While there seems to be a lot of incorrect and otherwise misleading information (to put it delicately) coming from Attorney General William Barr’s mouth during his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he isn’t the only one whose words are notable. In fact, many of the senators who are questioning him are getting pretty … colorful, with their language.
One example comes from Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska. He pressed Barr on whether or not it was legal for Manafort to “volunteer” as the campaign chairman for Trump at the same time he was working with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Barr tried to sidestep the questions, blaming the public nature of his testimony, but Sasse had literally none of that.
The video clip below speaks for itself, but the background context is what makes it really matter.
Okay. What a zinger! But who is Deripaska, and why does he matter so much? Let’s break it down. As the foundation point, Deripaska has a serious tie with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Unless you’re big into aluminum (or U.S.-Russia relations), you probably didn’t hear about him before the Mueller investigation. But he’s one of the wealthiest people in Russia, and his aluminum empire lends him a considerable amount of power and influence.
Deripaska also had a business relationship with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, which went back years. Manafort, as you’ll remember, has been convicted of fraud and tax charges because … of his work on behalf of Russian-aligned interests.
About a year ago, Deripaska was hit by US sanctions, with the goal of punishing the Russian government because of interference in the 2016 presidential election.
More recently? Sanctions have been
lifted on Deripaska-linked firms, including Rusal. Unsurprisingly, Democrats (rightfully) objected to this. (To be clear, sanctions still apply to Deripaska himself.)
Now, to fast forward to today. Rusal, which is basically an empire for aluminum, is eager to drop $200 million into a project in Kentucky. En+Group is the parent company, and they’ve previously confirmed that they will take a 40 percent stake on the project. The project, basically, will help supply and fund the “low carbon” aluminum rolling mill which is now being developed.
Deripaska (of course) denies all of the allegations against him from the Mueller probe.
People on Twitter have thoughts on Sasse’s quip … and the big question behind it. Why is a Russian oligarch investing $200 million in business in Kentucky? You probably know the answer to that.