The House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, has made outrageous allegations about the FBI, saying they “spied” on President Trump’s campaign and “then tried to cover it up” like a “modern-day Watergate.” Intelligence and legal experts are now calling out McCarthy on Twitter, who should know better as a member of the Gang of Eight.
The backlash to McCarthy led to a trending Twitter hashtag of #KremlinKevin on Monday, December 23. This comes just days after the hashtag #MoscowMitchMcConnell trended when the Senate Majority Leader from Kentucky pledged “total coordination” of the impeachment trial with the White House.
#KremlinKevin trends after people point out top House Republican Kevin McCarthy took donations from Lev Parnas https://t.co/003CsiGjWA
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) December 23, 2019
Ned Price, national security and intelligence analyst, responded to McCarthy’s comments.
This person spouting outright and dangerous lies about our law enforcement and intelligence professionals is a member of the Gang of 8. As such, he’s briefed on our most sensitive intelligence collection and covert action programs around the world. Stunning. https://t.co/FMppebnGVc
— Ned Price (@nedprice) December 23, 2019
Malcolm Nance, author and media commentator on terrorism, intelligence, insurgency, and torture, had this to say about McCarthy’s twitter comments. He revisits McCarthy’s 2016 comments about Trump.
“Every word of this is a lie. But I’m old enough to remember a 2016 recording when you said, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” Now you work for Putin too,” tweeted Nance.
Nathan H. Rubin, author, and Democratic activist responded with:
“The constant need for the most powerful people in the world to be treated as if they are the victims of every story is exhausting.”
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, commented on the facts:
“These claims are false. The Inspector General did not *find* evidence of this during his investigation.”
These claims are false. The Inspector General did not *find* evidence of this during his investigation.
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) December 22, 2019
Historian and author, Kevin M. Kruse, posted the CNN article in which Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report explicitly found that the FBI didn’t spy on Trump’s campaign. According to Newsweek:
“Released earlier this month, the report found no evidence of political bias playing a part in the FBI’s decision to begin Crossfire Hurricane, but did criticize the agency over Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications.”
Not remotely true. https://t.co/okd7nul4dL
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) December 22, 2019
Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI Assistant Director, kept his reply short and sweet:
All lies.
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) December 23, 2019
George Conway, who is one of Trump’s biggest critics even though he is married to Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway, had this to say:
You see, it’s like merit badges in the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, except that instead of earning them by doing good deeds, with IMPOTUS @realDonaldTrump you earn them by telling lies to the public for his benefit, the bigger the better. #IMPOTUS https://t.co/5knXkgxv27
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) December 23, 2019
Glenn Kirschner, a legal analyst, responded with a screenshot of tax forms showing that McCarthy took money from Lev Parnas. The Ukrainian-America Parnas was working with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to dig up dirt on Joe Biden.
Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested in October and charged with allegedly “funneling illegal campaign contributions to a Trump-friendly super PAC as well as other candidates.” McCarthy’s spokesman told Vice News that the money would be donated to charity.
Now why would @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy lie about the findings of the IG Report – findings concluding that the Russian interference investigation was PROPERLY opened. Well, he was taking money from Lev Parnas . . . https://t.co/1EPc9lpN4V pic.twitter.com/DOiIHQ0Fqn
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) December 23, 2019
Fred Guttenberg, father of a fallen Parkland Florida shooting victim, came down hard on McCarthy.
“I hope everyone reads this tweet from @GOPLeader. Every word is a provable lie. Kevin, this is not Russia. If your best defense is this Russian style tweet, then you have NO defense.”
Joyce Alene, a former United States Attorney, stated that McCarthy’s “fairytales” are irrelevant to Trump’s impeachment.
Even if this was true, and it isn't, what does that possibly have to do with whether the president should be impeached? Trump is being judged based on what Trump did, not on his fairytales about the FBI, Hunter Biden, Obama or anyone else. https://t.co/C5Wy8cUqPX
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 23, 2019
Apparently, one of the top Republicans thinks he can sell Americans fabrications that come from a universe where facts are now irrelevant.
How much lower will Republicans go to defend Donald Trump? There seems to be no end in sight, and yet it would only take a few good Republican senators to do something about it.
We need to get these lying traitors out of power. #KremlinKevin pic.twitter.com/lIQmjZI9EJ
— Matt Johnson (@HotPockets4All) December 23, 2019
Featured image: Composite of McConnell, McCarthy via Wikipedia and Moscow via Pixabay
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