A bunch more bombshells hit Washington, D.C. late Wednesday, but one hits hard in the heart of the Republican establishment: The Washington Post's scoop of a recording in which Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy "jokes" that Trump is on Putin's payroll. When the Post approached Speaker Paul Ryan's and McCarthy's staff with the quotes, they both immediately denied it ever happened, said they weren't originally given quotes but just told that McCarthy had said this, and generally tried to stonewall, but once the Post told them there was a recording and they heard it and had the transcript, it all became a "failed attempt at humor."
Reading that transcript, though, you see the deadly seriousness of the discussion the House leadership team—among them McCarthy, Ryan, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers—is having. McCarthy and Ryan have just left a meeting with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described Russia's tactics in undermining the government of the Ukraine. Ryan paraphrases the warning from Groysman: "people have said that they have Ukraine fatigues, and it's really Russian fatigue because what Russia is doing is doing to us, financing our populists, financing people in our governments to undo our governments, you know, 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 everyone else."
Rodgers chimes in about her recent trip to Ukraine and her "big takeaway from that trip was just how sophisticated the propaganda […] coming out of Russia and Putin." And "not just in Ukraine," she says, but throughout Europe, and Ryan concurs that "this isn't just about Ukraine." It's a sophisticated "propaganda war" that Ryan calls "maniacal." Then he says "guess who's the only one taking a strong stand up against it? We are." At which point McCarthy enters the conversation with the reminder that this maniacal government that is attacking Ukraine with a sophisticated propaganda war has hacked the Democratic National Committee to steal its opposition research on Trump. Here's where it gets interesting.
Ryan: The Russians hacked the DNC…
McCarthy: …to get oppo….
Ryan: …on Trump and like delivered it to…to who?
[Unintelligible]
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]…all right?!
Just to be sure he's made his point on NO LEAKS, he says "This is how we know we're a real family here. … What's said in the family stays in the family."
This was a serious discussion about Russia's burgeoning propaganda war on Europe, one in which at least one of the member, Rodgers, is horrified by it. They're talking about Russia undermining Western civilization—they know it's happening and they see it happening here, with the DNC hack. There's no laughter in any of that discussion, then we're supposed to believe what follows is a big joke. We’re not supposed to remember what happens after, like how Trump ordered the Republican Party to change its platform to make it more Russia friendly and weaken support of Ukraine. This is just a joke. A joke?
A joke?
Here’s the relevant part of the transcript:
Ryan: He basically…. He has the 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 governments to undo our governments, you know, messing with our oil and gas energy, all the thing Russia does to basically blow up our country, they're just going to roll right through us and go to the Baltics and everyone else.
Rodgers: Yes!
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.
Rodgers: … coming out of Russia and Putin.
Ryan: Very sophisticated.
[Crosstalk]
Rodgers: Not just in Ukraine. They were once funding the NGOs in Europe. They attacked fracking.
Ryan: Correct.
Rodgers: Russia TV. I was not… you know… I hadn't tuned into Russia TV until that trip. It's, it's frightening.
Ryan: So he's saying they're doing this throughout Europe. So, uh….
[unintelligible]
Ryan: This is, 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.
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.
Ryan: And guess…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…
McCarthy: [unintelligible] … I'll GUARANTEE you that's what it is.
[Unintelligible]
McCarthy: The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp research that they had on Trump. [laughs]
[Crosstalk]
Ryan: The Russians hacked the DNC…
McCarthy: …to get oppo….
Ryan: …on Trump and like delivered it to…to who?
[Unintelligible]
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]…all right?!
[Laughter]
Ryan: This is how we know we're a real family here.
Scalise: That's how you know that we're tight.
[Laughter]
Ryan: What's said in the family stays in the family.
