At the conclusion of the Mueller investigation probing Russian influence on the 2016 election and the Trump campaign's knowledge of it, former President Donald Trump and his allies falsely claimed Mueller's findings were a "complete and total exoneration" of then-President Trump.
In reality, the Mueller report detailed multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and people with ties to the Russian government. Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified that Trump, when out of office, could reasonably be charged with a crime for his obstruction efforts impeding the investigation.
That hasn't stopped Trump and his ilk from referring to the investigation as the "Russia Hoax," but now yet another disturbing link between the Trump campaign and Russia has been uncovered.
The Justice Department has indicted Jesse Benton, a former aide to Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, for funneling $25 thousand to Trump's 2020 reelection campaign from an unnamed Russian national. Benton plotted the scheme with conservative commentator Doug Wead.
According to the Justice Department's filing:
"The defendants solicited contributions from the Russian foreign national and concealed the scheme from the candidate, federal regulators, and the public by secretly funneling foreign money from the Russian foreign national through BENTON, who acted as a straw donor ... by purporting to make a campaign contribution in his own name, rather than in the name of the Russian foreign national, who was the true source of the funds."
In 2018, a federal appeals court upheld Benton's conviction for lying to authorities about funneling money to Ron Paul's 2012 campaign from a prominent Iowa politician. Trump pardoned Benton in the final weeks of his administration.
Once again, the Republican party's entanglements with Russia are raising red flags.
So what you\u2019re saying is that all these GOP/GQP/Republican agents pointing at democrats and saying we are trying to turn America into a communist state are the ones who are identifying with people like this former Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell MAGAhat Russian agent??https://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— Jodi Andrea \u25cd (@Jodi Andrea \u25cd) 1632219680
Well well well\u2026. I want us to imagine the GOP response had this been a former senior Dem aide to Chuck Schumer funneling Russian money to Biden\u2019s election efforts, and then respond with at least an approximation of that intensity.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— TheCallOut (@TheCallOut) 1632225425
What\u2019s this? Ah, just another hole in the dike for that despicable excuse for a political party formerly known as \u201cRepublican\u201d\u2026 #VoteThemAllOuthttps://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— Pro-Democracy; Anti-Fascist! (@Pro-Democracy; Anti-Fascist!) 1632219081
Orders from the top, Moscow Mitch, Rand Paul, and the former guy.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— Woodrow Lee Robinson (@Woodrow Lee Robinson) 1632217516
This party is irredeemablehttps://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— GOTTA CALL LEE PODCAST (@GOTTA CALL LEE PODCAST) 1632206606
Republicans are Russian tools these days. That\u2019s because the Russians know the Republicans will help DESTROY America.https://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— JMDent (@JMDent) 1632216367
People weren't exactly surprised.
*pretends to be shocked*https://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— Jen.Anne.Campbell \ud83d\udc1d (@Jen.Anne.Campbell \ud83d\udc1d) 1632231302
No surprise herehttps://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— Pro Democracy, Prosecute Sedition (@Pro Democracy, Prosecute Sedition) 1632186374
But of course. \n#russianGOPhttps://twitter.com/axios/status/1440102512627892226\u00a0\u2026— Michelle My Belle (@Michelle My Belle) 1632214967
It's unclear what Benton's and Wead's defenses will be.
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