Add one more log to the fire. And by “log” we mean one more in a seemingly ceaseless string of ties between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. McClatchy News’ DC bureau reported that the FBI has opened an investigation into Aleksandr Torshin. Torshin is the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank. Specifically, the investigation focuses on whether Torshin illegally funneled money from Russian interests through the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency.
The law is clear on the issue:
A foreign national shall not, directly or indirectly, make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation, in connection with any Federal, State, or local election.
This is the same law Donald Trump Jr. may have violated when he held that meeting at Trump Tower allegedly seeking dirt from a Russian operative on Hillary Clinton.
The problem the FBI will face is that political action committees (like the NRA’s political arm) are not required to release their donor lists:
Politically active non-profit organizations are not required under current law to disclose the names of businesses, organizations and individuals who provide their funds.
To be clear, that the NRA does is not required to publicly disclose donors is quite different than refusing to provide information if subpoenaed by the FBI in an investigation of possibly the most egregious (and possibly, treasonous) political scandal in American history.
Related: NRA TV’s Disturbing Racist Rhetoric
Disneyland bills itself as the “Happiest Place on Earth.” The NRA’s blog could seek to trademark “The Most Patriotic Place on Earth” given how many times the word (or a variation of it) appears in posts. Would such a presumably patriotic organization really collude with a hostile, foreign nation to manipulate an American election? If they thought their guns were at stake, “Hell, yeah!”
Need some examples? Today, Quartz offered a list of talking points from the 2016 campaign season.
- They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again.
- We must not sacrifice national security to satisfy the demands of minorities.
- Another gruesome attack on police by a BLM movement activist.
- Hillary [Clinton] will lie about anything to get elected.
- Hillary Clinton is the co-author of Obama’s anti-police and anti-Constitutional propaganda.
- Racial hatred is “being forced on the American culture by the Black Lives Matter crowd.”
Now quickly, which ones were talking points offered up by the NRA? Which were talking points from Russian propaganda mechanisms like Twitter bots? Don’t feel bad if you cannot be sure. That is the whole idea behind the propaganda, that it is both believable and from sources you deem reliable. Numbers 1, 4, and 6 were NRA talking points. Numbers 2,3, and 5 were Russian propaganda.
Today in the New York Times, columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote of an effort made in May 2016 by Paul Erickson seeking to open a dialogue between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Russian involved in the meet? Aleksandr Torshin. The campaign official? Donald Trump, Jr. The venue? The NRA’s convention in Louisville, KY where Donald Sr. gave a speech.
Related: Trump Gives NRA a Pass on Massacre Responsibility
McClatchy’s reporting of an active FBI investigation today adds a new data piece to the investigation. But is also demonstrates that seemingly every time the FBI turns over a rock from the 2016 campaign, something with a Russian accent slithers out from under it, often on its way to meet someone from the Trump campaign. The FBI may be seeking to prove a connection, or a crime,related to the 2016 general election, but the collusion may go deeper than that. The Washington Post reported last April on the growing alliance between “guns and religion” conservatives and Russia. The connections, and suspicions discussed in that article dated back to 2015 and the early days of the battle for the Republican nomination. The more we know, the more wonder, just how far back do Trump’s ties to Russia go?
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