No wonder Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are afraid of Donald Trump’s Russia scandal

| 2:06 pm EDT August 31, 2017
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Even as various Republicans in Congress have stepped forward of late to challenge Donald Trump on his various scandals and antics, the party’s two de facto leaders have largely been silent. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have seemed not only afraid of challenging Trump in general, but specifically afraid of his Russia scandal being exposed. Now it’s becoming clear just how much they may have to lose if and when it all comes out in the wash.

This week it was revealed that Donald Trump was trying to build Trump Tower Moscow during the election, and that Trump’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen reached out directly to the Kremlin for help on the deal during the campaign. Cohen is also connected to Russian bank Gazprom through a lobbying firm, as reported by Mother Jones (link). He was involved in the bizarre scheme earlier this year by Kremlin representatives to convince Trump to use blackmail material to get Ukraine to officially give up Crimea. Cohen’s connections to the Kremlin are lengthy and suspicious to say the least.

Yet Michael Cohen also became finance chairman for the Republican National Committee this year. Why did the RNC give such a crucial job to Donald Trump’s Russia-connected attorney? If it was a mere favor to Trump, it was a reckless one at best, as it’s exposed the party to whatever dealings Cohen has going on with the Kremlin. And then there’s the question of whether it’s something more.

Earlier this month Palmer Report reported that Mitch McConnell had been caught taking millions of dollars from a pro-Kremlin oligarch (link). It was technically legal because it was done through a Super PAC and the oligarch in question has dual U.S. citizenship, but it pointed to McConnell being knee deep in Trump’s Russia scandal. And now we know that the RNC hired Trump’s Kremlin-connected attorney to a key job. No wonder McConnell, Ryan, and the Republican leadership are sweating this.