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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLindsey Graham dishes on Trump in hoax calls with Russians
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/10/lindsey-graham-trump-hoax-call-043991
By NATASHA BERTRAND
10/10/2019 03:18 PM EDT
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has in the last year become something of a congressional point man for President Donald Trumps negotiations with Turkey, leading discussions on everything from Ankaras purchase of a Russian missile system over the summer to their more recent incursion into northern Syria.
So when he received a call from a man he thought was Turkeys minister of defense earlier in August, it didnt strike him as unusual. Thank you so much for calling me, Mr. Minister, Graham said. I want to make this a win-win, if we can.
But it wasnt the Turkish defense minister at all. Instead, it was Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian pranksters with suspected ties to the countrys intelligence services who go by Lexus and Vovan. The duo have become notorious in recent years for their cold calls to unwitting, high-profile Western politicians, including Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, leading some to suspect that theyve had help from the Kremlin, according to The Guardian. (A Schiff spokesman said at the time that the House Intelligence Committee informed appropriate law enforcement and security personnel of the conversation.)
Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Graham, confirmed the calls authenticity to POLITICO. We have been successful in stopping many efforts to prank Senator Graham and the office, but this one slipped through the cracks, he said. They got him.
</snip>
By NATASHA BERTRAND
10/10/2019 03:18 PM EDT
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has in the last year become something of a congressional point man for President Donald Trumps negotiations with Turkey, leading discussions on everything from Ankaras purchase of a Russian missile system over the summer to their more recent incursion into northern Syria.
So when he received a call from a man he thought was Turkeys minister of defense earlier in August, it didnt strike him as unusual. Thank you so much for calling me, Mr. Minister, Graham said. I want to make this a win-win, if we can.
But it wasnt the Turkish defense minister at all. Instead, it was Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian pranksters with suspected ties to the countrys intelligence services who go by Lexus and Vovan. The duo have become notorious in recent years for their cold calls to unwitting, high-profile Western politicians, including Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, leading some to suspect that theyve had help from the Kremlin, according to The Guardian. (A Schiff spokesman said at the time that the House Intelligence Committee informed appropriate law enforcement and security personnel of the conversation.)
Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Graham, confirmed the calls authenticity to POLITICO. We have been successful in stopping many efforts to prank Senator Graham and the office, but this one slipped through the cracks, he said. They got him.
</snip>
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Lindsey Graham dishes on Trump in hoax calls with Russians (Original Post)
Dennis Donovan
Oct 2019
OP
More: "...also expressed sympathy for Turkey's "Kurdish problem" and described Kurds as a "threat."
Dennis Donovan
Oct 2019
#2
blogslut
(38,000 posts)1. Lindsey the weathervane
In public he's all "No. No. Abandoning the Kurds is wrong"
On this call, he's sympathetic to Erdogan's "Kurdish problem" and is totally gonna look into easing up on that criminal gold trader.
Fuck this guy.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)2. More: "...also expressed sympathy for Turkey's "Kurdish problem" and described Kurds as a "threat."
Link to tweet
Natasha Bertrand ✔ @NatashaBertrand
Replying to @NatashaBertrand
Bloomberg reported last night that Trump pressured Tillerson to ask DOJ to drop the Zarrab case. Graham suggested Trump would try to help as best he could. I think President Trump likes President Erdogan. I think hes a strong man and we need to deal with strong people."
Natasha Bertrand ✔ @NatashaBertrand
In the call, Graham was concerned w/getting Turkey back into the F-35 program & urged the defense minister to refrain from using Russias S-400 system. But Graham also expressed sympathy for Turkeys Kurdish problem and described Kurds as a threat. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/10/lindsey-graham-trump-hoax-call-043991
3:27 PM - Oct 10, 2019
Wow... is there ANY entity Graham WON'T sell out????
Scumbag...
cwydro
(51,308 posts)4. What a completely ugly man he is.
And Im not talking looks.
Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)3. Holy cow, Linds brought up Zarrab??
Graham also mentions Trumps personal interest in a Turkish bank case in the call that appears to refer to a U.S. case involving Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader and client of Trumps personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Trump had asked then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017 to help persuade the Justice Department to drop the Zarrab case.
Damn man
oasis
(49,387 posts)5. Graham comes across like the hunchback traitor in the film "300". nt