Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Russia Doesn’t Need Trolls This Time
Bioweapons conspiracy promoted by likely suspects.



During the Cold War, the Soviet Union invested heavily in its global disinformation and propaganda efforts. And back in 2016, the Russians had to go to the trouble of creating a troll farm to push their divisive messages to the American audience. But today, they needn’t go to such lengths: Plenty of prominent right-wing media figures in the United States are pushing out Vladimir Putin’s propaganda for him.

It didn’t happen overnight. Recall how the Russia-sympathizing, Q-adjacent, Trump-loving MAGA media machine first pilloried Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling. Russia wasn’t responsible, they said—a computer server in Ukraine ran the operation. Then, in 2020, they accused Ukrainian officials of withholding dirt on Joe Biden’s family. Now they allege that the United States is funding bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine and our government is covering it up.

Make a Venn Diagram of the people pushing each of those three narratives and you’ll find they overlap almost completely. It’s all the same people: fringe Internet figures, Fox News hosts, Steve Bannon and his acolytes, Marjorie Tayor Greene caucus members, and the millions of people who love them.

Most of these people claim to be free-thinking contrarians. But their accusations, questions, and conclusions about the United States, Russia, and Ukraine always seem to go one way: The United States and Ukraine are somehow wrong, and the Russians have their reasons for waging war. If you don’t believe that, it’s only because all the Democrats are lying to you. (Well, all the Democrats except for 2022 CPAC special guest Tulsi Gabbard, anyway.)

Before we dig into the Russian disinformation about supposed U.S. bioweapons in Ukraine, let’s put some facts on the record: Both the United States and the Soviet Union had biological weapons programs. The American program lasted for about a quarter-century and was shut down by President Nixon before the United States signed on to the Biological Weapons Convention. The Soviet bioweapons program dwarfed the U.S. program—and long after the USSR signed on to the Bioweapons Convention, the Soviet program continued its work in secret.  The Americans did not operate bioweapons labs in Ukraine, but the Soviets did—although the research conducted in Ukraine, which involved plague, was not offensive but defensive. The United States does, however, now provide funding to some labs in Ukraine as part of the Biological Threat Reduction Program; such “biological defense” research is intended to help protect against disease outbreaks whether “deliberate, accidental, or natural.”

Russia has long promoted outlandish claims about supposed U.S.-funded biological weapons killing off pigs and unleashing killer mosquitoes. Old KGB agents used to lie that American research labs created the AIDS virus, too. The idea of U.S.-funded Ukrainian bioweapons labs began to circulate on fringe websites as Putin’s Ukraine invasion got underway. But it was a question by a U.S. senator—and a less than perfectly clear answer by an American official—that gave the conspiracy theories new life.

During a March 8 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Marco Rubio asked Victoria Nuland, the under secretary of state for political affairs, “Does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?” She answered that Ukraine has “biological research facilities” and expressed concern about Russian forces taking them over.

Rubio then reminded Nuland that Russian propagandists are pushing narratives about Ukrainians unleashing biological weapons in coordination with NATO. He asked her: “If there is a biological or chemical weapon incident or attack inside of Ukraine, is there any doubt in your mind that, 100 percent, it would be the Russians that would be behind it?”

Nuland replied, “There is no doubt in my mind, senator. And it is classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they are planning to do themselves.”

MAGA media figures seized upon this exchange as confirmation of something nefarious going on in Ukraine. Never mind that Nuland never said anything about Ukraine having bioweapons labs. Biological labs, bioweapons labs—whatever, samesies!

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “Well that went from conspiracy theory to senate testimony in about 6 days… It used to take six months to go from conspiracy theory to fact.” Fox News ratings king Tucker Carlson took the non-story to primetime. And, boy, did it play well in Russia. Carlson’s commentary is so Kremlin-friendly that, according to a memo obtained by Mother Jones, Russian officials have ordered their state-run media outlets to feature his clips.

