THREAD: The Republican Party and Russia: Infiltrated or Invited? (1/11)
themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
The latest rounds of indictments—12 Russian hackers and alleged Russian agent Maria Butina—shows Russia was trying to influence and infiltrate the Republican Party even before Trump emerged as a viable candidate. (2/11) themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
That raises the question: Are congressional Republicans circling the wagons to protect just Trump, or members of their own ranks as well? (3/11) themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
The DOJ’s indictment of Butina is full of details about how, starting in March 2015, she allegedly worked her NRA connections to secure meetings with Republican leaders like Dana Rohrabacher and Scott Walker. (4/11) jsonline.com/story/news/pol… 
And the effort appeared to be working: According to the indictment, by October 2016, she’d concluded the GOP had gone from a negative opinion on Russia to being “for us.” (5/11) justice.gov/opa/press-rele…
Meanwhile, the 12 Russian hackers Mueller indicted weren’t just stealing emails; they were also allegedly targeting voter data from the DCCC, DNC, and state governments. (6/11) justice.gov/file/1080281/d…
That data has never been revealed publicly, but one thing’s certain: It would’ve been immensely valuable to Republican candidates up and down the ballot. (7/11) justice.gov/file/1080281/d…
And there are signs Republicans other than the Trump campaign were communicating with the GRU as well: A candidate for Congress and a Florida Republican operative both allegedly got documents straight from Russian hackers. (8/11) justice.gov/file/1080281/d…
Taken together, here’s what the indictments allege: Russian military intelligence was taking valuable data from the DCCC and the DNC right as a Russian agent was cozying up to prominent Republicans who would best be able to use that data. (9/11) themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
That raises some key questions going forward:
1. What happened to the material the GRU stole that we haven’t seen yet?
2. Were Butina’s efforts connected to the GRU’s?
3. Were other Americans complicit in Russia’s attacks? (10/11) themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
1. What happened to the material the GRU stole that we haven’t seen yet?
2. Were Butina’s efforts connected to the GRU’s?
3. Were other Americans complicit in Russia’s attacks? (10/11) themoscowproject.org/dispatch/the-r…
And, perhaps the biggest one: With Trump again disputing his intelligence community on Russian meddling, why isn’t the Republican Party stepping up to prevent future intrusion? (11/11) washingtonpost.com/business/econo…
