Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), appears to have met w/ Russian spy master Torshin & refuses to answer

[MelissaB]

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), appears to have met with Russian spy master Torshin (under sanctions now) and refuses to answer questions about what they might have discussed.

Link to tweet

Republican representative dodges questions about whether she met with key Russian operative

Did Marsha Blackburn meet with Maria Butina's Russian handler?

In his years helping accused Russian agent Maria Butina infiltrate the National Rifle Association (NRA), Russian official Alexander Torshin kept coming back to one place: Tennessee.

Torshin, now sanctioned by the U.S. and accused by Spanish authorities of mafia ties and massive money laundering, first came into contact with the NRA via a Nashville-based lawyer, Kline Preston. Torshin additionally served as an election observer in the state in 2012, and swung by again in 2015 for the NRA’s annual convention.

Since Butina was named in last week’s major Justice Department indictment, the details of her operations, as well as the expanding roster of NRA and Republican Party officials she accessed, have begun to paint a clearer picture of the broader Russian effort. The new developments have also reignited questions about whether Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a close associate of Preston’s, met with Torshin and, if so, what they might have discussed.

The question gained new credence over the weekend, as the details of Butina’s and Torshin’s operations have come out. On Saturday, Tennessee Democratic Party spokesperson Mark Brown told WRCB that Blackburn had met Torshin in 2012.

More: https://thinkprogress.org/did-marsha-blackburn-meet-with-maria-butinas-russian-handler-8505b6541aff/

[MelissaB]

1. Keep reading. It gets worse.

[MelissaB]

2. Blackburn's buddies While Blackburn has thus far dodged questions about her possible ties to Torshi

Blackburn’s buddies

While Blackburn has thus far dodged questions about her possible ties to Torshin, the questions present yet another thread in a dense, tangled web of contacts between Russian officials, alleged Russian agents, and Tennessee political operatives.

For instance, as ThinkProgress first reported, Preston — the lawyer who initially introduced Torshin to the NRA in 2011 — said that he worked for years as the campaign finance chairman for Blackburn, as well as the president of Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc. Documents obtained by ThinkProgress show that Preston was listed as president of Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc. as early as 2003, alongside Blackburn’s husband. Preston’s website added that he served as president through at least 2014 — two years after Torshin allegedly met with Blackburn. (Preston told ThinkProgress that he viewed Russian President Vladimir Putin as “God-sent,” a figure appointed by the “divine.”)

... snip

And it’s not as if Blackburn has turned down meetings with other Russian officials who know Preston. In 2008, Blackburn met with Igor Matveev, then working as the first secretary of the Russian embassy, in Nashville. Matveev, who said he and Blackburn “discuss[ed] U.S.-Russia relations,” later joined both Preston and Torshin in monitoring the U.S.’s 2012 elections, as reported by NPR’s Tim Mak.

It was that election-monitoring trip that brought Torshin to Williamson County, Tennessee, where Blackburn lives — and when Blackburn’s alleged meeting with Torshin, which her camp has not denied, took place. (As Torshin wrote on the day of the election, “We’re continuing to work in Tennessee.”) Two days after the 2012 election, Torshin even tweeted out a plaque awarded to Williamson County’s election commission in honor of their early voting numbers.

[Docreed2003]

3. She's been knee deep with the same crowd the Trump folks were running with for years!

[vlyons]

4. So how many new pairs of shoes and handbags did your rubles buy?

Or maybe the Russians gave her cryptocoins?

[tnlurker]

5. Hot Damn

I hope this tanks her Senate run. We are early voting in TN. She will win the primary.

That will make it easier to be a Dem pick up.

[shanti]

6. What's up with that

hand position that politicians always use? Is this what they do instead of pointing?

[Lonestarblue]

27. It has become an alt right symbol.

It used to mean OK, but it has been adopted by the alt right. Trump uses it all the time. It seems to have started with their appropriarion of Pepe the Frog as a white supremacy meme. In one image, Pepe is using the hand symbol. Blackburn definitely fits the alt right deplorable image.

[C_U_L8R]

7. Acting pretty guilty there

Yeah...what's up with that?

[jpak]

8. K&R

Lock Her UP!

Lock Her UP!

Lock Her UP!

[oasis]

9. Traitor🇷🇺Trump has plenty comrades. Nunes, Rohrabacher, Blackburn.

They will all go down.

[OnDoutside]

10. Those ads write themselves.

[MarcA]

11. One of the worst of the hypocrites.

Among other things, always attacking government healthcare
except her own of course.

[dalton99a]

12. Kick

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. Another pile of shit human being

[Takket]

14. has the entire GOP been corrupted by Russia??? Who's left that isn't a complete traitor?

McCain???

[elmac]

15. even those remaining silent

are aiding and abetting an enemy of the state.

[Midnight Writer]

32. McCain took millions from NRA. Question is how much of NRA's expanded political cash is Russian.

[Pepsidog]

16. An absolute piece of garbage of a human being.

[Sancho]

17. Is there a list of all the GOP meetings with Russians, or money they took from them???

The repubs are up to their ass in pootin...

[drray23]

20. I think making a list of those who did not

Would make for a shorter list.

[Scurrilous]

18. K&R

[SunSeeker]

19. K & R for exposure.

[shadowmayor]

21. Dasvidaniya Felicia

[dchill]

26. +1,000,000

[volstork]

34. Lol

That made my day!

[drray23]

22. Is there anybody in GOP leadership

Who did not have ties with Russia? It's insane. They keep popping up everywhere including organizations like the nra.
I hate Putin but I must admit he is a master at spycraft. It's the most successful spy operation ever. The Russians managed to infiltrate our government all the way to the top.

[C Moon]

23. These people are disgusting filth and slime--they need to be prosecuted and imprisoned .

[GoCubsGo]

24. Wow! There's a shocker!

No. Not really. I hope she'll be modelling an orange prison jump suit before long.

[BadGimp]

25. #PutinsWinsAgain and the GOP is now #ThePartyOfPutin

[peggysue2]

28. Blackburn's got some . . .

'splaining to do, as in why was Torshin given credentials to observe the 2012 elections in Nashville and/or what strings she and Preston pulled to make that happen. Torshin was also in Alaska, rubbing elbows with Sarah Palin. In fact, he was rubbing his chubby Russian elbows all over the country. Where his elbows didn't go, Maria Butina's elbows (and other body parts) proved more than adequate.

LOL.

This reads like a spy novel, only with far more serious implications because sadly it's not fiction. Recent polling down here has Bredesen, former 2-term Governor and likely Dem Senate candidate, ahead by 3 running against Blackburn in November. He's a really good candidate, well regarded by Dems and Republicans alike. This Russian connection will not help Blackburn or her Trump hugging policies.

And that's a very good thing!

[ancianita]

31. Seriously, as if TN and AK were outposts of Russian oligarch beta tests. Election observing, indeed!

[Blue Owl]

29. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha...

[Leghorn21]

30. KICK & REC!!! eom

[bucolic_frolic]

33. Marsha Blackburn is a REFUSNIK!!!

Da.