In dribbles and drabs, the information about McConnell’s Russian connections keeps popping up in the press -not yet in the mainstream media but out there nevertheless. And the fact that there has been so little reporting on such a big story remains curious until this morning when PBS jumped into the fray
The facts are indisputable. Len Blavatnik, a Russian national contributed 3.5 million dollars in 2016 to a Republican PAC associated with Mitch McConnell.. McConnell led the GOP fight to lift the Russian sanctions and won despite the fact that all the Dems and some Republican Senators voted against the bill.
It has just been reported, from Daily Kos, which is not a mainstream news source. that the lifting of those sanctions not only benefited oligarch Oleg Derepaska who has ties to Putin but Blavatnik as well. One does not have to be a forensic accountant to smell a rat.
Obvious questions about McConnell’s coziness with these Russian oligarchs now become even more urgent. Why would McConnell risk leading the fight to lift sanctions when his links to huge contributions from Blavatnik sit there in plain sight? Is he. too. walking an uneasy tightrope with Russian billionaires to somehow parlay his Senate Leadership status into private millions? Or do the Russians have leverage over McConnell as well?
There is nothing illegal about accepting millions of dollars of political contributions to legal PAC’s. But to turn around and blatantly lead the fight to allow Derepaska, who Paul Manafort at one point owed 20 million dollars, to get his hands on his assets again looks particularly questionable. It gets too close to the Mueller investigation and the deadly serious business of Russian interference in the 2016 election.. McConnell should have stayed miles away from these links. Was the money simply too tempting or the pressure too great?
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/28/1830431/-Mitch-McConnell-now-tied-to-Putin-Oleg-Deripaska-and-Russian-companies-after-lifting-sanctions
Dems fighting backAnd the Dems, after a couple of days of mulling over the fact that the GOP lifted the sanctions are fighting back. Check out this article in the link below from PBS. Dem Senators Adam Schiff. Maxine Waters and Eliot Engel have demanded all the documents related to the lifting of sanctions from Sec. of Treasury Mnuchin and others In the lifting of sanctions, Derepaska’s influence in his company Rusal was supposed to be curtailed. However, it now appears that he will continue to maintain the levers of power.
Just follow the money is the old tried but true adage. The millions donated to McConnell, Rubio and Graham and their subsequent vote to lift the sanctions now puta a stain on all three Senators. Americans deserve an explanation.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/house-democrats-want-records-on-decision-to-lift-russian-sanctions
*Correction:
Did a little fact checking on my post sent this morning and YIKES discovered I had maligned Sen. Marco Rubio. He did NOT vote for the lifting of sanctions as I had reported. He voted against the lifting -despite receiving a huge political donation from Russian national Len Blavatnik. Sorry about the error. Rolling Stone link below covers the story.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/deripaska-trump-782332/