Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called out the Republican Party for advancing Russian conspiracy theories as it continues to defend President Donald Trump during the impeachment inquiry.
“Call me old fashioned, but I think it’s a little unsavory the Republican Party is becoming the most important global asset of Russian intel,” Murphy tweeted on Sunday. “I get it, Russia’s bonkers ‘Ukraine did it, not Russia’ story is all the GOP has to defend their guy, but really?”
Murphy’s tweet came hours after one of his Senate colleagues essentially repeated a debunked Russian talking point on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“I think both Russia and Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. “I think it’s been well-documented.”
He also claimed that Ukraine’s former president, Petro Poroshenko, had been actively working for Hillary Clinton.
As host Chuck Todd pointed out, the U.S. intelligence community has implicated only Russia for 2016 election interference and recently warned senators that Moscow was trying to frame Ukraine for it.
“You realize the only person selling this argument outside the United States is ... Vladimir Putin?” Todd said. “You’ve done exactly what the Russian operation is trying to get American politicians to do. Are you at all concerned that you’ve been duped?”
“No,” Kennedy replied.