Datasets:

---

innovation-hacking2

/

shitposting_dataset1

like 0

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh.." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like I am one of the few people that doesn’t have some kind of ties to Russian oil men." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like I am one of the few people that doesn’t have some kind of ties to Russian oil men.", ">\n\nWait, what!? Another republican linked to Russian money? Can we just finally admit that the US doesn’t exist anymore because clearly we’re owned by Russia." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like I am one of the few people that doesn’t have some kind of ties to Russian oil men.", ">\n\nWait, what!? Another republican linked to Russian money? Can we just finally admit that the US doesn’t exist anymore because clearly we’re owned by Russia.", ">\n\nThis should say: George Santos linked to Russian oligarch. Drop the cousin nonsense." ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like I am one of the few people that doesn’t have some kind of ties to Russian oil men.", ">\n\nWait, what!? Another republican linked to Russian money? Can we just finally admit that the US doesn’t exist anymore because clearly we’re owned by Russia.", ">\n\nThis should say: George Santos linked to Russian oligarch. Drop the cousin nonsense.", ">\n\nwhy is it always the GOP with ties to Russian oligarchs? why is it always them?" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like I am one of the few people that doesn’t have some kind of ties to Russian oil men.", ">\n\nWait, what!? Another republican linked to Russian money? Can we just finally admit that the US doesn’t exist anymore because clearly we’re owned by Russia.", ">\n\nThis should say: George Santos linked to Russian oligarch. Drop the cousin nonsense.", ">\n\nwhy is it always the GOP with ties to Russian oligarchs? why is it always them?", ">\n\nA Republican with tenuous ties to Russia?!? \n[surprised pikachu face]" ]

[ "well, somebody spent a lot of money to get this clown stuffed into the Right's clown car \nif you tried to pitch this guy as a character in a fictional story you'd get laughed out of the room", ">\n\nSantos can't be the only, there has to be more grifters that ran in last year's elections.\nRussian interests don't stop with one candidate...", ">\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, the pathological liar ex-press secretary who just got elected gov of Arkansas. I’m convinced her daddy bought her that press secretary job (no way in hell would Donald Trump, who’s obsessed with image & hot 20 yr old pageant girls hire an unattractive, overweight 40 year old to be the face everyone sees when they watch press conferences about the Trump administration). With her daddy as corrupt as he is? You know there was money involved. To win a governors race though? I don’t know. \nI do know she spent the entire year in Florida, not Arkansas, begging people for money because outside of that press secretary stunt? That woman never had a job in her 40 years on this earth. \nBetween her and Santos I just see two scam artists with bad teeth.", ">\n\nMeanwhile, her opponent was a a young black minister who earned an PhD in urban planning from MIT and had previously worked as a physicist. He only got about 35% of the vote.", ">\n\nDamn. That's depressing", ">\n\nAs a born and bred Californian living a state north from Arkansas…. it’s unbelievable how folks think these people are on the side of the righteous. I’ve lived abroad and traveled to 3 other continents but the biggest culture shock of my life was moving to mid-America", ">\n\nBorn in Texas and lived in southern states till I left for the Marine Corps. World travel was a shock, and made me realize how backward my family and the states I had lived in are.", ">\n\nTravel changes perspectives and challenges our own expectations about the world. Glad you got the experience and hope all of it was ultimately positive for you!", ">\n\nit was an eye opener for certain. My brother also went in, but spent his entire tour in N Carolina. Learned nothing in this aspect.", ">\n\nalways interesting how similar experiences can influence people totally differently", ">\n\nIt's amazing just how many republicans can be linked to Russians.", ">\n\nAnd stupid ones and pathological liars at that.", ">\n\nThey do appear to have a type.", ">\n\nMcCarthy was so desperate to be Speaker that he didn't want to look into Santos. Now, we're finding out that Santos is a Russian plant of a sanctioned oligarch who wanted McCarthy to be Speaker. I hope this leads to