Thread by @Peaceful_411

.@GOPLeader, remember this?

"The McCarthy conversation came shortly after both McCarthy & Ryan had been briefed by the Ukrainian prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, about Russian attempts to undermine democratic institutions in eastern Europe..."

theguardian.com/us-news/2017/m…

June 2016: The last time @HouseGOP members of Congress sounded like Americans/THREAD:

Rodgers: How are things going in Ukraine?

Ryan: Well, the Russians are bombing them 30-40 shells a day & the people. Crimea is gone.

2/
Ryan cont'd: They’re trying to clean up their gov to show that they want to be western. So they’re trying to prove to the western world that they want to be western, or westernizing, so they can get support to get their country back.

3/ Ryan cont'd: Everybody talks a good game on what they’re doing, but he’s passed all these anticorruption laws.

Rodgers: I went there a year ago. It was like WOW. These people are living…they’re on the frontlines. They’re fighting for their FREEDOM..their independence.

Ryan: He has this really interesting riff about…people have said that they have Ukraine fatigue and it’s really Russian fatigue because what Russia is doing is doing to us, financing our populists, financing people in our GOVERNMENT to undo our GOVERNMENT...

4/

Ryan: ...messing with our OIL and GAS ENERGY, all the things Russia does to basically blow up our country, they’re just going to roll right through us and go to the Baltics and everywhere else.

Rodgers: Yes!

5/
Ryan: So we should not have Ukraine fatigue, we should have Russian fatigue.

Rodgers: Yes! The propaganda…my big takeaway from that trip was just how sophisticated the propaganda…

Ryan: It’s VERY sophisticated.

6/
Rodgers: ...[Propaganda] coming out of Russia and Putin.

Ryan: Very sophisticated.

Rodgers: Not just in Ukraine. They we're once funding the NGOs in Europe. They attacked fracking.

Ryan: Correct.

7/
Rodgers: Russia TV. I was not…you know…I hadn’t tuned into Russia TV until that trip. It is FRIGHTENING.

Ryan: This isn’t just about Ukraine.

Rodgers: So, yeah, it is a, um…[unintelligible]…a way...it’s really a messaging…you know…they are…it’s a PROPAGANDA war.

8/
[Former Speaker] Ryan: Russia is trying to turn Ukraine against itself.

Rodgers: Yes. And that’s…it’s sophisticated and it’s, uh…

Ryan: Maniacal.

Rodgers: Yes.

9/
Ryan: And guess who’s the only one taking a strong stand up against it? WE ARE.

Rodgers: WE'RE NOT… WE'RE NOT… BUT WE'RE NOT.

10/
McCarthy: [Unintelligible]…I’ll GUARANTEE you that’s what it is. The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp research that they had on Trump.

Ryan: The Russian’s hacked the DNC…

McHenry: …to get oppo…

Ryan: …on Trump and like delivered it to…to who?

11/
McCarthy: There’s…there’s two people, I think PUTIN pays: Rohrabacher and Trump…[laughter]…swear to God.

Ryan: This is an off the record…[laughter]…NO LEAKS…[laughter]…alright?!

This is how we know we’re a real family here.

/THE END

Scalise: That’s how you know that we’re tight.

[Laughter]

Ryan: What’s said in the family STAYS in the family.

/CODA

At the time [June 2016], Ryan had still not endorsed Trump but McCarthy had already signed up to become a Trump delegate to the RNC and formally endorsed the real estate developer’s campaign.

/CODA Part II

axios.com/mccarthy-leake…

/CODA III

cnn.com/2017/05/17/pol…

"McCarthy & Ryan's aides initially DENIED the story... which McCarthy said was because "NO ONE EVEN REMEMBERS it transpiring."

"You don't have a sense of humor anymore? People aren't supposed to be able to laugh?" McCarthy said when asked why he'd joke about that."

Snap, @GOPLeader McCarthy!

The "I-think-Putin-pays-Trump" story broke on the SAME EXACT DAY that Robert Mueller was being appointed as the new Special Counsel.