NRA member offered 'Kremlin connection' to Trump aide: report

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 12/03/17 09:04 AM EST

A member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) told Trump campaign advisor Rick Dearborn in 2016 that he could coordinate a gathering for then-candidate Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

“Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump,” Paul Erickson wrote in the email to Dearborn, according the newspaper.

“He wants to extend an invitation to Mr. Trump to visit him in the Kremlin before the election. Let’s talk through what has transpired and Senator Sessions’s advice on how to proceed.”

Erickson said the Kremlin was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.,” according to the email, which was reportedly provided to Congress as part of its investigation into Russia’s election interference.

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Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/news/362980-nra-member-offered-kremlin-connection-to-trump-aide-report

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Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties

WASHINGTON — A conservative operative trumpeting his close ties to the National Rifle Association and Russia told a Trump campaign adviser last year that he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, according to an email sent to the Trump campaign.

A May 2016 email to the campaign adviser, Rick Dearborn, bore the subject line “Kremlin Connection.” In it, the N.R.A. member said he wanted the advice of Mr. Dearborn and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, then a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and Mr. Dearborn’s longtime boss, about how to proceed in connecting the two leaders.

Russia, he wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “‘first contact.’” The email, which was among a trove of campaign-related documents turned over to investigators on Capitol Hill, was described in detail to The New York Times.

Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, secured a guilty plea on Friday from President Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, for lying to the F.B.I. about contacts with Moscow’s former ambassador to the United States. But those contacts came after Mr. Trump’s improbable election victory.

more
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/us/politics/trump-putin-russia-nra-campaign.html?_r=0&referer=https://t.co/aZHSPQ5DaH?amp=1

[bearsfootball516]

1. If I was told that Vladimir Putin was offering me a "deadly" serious offer...

I'd probably join the witness protection program.

[Hekate]

8. You bet. And be checking to see if my tea glowed in the dark.

My gods.

The line about seeking advice from Sessions was illuminating, to say the least. Confirmation that the Evil Elf was in it up to his neck.

[JoFerret]

2. "The vast right wing conspiracy"

Hillary was right then and she's been right ever since.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Gunners must be proud.

[turbinetree]

4. I have been trying to figure out what to call the NRA, I think I have the answer

NOT REALLY AMERICAN


-----------------but fucking traitors

[Farmer-Rick]

11. The National Russian Association???

Wow, it seems Putin had his fingers into everything that's bad in America. We are soon going to find out he is responsible for the obesity epidemic in the US. Just look at Trump and think this is the man Putin picked to be his representative in the US.

Sooo, what I'm wondering is: Did Trump meet with Putin during the campaign? So, many people were trying to set the 2 up for a date, I really find it difficult to believe Trump didn't meet with him. Trump has No Self Control and if he wanted a date with his buddy he would have gotten a date. But when? and how is he able to hide it so well?

[turbinetree]

12. That will work-----------------------

And yes I think they got together to talk about old time sake---------------like dude, remember those tapes while you where there----we got them----------------------

[getagrip_already]

5. you have to wonder...

what emails fllynn has that nobody else produced under subpoena or voluntary disclosure. Surely he has them all, well, atleast the ones he was copied on, which was probably all of them.

The onlly person to have more would behope hicks.

They are screwed, but it doesn't matter.......

[Duppers]

6. Not to his and the GOP congress critters'

It doesn't matter. They're in 2 groups: totally uninformed and don't give a damn.

[Texin]

7. I think you can add a third group to the other two: those totally complicit in the treason.

[NastyRiffraff]

9. It just gets worse and worse

But it's not surprising that the NRA is involved. Stay tuned; it's Mueller Time!

[ileus]

10. The NRA & Russia!!! I knew it!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. Link for not-mobile devices:

Retweeted by Daniel Dale: https://twitter.com/ddale8

A conservative activist with ties to the NRA sought a back-channel to connect Putin and Trump during the campaign: “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.”