more revelations of money laundering and other financial crimes. It's time to clean House.", ">\n\nWhy else do you think the Republicans have hobbled the House Ethics Committee's ability to investigate? They know where the rot is, they just don't want anybody else to find out.", ">\n\nI have no confidence in Republicans to do anything about him, but the DOJ is already involved with the case and Santos isn't important enough to shield from prosecution.", ">\n\nForgive me for not having faith that the doj will do anything useful.", ">\n\nWhat in the last 3 decades of inaction are you talking about? Why not?", ">\n\nThis is a gift link with no paywalls, but here's the meat of it:\n\nTaken together, the evidence suggests Santos may have had a business relationship with Intrater as Santos was first entering politics in 2020. It also shows, according to the SEC filing, that Intrater put hundreds of thousands of dollars into Santos’ onetime employer, Harbor City, which was accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater responded to requests for comment. Attorneys who have represented Intrater also did not respond.\n\n\n\nWhile Intrater is a U.S. citizen, his company, the investment firm Columbus Nova, has historically had extensive ties to the business interests of his Russian cousin, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. As recently as 2018, when Vekselberg was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in the Russian energy industry, his conglomerate was Columbus Nova’s largest client, the company confirmed to The Post that year.\nIntrater’s interactions in 2016 and 2017 with Michael Cohen, who at the time was working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, were probed during special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible links between Trump and the Kremlin.\nIntrater’s company paid the lawyer and self-described Trump fixer to identify deals for his business, and court records show they exchanged hundreds of texts and phone calls.", ">\n\nLooks bad, smells bad, don't eat it. Nature has ways of signaling danger. The money trail looks like Russian interests gave Santos money to get elected.", ">\n\nBut he legit said it “didn’t come from Russian” on a podcast.\n/s", ">\n\nActually, he said it didn't come from China, Ukraine, or Burisma. So probably Russia.", ">\n\nBurisma?", ">\n\nUkrainian gas company you probably forgot about. They put Hunter Biden on their board, presumably for access to VP Biden. Been a recurring villain in the Fox News Cinematic Universe ever since.", ">\n\nI always laugh at how they harp on Burisma so bad, as if companies paying favors to the family of politicians, in order to gain access and influence with the politician, isn't as old as time. And hell, the Republicans are the ones who perfected that play.", ">\n\nThey unironically foam at the mouth about Burisma and completely ignore the billions of dollars the Saudi's gave Jared Kushner.", ">\n\nThe GOP is a Russian asset.", ">\n\nTreason runs deep with Republicans", ">\n\nRussia has been involved with his entire campaign. This guy is a Russian asset. Nobody gets 700k without expectations.", ">\n\nThere is so much to unpack with this guy.\nHe may not actually be named George Santos. He was going by Anthony Devolder at a conservative rally a few years ago. This raises questions of who he really is.\nHe's probably not a legal US citizen. He appears to have committed fraud in order to qualify for citizenship, and it is also unclear as to whether or not he met the time requirements to qualify to naturalized.\nHe's a known criminal in Brazil. He's on the run from authorities there for check fraud, and potentially other financial crimes.\nHe was broke during his time with the company that later turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and struggled to pay his rent. His landlord said he also trashed the apartment.\nHe somehow loaned 700k to his campaign, despite being essentially broke. He then reported a meteoric rise in net wealth, from basically zero to $10 million in something like 2 years or less.\nHe has lied about almost every aspect of his life. He claimed to be Jewish, but is not. He actually used the term \"Jew-ish,\" meaning that some members of his ancestry were. But he is not actually.\nHis mother apparently died in the towers on 9/11, despite succumbing to cancer apparently in 2016.\nHe claims to be gay, despite being married to a woman for the purposes of qualifying for US citizenship.\nThis guy needs to have his life torn apart and reconstructed by the FBI, and then charged with the litany of crimes he has committed in order to where he is today.