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Taking a page from his Senate counterpart Mitch McConnell, who refused yesterday to make any comment on his role in Russia's interference in our elections, House Speaker Paul Ryan has no comment when asked whether he'd do what Donald Trump, Jr. did—potentially commit treason by meeting with a foreign source offering dirt on his opponent.
"I'm not going to go into hypotheticals," Ryan answered. He doesn't need to. As David Weigel reminds us, when he had the chance to use Russian hackers against Democratic congressional candidates last year, he—or rather his Super PAC—ran with it. From a December 13, 2016 article in The New York Times:
By October, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a "super PAC" tied to Mr. Ryan, had used the stolen material in another advertisement, attacking Mr. Garcia during the general election in Florida.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, said he did not control how the material was used in the ad, although she did not dispute that the material had been stolen as part of an act of Russian espionage. "Speaker Ryan has said for months that foreign intervention in our elections is unacceptable," she said in a written statement.
For months, Ryan had known about Russia's interference in our election. He and his leadership team had that private meeting, which was secretly recorded, in which they all talked about the "sophisticated propaganda war" Russia was conducting in Europe and in the U.S. They talked about the DNC hacking. Then the infamous exchange with Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy:
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?! … This is how we know we're a real family here. […] What's said in the family stays in the family.
It's not a hypothetical for Paul Ryan. He knew exactly what Russia was doing in 2016, and he accepted it. Because it was all in the family.