Russian Bribes And Election Interference-- The Texas ConnectionTexas Republican Pete Sessions has a well-deserved reputation as a complete sleaze-ball. A crony of Jack Abramoff, he was never charged with bribery, even though he accepted over $20,000 in tribal money for his role in a slimy casino deal in 2002. He ran the NRCC and played fast and loose with campaign finance laws, often ignoring them entirely. He was rewarded for his "good work" with the chair of the House Rules Committee. He became even more famous when he led a nearly successful effort to disband the Office of Congressional Ethics (which he called "a political witch hunt"). So it should have surprised no one when it came out recently that he was taking large sums of Russian money as bribes from Trump/Giuliani cronies Lev and Igor. As Rules Committee chair, he was able to do more than just prevent medical marijuana laws from being voted on. And Giuliani must have directed Lev and Igor to him because of his notoriety for bribe-taking in the Allen Stanford-- currently serving a 110 year sentence in a federal pen-- scandal.Sessions represented a north Dallas district for 21 years that was always being redistricted ahead of threatening demographic growth. Last year the area finally ran out of the number of old white men needed for him to win reelection. He lost a tight battle against a super-mediocre and pointless centrist Democrat, football player Colin Allred, 144,067 (52.3%) to 126,101 (45.8%). Even though Cook's out-dated, lagging PVI is R+5, even Hillary beat Trump by two points there in 2016 and this district may be swingy for a few cycles, it's days as a red bastion are over.So Sessions decided to move his clown show down to Waco, where he was born and run there instead. TX-17 is much friendlier towards right-wing nuts like Sessions, but not friendly enough for incumbent Bill Flores to fight another battle. Flores is retiring. The PVI is R+12 and Trump beat Hillary 56.3% to 38.8%. But last year Flores didn't do as well as he had been doing-- winning 56.8% to 41.3%, with none of the 3 top counties in the district-- McLennan, Brazos and Travis-- performing as well for him as he expected. The Travis part of the district came in D+41 and McLennan and especially Brazos are headed on that direction. Can Sessions staunch the tide?"Congressman 1"-- crooked Texas Republican Pete SessionsFlores doesn't think so. "The announcement this week that former Rep. Pete Sessions from District 32-- north northeast of Dallas-- is going to run in District 17 should alarm all of us. Like you, I find it unacceptable that someone from outside Texas 17 would attempt to drop in and to try to elbow his way to the front of the line ahead of our local leaders. We have great leaders currently living, working, raising families and serving our communities in District 17. I hope you share my views that one of these people should be the next congressman or congresswoman from Texas District 17. Furthermore, I intend to help, support and vote for these types of local people during the 2020 election cycle and hope you will consider doing so also. One of the people who has announced that he is running for Congress from District 17 summed it up perfectly with his statement, “With all due respect, Mr. Sessions, we got this.” While I am not endorsing this candidate at this time, I could not agree more. Texas District 17 has plenty of talent-- let’s support them!" The Republican locals in the race are Wesley Lloyd and Trent Sutton and the Democrats will be fielding centrist Rick Kennedy, who opposes Medicare-for-All, again.And that brings us to Sessions' propensity to always be on the receiving end of every bribery scandal to hit Congress. Most recently, according to Fox News, he has admitted taking illegal Russian cash from Igor and Lev. Caught red-handed he now claims he will turn over more than $20,000 to local charities. On Friday he told the media that "Yesterday, I learned that two contributors to my 2018 campaign are being charged for not following campaign contribution laws. Their deception cannot, and should not, be tolerated. Therefore, I am contributing the amount of their contributions to charities that serve abused women and children and the elderly in Central Texas." No one yet knows how much Russian cash Giuliani was able to direct the 2 clowns to inject into 2018 races, although over $600,000 has been found so far, probably just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest amount went to Trump-- around $350,000-- but much of it was spread around via the NRC, the NRCC and over a dozen local state Republican parties. Certain key super-corrupt individuals-- like Sessions-- were given direct, coordinated contributions for specific reasons. Sessions was bribed to help them get the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch fired, which he did.In the Igor and Lev indictments, Sessions is referred to as "Congressman 1." A few bribed Republicans have promised to donate the money charity, but most-- like Trump, are holding onto the cash. And Sessions says he's giving back $20,000. Problem is that he may have gotten far more than that-- and some right into his pockets. According to CNN, "The indictment alleges that a 'Congressman-1' had been the beneficiary of approximately $3 million in independent expenditures by 'Committee-1... At and around the same time, Parnas and Fruman committed to raising those funds for Congressman-1. Parnas met with Congressman-1 and sought Congressman-1's assistance in causing the US Government to remove or recall the then-US Ambassador to Ukraine,' the indictment states." Igor and Lev gave immense sums of money to America First Action and America First Action bought $3,134,768 in independent expenditures from Sessions doomed campaign, by far the largest single source of money in the TX-32 race.Sessions has no intention of contributing any of that $3,134,768 to "charities that serve abused women and children and the elderly in Central Texas."Pete Sessions has not been arrested yetUPDATE: Will Sessions Be In Prison Before The Election?The Wall Street Journal reported that "A grand jury has issued a subpoena related to Manhattan federal prosecutors’ investigation into Rudy Giuliani, seeking documents from former Rep. Pete Sessions about his dealings with President Trump’s personal lawyer and associates, according to people familiar with the matter. The subpoena seeks documents related to Mr. Giuliani’s business dealings with Ukraine and his involvement in efforts to oust the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv, as well as any interactions between Mr. Sessions, Mr. Giuliani and four men who were indicted."
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