\nAnd then he needs to have his citizenship revoked and sent packing back to Brazil where they can have their turn with him.", ">\n\nBoebert is another one with unexplained millions in the bank after struggling to pay property taxes.", ">\n\nHer money is easier to trace back to her husband getting a cushy consulting gig for oil companies, and then mad insider trading once she became a house rep.\nBoebert's pre-election run story is...interesting. She is alleged to have been a B roll talent model who doubled as an escort/sex worker. She is alleged to have been paid for sexual favors by Ted Cruz and another GOP party operative, while being scouted as a potential candidate for office. The allegations go so far as to claim she may have been paid by Cruz to get an abortion.\nIt is also alleged that Cruz paid for the bulk of her 2020 primary chal, and his PAC supported her general election. The funds to reimburse her for her driving expenses while campaigning were almost exactly what it took to pay off the property taxes on her now defunct restaurant.\nThe talent site where she pops up is the same site that the wine drunk moron who appeared in court with Rudy Giuliani in Michigan or Wisconsin also shows up on...I can't remember the details now, but there were several models in that site that ended up in the GOP's orbit. Maybe the spoiler candidate that showed up in Florida that cost the Democrat in Miami-Dade the election? It's an interesting coincidence, if nothing else.", ">\n\nMost of what you are recounting is wildly unsubstantiated.\nBut it's so damn plausible.", ">\n\nThat's why I heavily used the word alleged.\nIt's a whole lot of very strange bits of information, rumors, hearsay, and the like. \nBut man does it paint a compelling picture of a woman who was scouted out for the job of insane right wing politician in order to swell the ranks of the MAGA faithful.", ">\n\n\"People are saying...\"", ">\n\nThis made me think of this quote for some reason:\n“I never said he was,” he continued, “I said there was a rumor in Milwaukee that he was, which was true when I started the rumor in Milwaukee.”", ">\n\nRussians and republicans. Name a more iconic duo.", ">\n\nWasn’t it only like 10 years ago that the Russians were the hated boogeyman enemies of republicans? Crazy\nDid the love affair start before trump or did they follow him (and his handlers)?", ">\n\nIt really is crazy. I wonder if it was money or kompromat. I bet it was a mixture of both.", ">\n\nThe DNC and RNC emails were hacked. The DNC ones were released.", ">\n\nYou don't think that's just because the DNC ones were the only ones with damning evidence of shady dealings, while the RNC ones were just boring campaign strategy discussions of honest legisl... okay, sorry. I just can't finish typing that with a straight face.", ">\n\nHad me going in the first half lol", ">\n\nI get to go back to my Russia files! \nJan. 9, 2017\nVekselberg Meets With Cohen\nIn Michael Cohen’s Trump Tower office, he and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg discuss a mutual desire to strengthen Russia’s relations with the United States under President Trump. Also in attendance is Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater, chief executive of an American investment firm — Columbus Nova — whose biggest client is Vekselberg’s Renova Group. The three men agree to see each other at Trump’s inauguration. A week later, they are together at a dinner celebrating the inauguration.\nJan. 20, 2017\nVekselberg, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin and Butina Attend Trump Inauguration Festivities; Cohen Gets Big Contract\nThe FBI is concerned that key Russian elites and others associated with Putin’s government are attending Trump inauguration events. Among them is Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who attends a Trump inauguration dinner as a guest of Andrew Intrater, chief executive of investment firm Columbus Nova. Intrater is Vekselberg’s cousin, and Vekselberg’s firm — Renova Group — is Columbus Nova’s largest client. Days after the inauguration, Columbus Nova awards Michael Cohen a $1 million consulting contract.", ">\n\nRemember the red scare? Which at times was over the top. Now however we have the \"red I ain't seen nothin\".", ">\n\nThe Red Scare vs. The Red We Don’t Care", ">\n\nGOP just selling America to Russian oligarchs. They can't even be deluding themselves at this point, can they?", ">\n\nThey want to use Russian money to live and campaign off of, and Murdoch's FOX News to confuse their base.