February 13, 2019: Russian Penetration, Early Indications, Let That Sink In

The full extent of Russian penetration into the American political power structure is yet to be told; but we have early indications. “(Many) leaders of the Republican Party were effectively on the payroll of the Kremlin, notes Craig Unger, “which had become as effective as Big Oil or Big Pharma at using K Street lobbyists to serve its agenda. The only difference was that they were essentially serving the interests of Vladimir Putin in the most heated geostrategic sector on the planet.

“Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who had hired former senator and Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole as a lobbyist in 2005, later tried, unsuccessfully, to woo Senator John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008. Russian conglomerate Alfa paid nearly $2 million in lobbying fees to Barbour Griffith and Rogers, the lobbying firm cofounded by former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour. (1)

“Similarly, in 2014, former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and former senator John Breaux (D-LA) became the main lobbyists for Gazprombank, a subsidiary of Russia's largest supplier of natural gas. More recently, in 2016, millions of dollars in Russian money was funneled to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and other high-profile Republicans to finance GOP senatorial candidates.

“Foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to Senate races, but, according to the 'Dallas Morning News,' during the 2015-16 election season, Ukrainian-born oligarch Leonard 'Len' Blavatnik, who has British-American dual citizenship, put a small fraction of his $20 billion fortune into GOP races. McConnell, who took $2.5 million for his GOP Senate Leadership Fund from two of Blavatnik's companies, was the leading recipient. Others included political action committees for Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Lindsey Graham, Ohio governor John Kasich, and Arizona senator John McCain.” (2)

The Russian oligarchs have enlisted the labors of former FBI directors William Sessions, who has taken on the most notorious of the Russian mobsters Semion Mogilevich, and former FBI director Louis Feeh. (3)

But wait, there is more...there is always more. At the presidential level “Trump and Manafort weren't the only influential Americans to have questionable relations with Russians during this period. Manafort had brought with him Rick Gates, Rick Davis, and Tad Devine from his firm in D.C. The lone Democrat in the operation, Devine had worked on both Al Gore's and John Kerry's campaigns, and later became the senior campaign strategist for Senator Bernie Sander's 2016 presidential run. (4)

Devine worked with Manafort in support of Ukraine's Regions Party, and its pro-Russian strongman Yanukovych in both the 2006 parliamentary election and the 2010 presidential election. (5)

“Similarly, in 2012,” continues Unger, “the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, a Ukrainian nonprofit representing Yanukovych's Party of Regions, employed the Podesta Group, run by Tony Podesta, whose brother, John Podesta, became campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton.

“By this point, even though most Americans didn't realize it, Putin and his allies had put money, directly and indirectly, on political consultants who were tied to campaigns for the three strongest candidates for the presidency of the United States in 2016—Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton.” (6)

Let that sink in.

Add the Russian infiltration of the Christian Evangelicals—right up to the White House prayer breakfasts, the National Rifle Association, and the Jewish Cult Chabad, and the outlines of the enormity of the Russian Effort to lever power begin to emerge.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

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1. Unger, Craig. House of Trump, House of Putin. The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. Copyright 2018. Dutton, Random House. New York. Pages 215-216. Deripaska, winner of the notorious 'aluminum wars', is a major player in Russian, Ukrainian and now American politics working closely with Paul Manafort, to whom Manafort reportedly owes millions, a debt he sought to 'repay' by becoming tRUMP's campaign manager and offering to pass information through Konstantin Kilimnik. See Unger.
2. Ibid. page 216.
3. Ibid. page 218.
4. Ibid. Page 230
5. Ibid
6. Ibid. 231-232.