Donald Trump administration scrambles to cover up Trump-Russia-NRA money pipeline

| 6:04 pm EDT July 18, 2018
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On the very same day that it is announced that a Russian with ties to the Kremlin was arrested for acting as an unregistered foreign agent, while attempting to create a backchannel between Donald Trump and Russia through the NRA, the United States Treasury announced that that it would no longer require some tax-exempt organizations to identify where their donations originated. This means exactly what you are thinking – the NRA is now legally able to hide any future donations, likely including those that come directly from Russia.

The policy change, which will continue to require donor information on traditional charity groups, is being applauded by many conservatives as an advancement of “free speech,” despite these same people only supporting stricter policies when it matches their political narrative. While Citizens United has already created massive political damage by prohibiting the government from restricting certain independent expenditures, this new policy will further increase the level of “dark money” used by lobbyist and wealthy donors to buy politicians who will vote in their interests, not those of the constituents.

While Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claims “It is important to emphasize that this change will in no way limit transparency,” in reality this new policy will “protect the privacy of wealthy donors of ‘dark money’ donations to politically active group.”

One thing that Monday’s Treason Summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin made absolutely clear is that foreign money and influence are already altering, and even stealing elections, not only in America but in democracies around the world. This new policy will only make it that much easier for foreign adversaries, or even just wealthy individuals looking to violate election rules, to interfere in future elections. We already know that Putin has constantly been working to subvert our democracy, and it was made more clear on Monday that Trump is not only accepting of this fact, he is certainly counting on it.