\nRepublicans have sold out the US .", ">\n\nIn late November, the Daily Beast reported that Andrew Intrater — a cousin of and money manager for sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg — gave more than $56,000 to political committees supporting Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman Nov. 8.\nSome background: \nViktor Vekselberg is a Ukrainian-born oligarch with links to donations to both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump inaugural fund. Vekselberg, who has ties with Putin and has publicly advocated for lifting U.S. Sanctions on Russia, previously served on the board of the sanctioned Russian oil company Rosnef and reportedly holds “signicant interest” in Oleg Deripaska’s company, Rusal. Vekselberg was part of the financial conglomerate Alfa-Access-Renova Consortium alongside fellow oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, and Len Blavatnik. He also owns the diversfied holding company Renova Group. \nAndrew Intrater, the CEO of Columbus Nova, which has been described as “the U.S. investment vehicle for the Renova Group,” donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration fund. Prior to this donation, the Trump campaign had criticized Hillary Clinton after it was revealed that the Clinton Foundation had accepted large donations from Renova Group. Vekselberg has come in contact with several individuals linked to the Trump Campaign. He attended the December 2015 RT anniversary gala alongside both Michael Flynn and Putin. He also attended a 2014 fundraising event for the Moscow Jewish Museum, which was attended by both Jared and Ivanka Trump. Vekselberg also has ties to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross due to a 2014 partnership with Renova Group involving the Bank of Cyprus; Renova Group is currently the largest shareholder in Bank of Cyprus, while Wilbur Ross served on the bank’s Board for several years before becoming Secretary of Commerce.", ">\n\nBoy, does Russia love its useful idiots", ">\n\n\"useful\"", ">\n\nWait until the government defaults on its debt + aid is cut off to Ukraine due to a few fringe votes in the House… they’re very useful.", ">\n\nNow it becomes clear where GOP leaders get their marching orders from. Russian sympathizers, and a steroid-taking troll doll. I'm starting to think QAnon was created by the Kremlin.", ">\n\nIf not created by they definitely threw lots of gas on that stupid fire.", ">\n\nThis is true of a lot of Russian sourced conspiracies. The ones they tried to do on their own and disseminate in the West were shit. This goes all the way back to the Soviet days.\nSocial media made it a lot easier. Find existing nutty stuff online that's potentially disruptive. Then boost it. It's almost too easy. Massive state security liability.", ">\n\nYou have to assume that others had their campaigns funded by Russia. Maybe you can't prove it, but you know these things are happening and it would explain a lot. With all the money that was funneled in through the NRA, and the ability to mask everything through SuperPACs there's no way of knowing how much of Congress has been infiltrated.", ">\n\nWe can prove it in a lot of the cases. There’s just nothing being done. The NRA was a direct pipeline.", ">\n\nWoah… this is a huge revelation considering the proxy war we are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars a day into.\n\nAND the GOP will road block anything from happening again to own the libs (like any other national security threat)", ">\n\nRussia's waged a proxy war with the west via political interference and social media influence operations for a decade now.\nThis is why kicking them out of Ukraine is so crucial, as it will cripple their international capabilities to keep harming us. They've already been attacking our way of life, radicalizing our citizens, and propping up a party intent on literally gutting the nation in the name of a false patriotism.\nIt's ironically the same stuff as the red scare rhetoric, only it turns out to be true about the party that used those scare tactics. (I actually do not think the 2 are related, but the irony is so sharp it could cut through diamonds).", ">\n\nI have yet to see a photo of George Santos without that same shit eating grin. What gives?", ">\n\nHe still can't believe that this actually worked and he's a fucking Congressman now, I guess that is reason for a constant shit eating grin.", ">\n\nI guess anything in America is possible with enough Russian Money.", ">\n\nThere's a LOT of Russian sympathy in the right. When we think of spies and operatives, this is not Russia planting Russian people. It's turning US citizens by leveraging