In a lengthy monologue, Carlson said:

"Under oath in an open committee hearing, [Victoria] Nuland just confirmed that the Russian disinformation they’ve been telling us for days is a lie and a conspiracy theory and crazy and immoral to believe is, in fact, totally and completely true.

Woah, you don’t hear things like that every day in Washington. Talk about a showstopper and a dozen questions instantly jump to mind. What exactly are they doing in these secret Ukrainian bio labs? Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe. It’s hardly a hotbed of biomedical research. We’re assuming these weren’t pharmaceutical labs, probably not developing new leukemia drugs. From your answer, [Victoria] Nuland, we would assume because you all but said it, that there’s a military application to this research, that they were working on bioweapons. Again, your answer suggests that.

Why would we fund something like that in Ukraine, and why didn’t you secure the contents of these bio labs before the Russians arrived as you knew they would? And then why did you go out of your way to lie to the American public about all of this? If the “research materials” in these labs were to escape somehow and you seem very concerned about that, what would be the effect on Ukraine and then on the rest of the world? How can we prepare for the consequences of that, this thing that you’re worried about? Shouldn’t we be preparing? Because as it turns out, we’ve just spent the last two years living with the pathogen that began in another foreign bio lab funded by the United States government secretly."

Yes, one could have guessed that the same people who blamed Dr. Fauci for the coronavirus might try to find some other government bureaucrats to blame for Putin’s war. This time, according to Carlson, “Dangerous biological agents remain, thanks to the Biden administration, unsecured in a chaotic war zone.”

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, another Fauci hater-turned-bioweapons truther, retweeted a piece about Nuland’s testimony from Glenn Greenwald, calling it a “serious admission, under oath, from a person who would know.” Referring to Nuland, Greenwald’s piece declared that the “neocon’s confession sheds critical light on the U.S. role in Ukraine, and raises vital questions about these labs that deserve answers.”

This is the big story in their minds. Not the Russian invasion and the unfolding humanitarian disaster but the Russian disinformation about bioweapons, which provides a cudgel for whacking the Biden administration—no matter how bogus the claims.

Liz Cheney aptly dubbed the Republican figures who keep aligning with Russia “the Putin wing of the GOP,” though there is some debate whether it’s the party’s dominant wing. Most Republicans seem to be uniting around the cause of the Ukrainians.

Too bad it’s not the Republicans running the party, though.

Sean Hannity shows the conundrum. He seemed pretty upset about Putin’s war and has suggested someone assassinate Putin. The Fox News talker sat down with Donald Trump last Thursday and, in perfect keeping with his role of being more a public relations adviser than a journalist, Hannity made repeated attempts to goad Trump into denouncing the Russian leader.

Hannity’s efforts were for naught, though. Trump wouldn’t do it, which should have been expected, given Trump’s long-established pattern of sidling alongside Putin. (Remember Helsinki?) As long as Trump is the acknowledged head of the Republican party, his admiration for Putin is something that Republicans, including Hannity, will have to continue to accept.

Which doesn’t seem to be much of a problem at all for the younger, very online MAGA Republicans.

GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn, for example, is perfectly comfortable trashing Ukraine. He told donors that “Zelensky is a thug,” and “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”

Hardly anyone blinks when the Daily Wire’s Candace Owens tweets stuff like: “WE are at fault” for Russia’s invasion and every American who “wants to know what’s *actually* going on in Russia and Ukraine” should read the transcript of Putin’s speech to the Russian Federation Security Council.

The only thing better for Putin would be to make Americans read him in the original Russian.

It’s not a coincidence that two major scandals of the Trump era–the Mueller investigation and Trump’s first impeachment–involved Russian interference and Ukraine. Or that Trump went on to pardon members of his inner circle ensnared in the Russia probe, such as his former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former national security advisor Mike Flynn. All of these characters belong to the same story.

Flynn is now on Telegram, pushing the predictable party line: “I was told that biolabs in Ukraine was a conspiracy theory yet here we are. They are now admitting it openly.”

Fellow Trump pardonee-turned-podcaster Steve Bannon, ever the political entrepreneur, is channeling the conspiracy into direct political action. His demand: “No Republican should vote for any money on Ukraine, zero dollars until we know exactly what is going on with the labs.”

