If it wasn't entirely clear before, it is now: House Speaker Paul Ryan is fully on board with attempts to cover up and derail the Mueller investigation into Trump's Russia ties. While it's as serious a dereliction of his constitutional duty as one can imagine, it's also not a surprise. Because Ryan has been hushing up Trump's Russia ties since well before the 2016 election.
Remember this exchange, in that secretly recorded meeting of House Republican leadership that The Washington Post uncovered:
“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. [...]
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.
Here's that interjection:
"No leaks...This is how we know we're a real family here.[…]
What's said in the family stays in the family.
This is after a lengthy discussion the House leadership team—among them McCarthy, Ryan, and Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) —have been having about a meeting they'd just attended with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described Russia's tactics in undermining the government of the Ukraine. What follows is a discussion about Russia's interference in Ukraine and throughout Europe, its "maniacal" and sophisticated "propaganda war" to quote Ryan.
A propaganda war Ryan is now actively aiding and abetting.
Here's the full background and transcript of the exchange on the Steele memo, the DNC hack, and Putin’s Trump pay-off.
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.