them or catering towards their interests. Well, we have a lot of people who's sole interest in politics is to get rich, and Russia is all too happy to oblige. It may start with campaign funding, but it quickly turns into political favors. Pretty soon you're no longer working for the US. Congratulations, you have now become a foreign agent and spy. This it's a position a lot of Republicans are putting themselves into, or already have. Numerous media entities have also placed themselves into this position.", ">\n\nAbout 20 years ago I heard a program on NPR that played a voice recording that, at that time, was itself about 20 years old. So, the original recording was from the 1960's. If I remember correctly, it was either an interview or a speech by Kruschev. It might have even been his shoe banging speech from the U.N. \nHe said something like this: We will wait, and as we are waiting, we will slowly infiltrate the U.S. We have patience and can wait a long time, but we will be successful. \nI know it's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. That Russia would continue to steadily work to influence, change, harm and possess the U.S., no matter how long it would take. \nAnd we are now at that moment.\nEdit: original recording was from the 60's, not 20 years old at the time I heard it. More like 40. Math isn't my strong suit.", ">\n\n40 years ago was the 80s. \nI’m going to weep into my Blind Melon CD.", ">\n\nOh God, you're right.", ">\n\nHis life is pretty plain", ">\n\nHe likes watching the Russians gather kompromat.", ">\n\nGreat, another Trump.", ">\n\nI will keep beating this drum:\nThere is something here. This dude was in poverty and then magically had $300k to lend himself? Changes his name?\nHe was plucked by dark money to do some dirty work. They were just careless with his backstory. They won’t be as careless next time.\nOur current form of government is about two election cycles from being over. There is a much larger story we are missing. This goes far beyond power and greed. You don’t need politicians like this to perpetuate power and greed. This is a coup from within. But why? \nWhat are we missing?", ">\n\nHow is this guy not at least a foreign asset, at most a full blown spy?", ">\n\nThe entirety of the GOP appears to be compromised Russian assets.", ">\n\nI wonder how compromised our government actually is. We genuinely have a fifth column in this country representing Russian interests. Russian propaganda networks literally show clips of Tucker Carlson to justify their actions.", ">\n\nNational. Security. Risk. That's exactly what he is. He needs to be removed ASAP.", ">\n\nIs Santos a Russian agent?", ">\n\nMore likely an asset.\nThe Russians have been funding the republican party for years and are now deeply embedded.", ">\n\nAnd there it is!", ">\n\n“After a through investigation of these claims, our new and improved Ethics committee did indeed discover h the R next to his name and concluded that he did nothing wrong.” - Kevin McCarthy, very soon.", ">\n\nHow much of this nonsense must the people endure until this sad lying person is removed from office. C’mon", ">\n\n718 days.\nBecause there's no fucking way they get the 2/3rds needed to kick him out. GOP needs that vote.", ">\n\nYup. Republicans do NOT self harm no matter what..they are more then willing to hold their nose and pull the lever as long as it keeps them in power", ">\n\nAnd there you go.", ">\n\nWhere there’s smoke, I mean a shit load of smoke, there might be, just might be ………wait for it……..a fire? Or a piece of human garbage who needs to be removed from office?", ">\n\nDon't be alarmed. I'm sure he cozied up to Russia to give them a stern warning.\nThat's why my senator flew to Russia on July 4 so you know he meant business.", ">\n\nWeird how there is no alarm in our government with how easily a foreign power is able to get a pawn elected within the same major political party.", ">\n\nIt’s fucking sad. So eager to fuck over your perceived enemies that your willing to burn the whole house down to spite them and “win”.\nAnd too stupid/narrowly focused on grievance to see it or change.", ">\n\nEvery headline about this guy should just read \"George Santos: It keeps getting worse\"", ">\n\nNo proof of collusion!!! /s", ">\n\nThank you Justice Roberts once again for Citizens United the worst fucking thing ever!", ">\n\nIs this better or worse than Rand Paul hand delivering a letter to putin on Independence Day?