None of this goes to say these men, or the others parroting similar lines, bear any responsibility for Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine. But it’s ghastly how eager they are to latch on to Putin’s version of events to score cheap points against Democrats and advance their own interests.

https://www.thebulwark.com/russia-doesnt-need-trolls-this-time/

[Rick Plant]

'Party of Treason': GOP lawmakers face questions over viral Russian ad



The Republican Party is being labeled as the "Party of Treason” in a new, scathing political ad chronicling all that has transpired since Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to HuffPost, the ad was released by Really American, a progressive political action committee (PAC). The video highlights Independence Day 2018 when several Republican lawmakers' traveled to Moscow to visit the Kremlin.

With the video, the PAC tweeted, "A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia interfered in our elections, 8 Republicans flew to Russia for a photo-op. Now they're blaming Biden for the invasion of Ukraine while repeating Kremlin talking points."

Although the trip was reportedly intended to address Russian interference, the video notes that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), "downplayed said established threat just days later."

The video's narrator posed a number of compelling questions to Republican lawmakers asking: "why Republicans have 'consistently taken' the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin by, among other things, voting to block election security bills and backing Donald Trump for threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden, misconduct that led to the first impeachment of the former president."

The narrator concluded by saying, “Putin has shown his goal is to destabilize Western democracy from Ukraine to the U.S. We can’t allow his puppets to sink their claws deeper into our government.”

In just a short period of time, the video has gone viral. Since its release on Thursday, March 10, it has received more than 850,000 views as it continues to circulate on social media.

Watch video here:

A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia interfered in our elections, 8 Republicans flew to Russia for a photo-op. Now they're blaming Biden for the invasion of Ukraine, while repeating Kremlin talking points.

[Richard Smith]

'Party of Treason': GOP lawmakers face questions over viral Russian ad



The Republican Party is being labeled as the "Party of Treason” in a new, scathing political ad chronicling all that has transpired since Russia invaded Ukraine.

According to HuffPost, the ad was released by Really American, a progressive political action committee (PAC). The video highlights Independence Day 2018 when several Republican lawmakers' traveled to Moscow to visit the Kremlin.

With the video, the PAC tweeted, "A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia interfered in our elections, 8 Republicans flew to Russia for a photo-op. Now they're blaming Biden for the invasion of Ukraine while repeating Kremlin talking points."

Although the trip was reportedly intended to address Russian interference, the video notes that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), "downplayed said established threat just days later."

The video's narrator posed a number of compelling questions to Republican lawmakers asking: "why Republicans have 'consistently taken' the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin by, among other things, voting to block election security bills and backing Donald Trump for threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden, misconduct that led to the first impeachment of the former president."

The narrator concluded by saying, “Putin has shown his goal is to destabilize Western democracy from Ukraine to the U.S. We can’t allow his puppets to sink their claws deeper into our government.”

In just a short period of time, the video has gone viral. Since its release on Thursday, March 10, it has received more than 850,000 views as it continues to circulate on social media.

Watch video here:

A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russia interfered in our elections, 8 Republicans flew to Russia for a photo-op. Now they're blaming Biden for the invasion of Ukraine, while repeating Kremlin talking points.

This is simply a false narrative in which you are trying to validate your political bias.  The republicans have been out in front of the criticism of Russia while Biden lagged behind.  It was  republicans that advocated for sanctions BEFORE the invasion began while Biden vacationed at the beach.  Biden put his own political interests ahead of those of the people of Ukraine.  It was republicans who warned that relying on oil purchases from Russia and Iran put America and Europe at risk.  Biden put his woke agenda ahead of the interests of the world.  It was republicans who advocated an end to the purchase of Russian oil while Biden was concerned with the gas prices.  It is republicans who are advocating providing Ukraine with Polish MIGs to defend themselves while Biden is fearful that will PROVOKE Putin.  It was President Trump who condemned Putin without any ambiguity.  It was Lindsey Graham who advocated the removal of Putin from power.  Biden knocked off for the weekend for a nap.

