In the Oval Office in the merry month of May 2017

[Kid Berwyn]

4. You are welcome! Bigly Kompromat

From Richard Painter and Leanne Watt:

House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader (and close Trump ally) Kevin McCarthy, and House Majority Whip, Steve Scalise, are also on our list of Republican leaders exhibiting odd behavior in relationship to Trump and Russia. The Washington Post reports that just a month before Trump clinched the Republican nomination, McCarthy was caught on tape talking with a small group of Republican leaders, including Ryan, while making an explosive revelation: “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.” Ryan quickly stepped in, warning his colleagues to keep this conversation secret: “This is an off the record… No leaks!” Ryan repeated his warning: “This is how we know we’re a real family here.” Steve Scalise added to the warning: “That’s how you know that we’re tight.” Ryan capped the conversation off with a Vegas-style call for secrecy asserting that “what’s said in the family stays in the family.” While we do not know the specifics of what these three men knew before the election, it is clear that they believed that Trump was being paid by Putin.

https://medium.com/@leannewattphd/hidden-motives-behind-key-gop-leaders-cooperation-with-trump-russia-an-evidence-based-bdd5694b7c3b