Paul Ryan (Basically) Just Said ‘Russia, if You’re Listening…’ and That Should Frighten Us All
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the man third in line to the presidency, is refusing to say if he would refuse to accept, or even consider, the assistance of a hostile foreign nation to help his re-election campaign. Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, is arguably almost as powerful as the president. His access to classified intelligence and his ability to decide what legislation will get to the floor — including articles of impeachment — means he holds great power. And as the leader of the House Republicans, he sets the standard, he says where the bar is set, he telegraphs what’s acceptable and what’s not.
And he just blew it, big time.
Wednesday morning, when asked the question, the very simple question of whether or not he would “accept a meeting with a representative” of a “foreign adversary” who has “information that will help you beat your campaign opponent,” the Speaker of the House refused to answer.
“I’m not going to go into hypotheticals.”
That was Speaker Ryan’s response.
Twice.
He might as well have said, “Russia, if you’re listening,” as Donald Trump did on July 27, 2016, asking Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Many now believe that was Trump very openly signaling to Russia he would accept any help they had to offer.
The Speaker of the House just did the same thing.
And that’s frightening.
How can we be sure he blew it?
Not one hour after Ryan refused to discuss “hypotheticals,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham asked Christopher Wray, the Trump nominee to become the Director of the FBI, the same question during his confirmation hearing.
Disappointingly, Wray did not get it right the first time.Â
Senator Graham blasted him to make sure he did get it right.
This is what everyone in Washington should be saying.
Take a look:
Â