Schiff isn’t the only one looking for answers. CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) yesterday about the allegations surrounding Paul Manafort and his financial ties to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. The Republican congressman responded:
“Yes, look, I think Donald Trump ought to really investigate this and where his chief adviser, what his association with the Russians are. […]“[W]e do know that there was a push for some reason at the RNC to take offensive weapons out of our platform. That wasn’t anything anybody was talking about it. It just happened. That has been this affection in the campaign for Russia and Vladimir Putin.“In my thought, I have concerns for the chief adviser of Donald Trump, you know, having done work for a pro-Russian government in Ukraine, and, then, all of a sudden, there is this real affection for Russia in the campaign.”
This morning, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) also appeared on CNN and said, “I want to know what money [Manafort] got from a pro-Russian organization in the Ukraine.”
It seems unlikely that a Republican-led Congress will pursue these questions with any real enthusiasm so close to the presidential election, but Team Trump already has enough problems on its plate. The last thing the GOP ticket needs is congressional Republicans complaining publicly and asking questions like these.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."