"The Russian attack on Ukraine is appalling, it's an outrage and an atrocity that should never have been allowed to occur.  We are praying for the proud people of Ukraine. God bless them all."

President Donald J. Trump (statement on 02/26/22)

[Rick Plant]

These MAGA Trump radicals pretend to call themselves "patriots" but they are all in for Russia and Putin. They just follow their leader Donald Trump because they are nothing but a cult.   

Republican Madison Cawthorn slammed in scathing editorial for pushing Kremlin 'talking points'

Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is among the many far-right MAGA Republicans who has been an apologist for Russian President Vladimir Putin — even during the Ukraine invasion. Cawthorn was more than happy to push Kremlin talking points when, during a March 5 townhall event in Asheville, North Carolina, he attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “thug.” And the editorial board of North Carolina’s Winston-Salem Journal calls him out for it in a scathing editorial published on March 12 and headlined “Our view: Cawthorn Is Deplorable.”

Cawthorn, during his March 5 diatribe, told the crowd, “Remember that Zelensky is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”

Describing “woke ideologies” as “a catch-all term for anything conservatives dislike,” the Journal’s editorial board adds, “(Zelensky) has been leading his nation against a foreign invasion conducted by an unhinged dictator. This is the Zelensky who has defied an invasion force probably a hundred times mightier than Ukraine — one that has committed atrocities and war crimes by destroying hospitals and schools and homes, sending at least 2.5 million refugees to other countries.”

The Journal’s editorial board continues, “This was the Zelensky who answered an offer of asylum with the words, ‘The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.’ This is the Zelensky who cleverly withstood pressure from former President Trump to open a bogus investigation — is that what’s stuck in Cawthorn’s craw? — of the Biden family. Zelensky’s not running. He’s not blathering. With all odds against him, he’s fighting. This is a David and Goliath story — and Cawthorn thinks Goliath got a bad rap.”

The Journal’s editorial board notes that some well-known Republicans — including GOP strategist Karl Rove, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — were quick to condemn Cawthorn’s anti-Zelensky remarks, but adds that other Republicans have, like Cawthorn, been Putin apologists.

“Cawthorn’s comments might easily be written off as part of a misunderstood, nuanced evaluation of the situation if not for the degree of aid and comfort being offered Putin by other conservatives — including Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, who last week, promoted Russian disinformation about U.S.-funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine,” the Journal’s editorial board writes. “And if not for Sen. Marco Rubio slipping up earlier in the week by live-broadcasting information that could have compromised Zelensky’s safety. And if not for the repeated praise offered the Russian dictator by former President Trump. All of that leads to questions about what Rep. Liz Cheney calls the ‘Putin wing’ of the Republican Party.”

The Journal’s editorial board concludes its editorial by stressing that Cawthorn is an embarrassment to his district in North Carolina.

“The communities in our state’s 11th Congressional District have their share of problems, including the opioid crisis that has affected every other segment of society, underfunded educational resources and the challenge of drawing economic opportunities to help them thrive,” the editorial board writes. “They would do better to elect a representative who addresses those issues rather than one who repeats Russian talking points and distracts them with culture wars.”

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/north-carolina-newspaper-slams-madison-cawthorn-for-pushing-kremlin-talking-points/

[Rick Plant]

GOP voters finally buck Trump: Republicans unwilling to be Putin's puppets — for now



When Russian President Vladimir Putin started openly prepping his invasion of Ukraine a few weeks ago, it was clear that Donald Trump and his biggest stooges saw this as their big moment to get Republican voters on board with their pro-Putin agenda. For years, Trump propagandists like former Trump advisor Steve Bannon and Fox News host Tucker Carlson had been seeding the idea of an authoritarian movement that would join Trump supporters in the U.S. with far-right leaders abroad. They clearly envisioned a transnational push to end democracy and replace it with white nationalist autocracies. To this end, Trump made a big show during his presidency of aligning himself with Putin. Bannon repeatedly made trips to Europe to make alliances with far-right parties across the continent. Carlson hosted segments romanticizing Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orbán.