Link to tweet

Politics

Operative Offered Trump Campaign ‘Kremlin Connection’ Using N.R.A. Ties

By NICHOLAS FANDOS DEC. 3, 2017

WASHINGTON — A conservative operative trumpeting his close ties to the National Rifle Association and Russia told a Trump campaign adviser last year that he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, according to an email sent to the Trump campaign.

A May 2016 email to the campaign adviser, Rick Dearborn, bore the subject line “Kremlin Connection.” In it, the N.R.A. member said he wanted the advice of Mr. Dearborn and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, then a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and Mr. Dearborn’s longtime boss, about how to proceed in connecting the two leaders. ... Russia, he wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “‘first contact.’” The email, which was among a trove of campaign-related documents turned over to investigators on Capitol Hill, was described in detail to The New York Times.

Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, secured a guilty plea on Friday from President Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, for lying to the F.B.I. about contacts with Moscow’s former ambassador to the United States. But those contacts came after Mr. Trump’s improbable election victory.

The emailed outreach from the conservative operative to Mr. Dearborn came far earlier, around the same time that Russians were trying to make other connections to the Trump campaign. Another contact came through an American advocate for Christian and veterans causes, and together, the outreach shows how, as Mr. Trump closed in on the nomination, Russians were using three foundational pillars of the Republican Party — guns, veterans and Christian conservatives — to try to make contact with his unorthodox campaign.

[mr_lebowski]

14. This sounds a bit like fake news ... I hate to say it, but it does ...

It's a bit too convenient ...

And 'NRA Ties' ... really?

It's not like they're the KGB or something.

Just because it was 'offered', that really means jack-squat, without the 'evidence shows the offer was acted upon'.

Anybody can 'offer' anything to anyone, can't they now?

Lets try not to get the vapours here just yet, folks ...

[writes3000]

15. It is significant. Trump has lied repeatedly that there was no Russian outreach.

The more evidence that piles up, the more undeniable the truth becomes. We’ve already seen Don Jr excitedly agreed to meet with Russians to benefit the campaign. More evidence of outreach are significant. No “vapours” needed.

[writes3000]

16. AND lets not forget Jeff Sessions telling Congress he knew nothing of any contacts between Russia..

And the campaign.

If this info made it to Sessions, he’s been caught in another lie.

[LanternWaste]

17. Validity does not require a story to "sound like" anything.

Validity does not require a story to "sound like" anything. Nor does it require convenience.

Bias may require as such, but not validity.

No do I see anyone getting 'vapours' (sic).

I'm sure you'll support your sentiment with objective evidence, and simply haven't gotten around to it yet.

[mr_lebowski]

20. Vapours (sic) would be UK/French spelling

Surely you've seen the extra 'u' that they put in a number of words such as honour, colour, odour?

Or is this a foreign concept to you?

I'm not going to 'support' anything I've said, nor do I feel obliged, given that I've simply asserted that I'm quite skeptical of this story, as presented. It's a feeling I get about it, nothing more, nothing less.

The 'playing up', if you will, of an 'NRA Connection' as if this is unquestionably nefarious in nature, I will admit, plays a part in my reticence.

And I say that as someone who absolutely despises the NRA, and believes the 2A was meant absolutely NOTHING LIKE the gun humpers today ... believe it was.

But that doesn't mean I don't recognize it can be used as a dog-whistle ... for 'our side'. Cause it absolutely IS used that way at times. If we're going to accuse the other side of dog-whistling, we ought to be aware the ways the same phenomenon is deployed to manipulate US. Otherwise, we're no smarter than they are, are we?

That said ... if it's actually shown to be true, AND to have been acted upon then obviously it may well be of considerable import.

However, I think the 'news story', as presented ... has established neither condition.

[Blue_Tires]

18. kick

[Corgigal]

19. Time to close their doors too.

America can take the building and use it for a good purpose.

The Americans who work in the building can pick a country of their choosing and be gone. Let's make them the test case. When you do business in America and are an America company, you abide by our laws, all of them.