Tangled web connects Russian oligarch money to GOP campaigns

Politics & Elections
1

Anyone surprised by this?

2

He must really love the GOP.

3

I know. How horrible it is that a US citizen legally contributes money to GOP campaigns.

4

Which of course totally misses the point, but whatever.

5

I know. How horrible it is that a US citizen legally contributes money to Democratic Party campaigns.
FoxNews

Bitch, bitch, bitch, whine, whine, whine.

6

I agree, Mr. Blavatnik’s contributions certainly indicate that he is not politically neutral. He definitely prefers GOP over the Democrats.

Would you agree that the seven Mueller’s attorneys that contributed to Democrats are also not politically neutral?

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I doubt there are many people who are politically neutral.
I do believe that Mueller and the people he picked are quite capable of not letting their political views influence their work.

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And it is just a coincidence that out of the 15, 7 contributed only to Democrats and Hillary and none contributed to Trump. Only one made a contribution to a Republican, but contributed much more to Democrats.

Just a coincidence I guess.

9

Do you feel that Blavatnik’s contributions were made independent of the views of the Russian government, in agreement with the Russian government’s views, or in opposition to the Russian government’s views?

10

I’m waiting for the conspiracy theory to be spelled out.

Mueller’s gonna getcha…

11

I can’t get into Mr. Blavatnik’s head. I know that he is a US citizen, and is entitled to legally contribute to any candidate in the US elections that he wants. Making insinuations that he contributes as he does due to Russian government’s views is disgusting. Is he a second-class citizen because he was born in Russia (or is it Ukraine)? Would you make the same insinuations about UK-born citizens? French-born? Iraqi-born? etc. etc.

AFAIU, the Russian-born citizens in the US are pretty overwhelmingly (70-75%) pro-Republican and have been so way before Trump. Do you also feel that their views are not “independent of the views of the Russian government”?

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These are suspicions, which may or may not be borne out by investigation. Suspicion does not require proof beyond a shadow of a doubt, that is reserved for an actual finding of guilt. (Traditionally, this must precede requisition of a rope and contracting a hangman.) But if there were no unproven suspicions to begin with, justice would not be better served.

Look at it this way: if a reputable and skilled investigator turns over every stone and finds nothing, you can assuredly look forward to a good long gloat. I promise to attend. I will read every word, and confine my comments to praise and approval.

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There are no “suspicions” that can be proven in the article in the OP. None. There is nothing to “prove”. Nothing can be “investigated”. A US citizen who was born in Ukraine dared to contribute to some Republicans. Legally. That’s the “accusation”.

14

Wow. Are Trumpeters really THAT respectful of Russia? Like the ones that grew up in the Cold War like I did? There was a lot of reasons to hate those Ruskie-Red Wings from the '90s… :smiley:

Maybe it’s because Putin is richer and a bigger bully?

15

“Hockey inwented in Russia”

  • Chekhov
16

So I guess that’s a vote for independent.

Me, I question that. Not because of where Blavatnik was born. (Let me clear that up for you. He wasn’t born in Russia.) I question the independence of his political contributions because of his close financial connections with members of the Russian government. This is not an unusual situation; pretty much anyone doing significant business in Russia has to form alliances with Russian government officials. And the Russian government cuts off anyone from doing business in Russia is they oppose the Russian government.

I don’t find acknowledging this to be disgusting.

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Well, OK, he doesn’t oppose the Putin government, because they wouldn’t let him be a rich guy. Doesn’t mean he helps them, or anything!

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If he’s a legal citizen, then there would need to be more than this to be meaningful at all. You would need evidence that this was more than personal politics.

I would be curious to know when the donation to Mitch McConnell was made? The key moment would, probably, be the GOP was deciding whether to back one of the normal candidates during the primaries or if they were going to bow out and give Trump the win. If the money came to McConnell right at that point, that would be damn suspicious.

And, of course, I would wonder whether this is a donation that he would usually be able to afford?

19

Funny how you have “suspicions” about 7 people who collectively probably didn’t come anywhere near the amount of political donations that he made, but none about this guy. Let me remind you:

[QUOTE=Okrahoma]
Would you make the same insinuations about UK-born citizens? French-born? Iraqi-born? etc. etc.
[/QUOTE]

Would you make the same insinuations based on the political orientation of US-born citizens?

Oh, right, you just did.

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I’m sure he still has some friends/business in the Russian but looking at his Forbes summary, he sold off his stake in the big oil company he was part of in 2013.

@Sage Rat, the guy seems a legit billionaire so I’m sure this has been affordable a long time. According to the same Forbes profile, he also donated $25 Million to Carnegie Hall in 2016.