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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: NBC's Chuck Todd grills Sen. John Kennedy for echoing Putin's talking points and doing Trump's 'dirty work' NBC's Chuck Todd grills Sen. John Kennedy for echoing Putin's talking points and doing Trump's 'dirty work' Kevin Webb Dec 1, 2019, 3:22 PM Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky > During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana accused former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of interfering with the 2016 US election. > Last week Kennedy walked back comments claiming that Ukraine might have been involved in the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee, but on "Meet the Press" Kennedy said both Russia and Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election. > Critics have accused GOP politicians like Kennedy of minimizing the significance of Russia's election interference by suggesting Ukraine was guilty of similar offenses. > The "Meet the Press" host, Chuck Todd, said Kennedy was echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested Kennedy might be doing President Donald Trump's "dirty work." During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana accused former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko of interfering with the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton. The accusation came just one week after Kennedy walked back comments falsely suggesting that Ukraine, not Russia, had hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016. In an interview last week with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Kennedy reiterated a debunked conspiracy theory that the Ukrainian government had hacked the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 election. US intelligence agencies and State Department officials have repeatedly said Russia initiated that hack. Kennedy later said he was wrong for saying Ukraine might have been involved in the hack but nevertheless maintained that both countries had interfered in the 2016 presidential election. On Sunday, the "Meet the Press" host, Chuck Todd, pressed Kennedy on his stance on Russia and Ukraine, specifically asking Kennedy to respond to an article from the conservative Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. "Simply uttering this conflation on Ukraine and Russia, the inference is you're doing the president's dirty work here," Todd said. "Do you accept that criticism?" While Kennedy acknowledged Russia's interference in the 2016 election, he doubled down on Ukraine having a role as well. "Russia was very aggressive and they're much more sophisticated," Kennedy said. "But the fact that Russia was so aggressive does not exclude the fact that President Poroshenko actively worked for Secretary Clinton." Kennedy cited dropped criminal charges filed against two Ukrainian officials accused of leaking payment information between the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, as proof that Poroshenko's government had meddled with the 2016 election. Those charges were ultimately dismissed. Foreign-policy experts have generally criticized efforts to compare Russia's organized election interference campaign to Ukraine's exposure of Manafort's financials. More than a dozen Russians have been charged with meddling with the 2016 election, while Manafort was convicted for failing to report millions of dollars in consulting fees he earned in Ukraine. On "Meet the Press," Todd suggested Kennedy's arguments were playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "You realize the only other person selling this argument outside the United States is this man, Vladimir Putin," Todd said as a picture of Putin appeared on the screen. The House of Representatives is in the midst of an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump that could move to a trial in the Senate if the House votes in favor of impeachment. Trump is suspected of withholding military aid from Ukraine in exchange for the Ukrainian government announcing investigations that could benefit Trump politically. You can watch Kennedy's full appearance on "Meet the Press" below: Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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