\nThe whole GOP are russian assets, they want to be oligarchs in the corporate-state petrochemical enterprise like putin is.", ">\n\nRussia is waging an incredibly successful war to destroy America from within and noone is doing anything to stop it", ">\n\nRepublicans are owned by Russia. Period. They are elected foreign agents working to sabotage the United States. And they are not hiding it, and nobody can do anything.", ">\n\nOf course there’s a Russian connection. This shit is getting old.", ">\n\nThe Republican Party is still endorsing con-men. sigh..", ">\n\nI wish news articles would stop using the name George Santos, as we aren't even sure if that's who this person is. Which when you think about it is fucking ludicrous.", ">\n\nHoly fucking shit, this is the kind of guy TREASON laws need to be applied to.", ">\n\nWhat Russia proved with Trump and doubled down on Santos with is with the right amount of money they can get whoever they fucking want elected into office in this country, and because our system is so broken, we can't do a single thing about it. We're absolutely fucked, folks.", ">\n\nYou know normally at a job they suspend you until the investigation of a crime is complete, and you either get fired with no pay for that time or you come back with pay for the time gone", ">\n\nWhy can't we openly talk about the GOPs Russia problem? How is this not a bigger deal?", ">\n\nStill can’t believe this guy tried to play it off like he said he was “Jew-ish” 😂", ">\n\nNormally I would say that might a coincidence but with the rest of this guy's life idk. Honestly I'm a little worried this guy might just be a legit spy", ">\n\nTurns out Santos is really a Melissa McCarthy character in her new Russian spy comedy. \nPlaying live on news networks nightly.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like Santos is a red herring. He’s just such a blatantly obvious Russian plant. If we came across communications tomorrow that showed his only purpose is to distract from bigger and more powerful Russian assets I would not be surprised at all.", ">\n\nThis guy had the stink of Russia all over him when you saw McCarthy protecting him.", ">\n\nI suspect George Santos is really three kids wearing a suit.", ">\n\nNobody checked!? The county GOP is up in arms with outrage - they just went along and took his word before? Or thought it didn’t matter? Either way - what incredible leadership!", ">\n\nBut yeah, the GOP isn’t riddled with Russian assets. Nothing to see here folks, move along.", ">\n\nThis guy is clearly a massive queef, but how can there be this much dirt on one person?", ">\n\nLock him up", ">\n\nThe GOP is owned by Putin.", ">\n\nHey, look! *More* Russia connections! \nWhy is the GOP up to their ears in Russians?", ">\n\nThese people are literally traitors by definition, how much more are we willing to take?", ">\n\nWell now we know the source of the dark money. That's useful.", ">\n\nThe Deep State in action.", ">\n\nRepublicans are Russian assets", ">\n\nBeen waiting for the Russian link. No wonder republicans wanted him on the intel committee", ">\n\nThis guy has Russian plant written all over him. \nThe Russians always see Americans as ridiculously gullible, all you have to do is lie spend money and you can subvert any level of America. \nThey practice this to extremes with people so over the top that if you wrote them into a movie no one would believe it. Yavanovich, Manafort, this clown.\nIts insane that it still fucking works. Every single time.", ">\n\nRusspublicans!!", ">\n\nDude is a standard Republican.", ">\n\nI think the question really needs to be asked now...\nIs he even gay?", ">\n\nExcellent. I look forward to nothing to continue to happen to hold anyone accountable.", ">\n\nThe entire Republican party is rife with Russian assets.", ">\n\nWhenever I read this level of republican hijinx I think of Al Franken.", ">\n\nWhy?", ">\n\nI don't believe he would have lost his job had he been a republican. Pure speculation of course.", ">\n\nI think we’re to the level of absurdity where republicans wouldn’t like him because he was merely handsy and not rapey.", ">\n\nThere seems to be more and more coming out on this guy. I think we have a poster child for the republican party.", ">\n\nWhat a strange coincidence.. it seems like a lot of republicans have personal and financial ties to Russia.", ">\n\nThis entire Santos saga is a testament to how awful our news media is in reporting on the history of Republican candidates. \nJust like with candidate Trump, who had decades worth of corruption and crooked business dealings they could have reoorted on. Tons of lawsuits, accusations left and right. There was a clear history of corruption that took almost no digging to find. And yet the mainstream news media chose not to. Same