Of course he didn't use the phrase, but clearly the intent of it got under his shell.
Imagine if a Dem pulled this...
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2019/07/moscow-mit...orial.html
Now McConnell says he is blocking the mostly bipartisan security measures to safeguard our elections because Democrats are trying to give themselves a “political benefit.” That’s rich.
These are bills to require candidates to notify the FBI if a foreign entity offers help, mandate the use of paper ballots or better fund the Election Assistance Commission. Hardly partisan stuff.
But if foreign hackers want to interfere and give his own party an unfair advantage, McConnell’s position seems to be, more power to them.
Look a bit deeper, though, and you’ll find other unseemly explanations -- the perks “Moscow Mitch” gets from Russian oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin, who dump money into GOP campaigns and his home state.
Like Oleg Deripaska, the Kremlin ally behind the world’s second-largest aluminum company, called Rusal. The Treasury Department accused this tycoon of aiding Russia’s misdeeds, and put sanctions on him and his company as punishment for the hacking of our 2016 election.
The oligarch then paid lobbyists to campaign on his behalf, until Trump’s Treasury Department agreed to lift the sanctions. Most Republicans in the House voted with Democrats against this move to ease the punishment, and many Republicans in the Senate strongly agreed.
But McConnell put the kibosh on that resistance, and sided with Deripaska’s campaign to keep the money rolling in.
So the Trump administration did proceed to lift its sanctions on Rusal, which is now investing hundreds of millions in building a new plant in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky; one that promises to create hundreds of jobs. Go figure.
McConnell responded angrily yesterday to the suggestion that he is a Russian asset: “The people who push such unhinged smears are doing Putin’s destabilizing work for him,” he tweeted last night.
But whether he was moved by the generosity of rich Russians, or the voting machine lobbyists who oppose creating paper trails for digital election systems, the end result is the same: He is doing Putin’s bidding.
He is endangering our democracy, by refusing to make our elections safer. “Our adversaries are relentless,” FBI director Christopher Wray warned last week, echoing Mueller. And Putin knows better than to rely on just one puppet.
Imagine if a Dem pulled this...
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2019/07/moscow-mit...orial.html
Now McConnell says he is blocking the mostly bipartisan security measures to safeguard our elections because Democrats are trying to give themselves a “political benefit.” That’s rich.
These are bills to require candidates to notify the FBI if a foreign entity offers help, mandate the use of paper ballots or better fund the Election Assistance Commission. Hardly partisan stuff.
But if foreign hackers want to interfere and give his own party an unfair advantage, McConnell’s position seems to be, more power to them.
Look a bit deeper, though, and you’ll find other unseemly explanations -- the perks “Moscow Mitch” gets from Russian oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin, who dump money into GOP campaigns and his home state.
Like Oleg Deripaska, the Kremlin ally behind the world’s second-largest aluminum company, called Rusal. The Treasury Department accused this tycoon of aiding Russia’s misdeeds, and put sanctions on him and his company as punishment for the hacking of our 2016 election.
The oligarch then paid lobbyists to campaign on his behalf, until Trump’s Treasury Department agreed to lift the sanctions. Most Republicans in the House voted with Democrats against this move to ease the punishment, and many Republicans in the Senate strongly agreed.
But McConnell put the kibosh on that resistance, and sided with Deripaska’s campaign to keep the money rolling in.
So the Trump administration did proceed to lift its sanctions on Rusal, which is now investing hundreds of millions in building a new plant in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky; one that promises to create hundreds of jobs. Go figure.
McConnell responded angrily yesterday to the suggestion that he is a Russian asset: “The people who push such unhinged smears are doing Putin’s destabilizing work for him,” he tweeted last night.
But whether he was moved by the generosity of rich Russians, or the voting machine lobbyists who oppose creating paper trails for digital election systems, the end result is the same: He is doing Putin’s bidding.
He is endangering our democracy, by refusing to make our elections safer. “Our adversaries are relentless,” FBI director Christopher Wray warned last week, echoing Mueller. And Putin knows better than to rely on just one puppet.