When it looked like Putin was about to strike Ukraine and end their fledgling democracy, these men were beside themselves with joy. Bannon gushed about how Putin was "anti-woke." Carlson argued that Putin was an innocent victim of Democratic propaganda. Trump, brimming with admiration, swooned at Putin's "genius" and "savvy." Carlson's pro-Putin bent was so obvious that the Kremlin instructed their own propagandists to use "broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson."

These Putin worshippers eventually backed off once the brutality of the invasion was on display. But some, especially Carlson, are already regrouping to find another way to push a pro-Putin/anti-Ukraine line. There is just one problem: Ordinary Republican voters don't seem to be picking up what the Trumpiest leaders in the GOP are putting down.

Instead of groking the signals that backing Putin is what is expected of loyal Trumpers, the Republican base seems to believe that this war in Ukraine is bad business. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week shows this gap between what Carlson and Bannon want, and what everyday Republicans believe about Putin and the war. While Democratic voters were more decisively anti-Putin, Republicans are right behind them, with 55% of Republicans saying that Putin is mentally unstable and 61% saying they had a positive opinion of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Another 66% of Republican voters support sanctions against Russian, even if it means higher gas prices.

NBC News, in talking with Republican voters in Ohio, found much of the same. Speaking to Trump loyalists at an event for Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance, who, in his never-ending quest to be as Trumpy as possible, previously made comments minimizing the invasion of Ukraine, reporter Henry Gomez found Vance supporters who said "I don't think we're doing enough" to help Ukraine beat Russia back and that paying more for gas to sanction Russia is "not going to cripple us."

It's tempting, of course, to imagine that these folks are just so moved by the images of destruction and suffering in Ukraine that they've been pulled away from the obvious pro-Putin lean of Trump and his most popular propagandists. But that sentimental view doesn't comport with the sadism Republicans show towards their fellow Americans, from their support for forced pregnancy to their approval of violent police crackdowns on Black Lives Matter protesters. Or their eagerness to vote for Trump, for that matter, who has not a shred of human decency in him and glories in bullying others. Cruelty is never a barrier for Republicans. On the contrary, as Adam Serwer of the Atlantic famously wrote, cruelty is what attracts them.

No, instead what this all illustrates is the huge gap between what the leaders of Trumpism want and what the average GOP base voter gets out of following Trump. For leaders like Carlson and Bannon, Trumpism is part of a larger ideology, which goes by many names but should be understood basically as fascism. They are more loyal to this ideology than they are to the U.S., which is why they barely bother to hide their enthusiasm for the January 6 insurrection. As demonstrated by the exalting of European far-right parties, these leaders see themselves as part of a transnational movement aimed at ending democracy both here and abroad.

But while these ideological yearnings aren't nearly as brainy as Bannon and Carlson like to imagine they are, they still are too cerebral for average GOP voters. For most Republican voters, backing Trump is less about an intricate philosophy about governance and more just identity politics and a desire to stick it to liberals. They like Trump's racism and sexism, but most haven't really thought about what he stands for more deeply than that they share his bigotries. Above all other things, they really like that he "triggers" the liberals. But most couldn't articulate a coherent ideological argument for Trumpism beyond that. This is why Putin's invasion of Ukraine is received so differently by the Trumpist leaders and the hoi polloi.

Carlson, Bannon, and Trump himself all likely see the strike against Ukraine in the same light as the January 6 insurrection: a blow against democracy and an attempt to expand the international footprint of their far-right ideology. But ordinary Republicans only see a white Christian nation attacking another white Christian nation. This doesn't really compute with their political priorities, which are about the white Christian identity and sticking it to Democrats. They don't see how killing a bunch of Ukrainians advances those interests.