with this Santos character.", ">\n\nGeorge Santos is a conventionally unattractive, overweight, deeply insecure gay man who has turned to lying to give his life value because he doesn’t get it from the people he desires it from. Ultimately, he absolutely loathes who he is deep down.", ">\n\nHe lead a crazy life and had delusional ambitions. Sounds like if someone made him an offer he wouldn't refuse.", ">\n\nhow delusional is he if he got elected to congress? i mean, he appears to be failing upward constantly", ">\n\nThe Distinguished Gentleman 2: Going All In", ">\n\nThis guy is going to be fine, unless he votes democrat.", ">\n\nNewsflash: Santos to announce later today that he is, in fact, the Second Coming.\nGood Grief. Open the doors to the psychiatric hospitals! Free them because therein lies the new world leaders!\nThe freakin' guy is mentally ill, and so very, very dumb that he's too stupid to even cover his tracks with all the lies he tells.\nCrazy as a road lizard, dumb as a rock. Truly Republican Presidential Material.", ">\n\n“Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor.\"\n\"It's just a role. \"George Santos\", see, it's not real.\"", ">\n\nAnd republicans will applaud him for it and make him chair of the ethics committee probably.", ">\n\nRepublicans will never get rid of him then. He's truly one of them.", ">\n\nHe’s an operative for political chaos", ">\n\nAt what point can we shame and direct our ire to his stupid ass voters that put him into power 😩😩", ">\n\nNow. It is entirely the voters of NY3 that are to blame for this. Santos’ bullshit was out in the local press, his opponent tried to make this a thing at the debates but was ignored. The voters of NY3 either couldn’t be bothered or didn’t bother to look into him. Yes, it’s true that major media sources declined to pick up the story, but they are Infotainment Technicians and they simply ran the numbers and determined they would make more money off the story AFTER the election than before, so here we are. At the end of the day, it’s entirely the voters of NY3 fault. THEY are to BLAME. 100%.", ">\n\nIt always leads back to the Russians, doesn't it?", ">\n\nImagine being responsible for voting in this clown\nIt’s time we publically shame the people who vote for politicians like Santos/Boebert and ostracize them from society. They are the people fucking over this country, without them we wouldn’t have these clowns in office.", ">\n\nHe’s been installed as a chaos agent. Now that Speaker Marjorie Taylor Greene has to act as normal as possible to continue playing the game, he will be the new distraction for all their anti-democracy legislation and actions.", ">\n\nLove this pic. \n“Mom one day cameras will follow me EVERYWHERE”.", ">\n\ndamn.. this just keeps getting better", ">\n\nKnew he was an operative", ">\n\nRussia connection… who could have thought.. /s\nThe set is complete.", ">\n\nWho the fuck knows who this guy is and what masters he actually serves. The only thing we know for sure is that his entire candidacy was fraudulent and he absolutely cannot serve in public office.", ">\n\nOf course.", ">\n\nHe is clearly a foreign asset and should be removed from the House for national security purposes, then investigated to the nth degree.", ">\n\nIs Santos going to get window cancer?", ">\n\nJfc", ">\n\nHey Republicans, this is your shadow government crap you keep thinking democrats are. Right here.", ">\n\nFucking Domestic terrorist shithead. \nHe should be removed", ">\n\nThis. Fucking. Guy.", ">\n\nAverage Republican these days.", ">\n\nRepublican = russian. No wonder the national party is insisting on keeping him.", ">\n\nOk. These people need to be fucking vetted and investigated to hold office.", ">\n\nThat explains where his money comes from", ">\n\nSo that’s how he suddenly got all this money and support. He’s a Russian plant to fuck with our politics… and republicans are there to eat it up like a cat licking up it’s own vomit.", ">\n\nI’m starting to feel like I am one of the few people that doesn’t have some kind of ties to Russian oil men.", ">\n\nWait, what!? Another republican linked to Russian money? Can we just finally admit that the US doesn’t exist anymore because clearly we’re owned by Russia.", ">\n\nThis should say: George Santos linked to Russian oligarch. Drop the cousin nonsense.", ">\n\nwhy is it always the GOP with ties to Russian oligarchs? why is it always them?", ">\n\nA Republican with tenuous ties to Russia?!? \n[surprised pikachu face]", ">\n\nInstead of revealing new damning information about this sociopath every day, why isn't he getting removed from office?" ]