised over the years.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not particularly interested in hearing Capt. Bone Spurs’ thoughts on war when his only military credentials are leading an attack on his own vice president at the Capitol,” Kimmel said. “Be an American for one minute and shut up. Even the clown from ‘It’ took a few years off between terrorizing children.”

Watch The Entire Segment Below:

Michael Hayne is a comedian, writer, voice artist, podcaster, and impressionist. Follow his work on Facebook and TikTok

Shop our Store

Headlines

Editor's Blog

Corona Virus

Trending

World