None of which is to say that ordinary Trump supporters are morally superior to their more ideologically fascist leaders. Instead, they should be understood as indifferent to ideology, and happy to go along with any political system that serves their desire to keep their tribe in power over everyone else. They were fine with democracy when it was easier for conservative white Christians to maintain power through democratic means. Now that they're outnumbered by the Democratic coalition, however, they are happy to tank democracy. Their only real concern is that people who look like them stay in charge.

All that said, this is a situation very much in flux.

Republican voters may not currently feel any compulsion to side with Russia over Ukraine, since both seem to be white Christian nations. But given enough pressure and signals from leadership that being pro-Russia is part of the conservative identity, ordinary GOP voters may come around.

Tucker Carlson clearly feels that he can bring his audience around to a more pro-Putin view through blunt repetition. After briefly backing down from his pro-Putin stance, he's been circling around again to claims that Russia is being victimized by the U.S. and Ukraine. Steve Bannon has started to bash Zelenskyy for fighting back. If these leaders keep this propaganda up long enough, even their densest followers will start to realize that being pro-Putin and anti-Ukraine is what is expected of them. Average Republicans may not understand why they are supposed to hate Ukraine, but if the nation and its president get demonized as "woke" long enough, there's a not-small chance they will get on board.

https://www.rawstory.com/gop-voters-finally-buck-trump-republicans-unwilling-to-be-putin-s-puppets-for-now/

[Rick Plant]

Time Warner dumps Trump's conspiracy OANN tv channel and now he's crying about it. OANN is a network of wall-to-wall fearmongering, false narratives, and conspiracy theories. Or, as Trump calls them, "a wonderful network." DirecTV has already pulled the plug and now Time Warner canceling OANN is the final nail in the coffin for them. Good riddance to right wing Kremlin propaganda. Cry more Donnie!

Trump lashes out at Time Warner for canceling his favourite network OAN



Donald Trump has spoken out against Time Warner Cable’s decision to drop One America News, a far-right TV station that routinely praises him.

“I believe the people of this Country should protest the decision to eliminate OAN, a very important voice,” the former president said in a statement on Monday. “Demand that OAN be allowed to stay on the air. It is far bigger and more popular than anyone knows, and importantly, it represents the voice of a very large group of people!”

In recent months, multiple cable providers have axed OAN, an outspokenly pro-Trump network that has been accused of promoting right-wing conspiracy theories – including in a $1.6bn lawsuit by two voting machine companies, Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems.

On Monday, Mr Trump called the channel “very popular and wonderful,” and commanded his supporters to punish cable providers for dropping it.

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-lashes-time-warner-canceling-190338576.html

[Rick Plant]

Right wingers still want to falsely claim there is no "Russian collusion" even when they are caught taking illegal dirty Russian money for their campaigns and PACs. The GOP is corrupt and in lockstep with the Kremlin.   

Russian tycoon named in probe to funnel cash to Trump and other Republican candidates



The New York Times Monday that court filings accused a Russian businessman trying to create a cannabis empire of making $1 million in illegal campaign donations to federal and state candidates.

Andrey Muraviev was part of an effort just three months before the 2018 midterm elections where he would give donations in the name of another person.

The federal grand jury delivered the indictment in Sept. 2020, although there's no explanation why it was sealed until this week.

"Prosecutors have said that more than $150,000 of the money Muraviev had sent, which was siphoned through a bank account controlled by Fruman’s brother, ended up being donated to the Republican Adam Laxat," said CNBC in a separate report. "He was running for governor of Nevada in 2018."

Donald Trump's PAC was another donation. Texas Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) was also named as a recipient of $5,400, the Dallas Morning News reported. Other funds were sent to candidates in Texas and Florida.

Muraview was part of the trial involving Soviet-born Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, along with two other co-defendants. His name was brought up in October for Parnas's trial.

"Mr. Muraviev is believed to be in Russia and remains at large," the unsealed filing said, citing the prosecutors. "Each of the two counts against him carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison."

“He attempted to corrupt our political system to advance his business interests,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, with the Southern District of New York. He went on to say that the office “committed to rooting out efforts by foreigners to interfere with our elections."

Read the full report at the Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/nyregion/russian-illegal-campaign-donations.html