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Last August, republicans knew about Russian interference in our elections and didn't care

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In June 2016, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), having initially hired Irvine, California company Crowdstrike to investigate hacking dating back to the first known hack of May 2015, announced the hacking.

… It [The DNC] hired Crowdstrike Services Inc. of Irvine, California, to investigate, which secretly monitored the hackers and discovered evidence of separate break-ins by two groups it recognized. The first happened in mid-2015 and the second was earlier in April.

The hackers stole opposition research on Trump, information about Democratic donors and years' worth of internal DNC emails before Crowdstrike cut off their access last month. Most of the DNC emails appeared to have been stolen on May 25. The committee publicly acknowledged the hacking on June 14. Business Insider

Other technical firms and researchers investigating the data concluded that the materials were stolen by Russian hackers, something ultimately acknowledged by U.S. intelligence and security agencies on October 7.

But one thing is important to remember. This isn’t just about stolen email and the WikiLeaks/Russia connection. This is ALSO about an American political party taking advantage of, and even using, stolen materials to their advantage in an election.

After Guccifer 2.0 targeted the chair of the DCCC, New Mexico’s Ray Lujan, the Democrats sent a letter to his Republican counterpart on Aug. 29 arguing that “the NRCC’s use of documents stolen by the Russians plays right into the hands of one of the United States’ most dangerous adversaries,” and if the National Republican Campaign Committee continued using the materials, the GOP “will be complicit in aiding the Russian government in its effort to influence American elections.” [emphasis mine] Salon

What absolute bullshit to believe ANY republican who knew about Podesta’s/DCCC stolen emails-- yet allowed them to be used in the election--now pretends that they are “concerned” about Russian interference. It’s the height of GOP hypocrisy.

Founded in 2011, Congressional Leadership Fund has the endorsement of the entire House Republican Leadership. --Congressional Leadership Fund

And least I remind, here is a list of the House Republican Leadership:

Paul Ryan, speaker

Steve Scalise, majority whip

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, conference chairman

Luke Messer, policy committee chairman  [source]

Now take a look at the names above and consider what they did regarding the hacked emails. They used them to their advantage.

When at least three of the above republican leaders were found to be on a recording intimating they thought both Trump and California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher were paid by Russian President Putin, as originally reported by The Washington Post , they summarily denied the conversation took place.  When told there was a recording of the conversation, Brendan Buck, speaking for Paul Ryan, changed his tune:

Ryan’s spokesman, Brendan Buck, responded to initial inquiries from the Post by claiming the conversation “never happened” and that the notion that McCarthy would make such claims is “absurd and false.”

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This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor. No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians. What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity. Think Progress

Brendon Buck, sir, you are a liar. Not only did Ryan/GOP not speak out, you used materials stolen by the Russians to help republicans on the November 2016 ballot. And you knew it.

This conversation took place before Trumps nomination and before the leaked hacks were even announced, yet Think Progress correctly concludes:

Even granting the premise that the conversation was “humorously” speculative, it still shows that even a month before the Republican nomination was officially Trump’s, it was wholly believable among the Republican leadership that Russia was trying to interfere in favor of Trump.

And republican leaders most certainly knew well before the election, in fact were briefed on it in August of 2016:

The former officials said that in late August — 10 weeks before the election —John O. Brennan, then the C.I.A. director, was so concerned about increasing evidence of Russia’s election meddling that he began a series of urgent, individual briefings for eight top members of Congress, some of them on secure phone lines while they were on their summer break. New York Times

Those eight top members of Congress are known as the “gang of eight”? (per wiki)

Yet Ryan and other republicans proceeded to use the Russian-hacked emails in RCC and other PAC commercials for republican congressional candidates in the fall of 2016. They had NO problem using stolen information provided by the Russians to help their candidates. None. Zero.

So the next time some whining Republican wants to talk about their party’s honesty in this mess, how much they “care”, how “important” the “truth” is about Russians interfering in our elections, remind them. Remind them they knew. Remind them they knew in Augustit was the Russians. And they didn’t give a damn. It is absolutely irrefutable.

In 2016, republicans and their party didn’t care that Russians were interfering in the elections.


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