Nancy Pelosi Cartoons

Senate leaders announce budget agreement, hike in Pentagon spending

Senate leaders announce agreement on a two-year, almost $400 billion budget deal that would provide Pentagon and domestic programs with huge spending increases; chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel reports from Capitol Hill.

Republican and Democratic Senate leaders announced a budget agreement Wednesday that includes a big boost in spending for the Pentagon and would keep the government running past a looming deadline.

“I am pleased to announce that our bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on defense spending and other priorities have yielded a significant agreement,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, “We have reached a budget deal that neither side loves, but both sides can be proud of.”
Congress has until Feb. 8 to pass a spending bill, and the deal would fund the government through March 23. While Congress would still have to pass another spending measure before that deadline, the agreement announced Wednesday includes a longer-term pact to lift spending caps by roughly $400 billion for Pentagon and domestic programs over two years.
"The Budget Agreement today is so important for our great Military," President Trump tweeted Wednesday. "It ends the dangerous sequester and gives Secretary Mattis what he needs to keep America Great. Republicans and Democrats must support our troops and support this bill!"
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday he was encouraged by the deal.
“I'm heartened that Congress recognizes the sobering effect of budgetary uncertainty on America's military and on the men and women who provide for our nation's defense,” Mattis said during the White House briefing.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also expressed optimism about the deal, though wouldn’t explicitly say whether the president would sign the agreement if passed.
“Look, we applaud the steps forward that they have made, but we're going to need to see what is in the final bill. We are certainly happy with the direction that it's moving, particularly that we're moving away from the crisis budgeting that we have been on in the past,” she said.
McConnell said the measure would rewrite existing defense limits that have "hamstrung our armed forces and jeopardized our national security."
The bill removes automatic spending cuts – known as sequestration caps – for both defense and nondefense programs. The caps were put in place in 2011 as part of the Budget Control Act to lift the debt limit.
The deal would lift the debt limit and also includes disaster relief for hurricane-stricken areas as well as a four-year extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The agreement, though, does not tackle immigration -- at a time when Congress is debating how to address those affected by the looming expiration of former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The program gave a deportation reprieve to young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
McConnell has committed to a freewheeling debate on immigration if the Senate is still open after Feb. 8.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday night approved their version of a stopgap spending bill to run the government through March 23 and bolster defense funding.
The House's top Democrat swung out against the latest plan.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California announced she would oppose the budget measure unless her chamber's GOP leaders promised a vote on legislation to protect "Dreamer" immigrants.

New Strzok-Page texts call into question Obama's 2016 statement on FBI probes

Newly released text messages between FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page saying Barack Obama wanted to “know everything” the FBI was “doing” could raise questions about the former president's 2016 statement that he was not involved in discussing pending probes. 

The texts were part of a batch released by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., along with majority staff from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Strzok and Page, who worked for a short period of time on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, have been in the spotlight ever since a slew of anti-Trump messages between them surfaced last year. 

In the new text message chain from Sept. 2, 2016, Page mentioned Obama in the context of a briefing for then-FBI director James Comey.
“Checkout my 9:30 mtg on the 7^th,” Strzok texted Page.
“I can tell you why you’re having that meeting. It’s not what you think,” Page responded.
“TPs [talking points] for D [Comey]?” Strzok asked.
“Yes, bc potus wants to know everything we are doing,” Page said.

The message suggested that Obama would meet Comey regarding an FBI matter.
Yet, on April 10, 2016, Obama told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he did not have any involvement in ongoing FBI investigations.
“I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations,” Obama said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department, or the FBI, not just in this case, but in any case.”
FBI LOVERS' LATEST TEXT MESSAGES: OBAMA 'WANTS TO KNOW EVERYTHING' 
It's unclear from the texts what exactly Strzok and Page were referring to with the apparent talking points for Comey. According to the Senate report, the text raises questions about Obama's involvement in the Clinton email investigation.
The conversation took place during an apparent lull in the Clinton email investigation, though it wasn't necessarily closed, either. In July 2016, Comey announced that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information on her private server but would face no charges. In late October, Comey announced that he would revisit the Clinton investigation.
The Strzok-Page conversation also occurred just days before Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, where he confronted him about cyber concerns amid reports and intelligence surfacing that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential campaign.
A former deputy assistant to Obama, Colin Kahl, highlighted on Twitter a Daily Beast reporter who floated this meeting as relevant to that text exchange.
Also on Sept. 2, 2016, though, the FBI released a full transcript – with redactions – of its interview with Hillary Clinton as part of the  email probe, along with a memo summarizing the bureau’s investigation of her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
After the mention of “potus,” Strzok alerted Page to “NYTimes.com breaking,” which could have been the report, “FBI Papers Offer Closer Look at Hillary Clinton Email Inquiry.” 

Pence tweets support for gay US Olympian who trashed him: 'We are FOR YOU'

US Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon reportedly shot down the chance to meet with Vice President Pence, but Pence still cheered Rippon on Twitter Wednesday night.  (Reuters / AP)

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted his support Wednesday night for openly gay U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, sounding a magnanimous note after the 28-year-old repeatedly criticized Pence on social media.

Rippon, who is believed to be the first openly gay man to compete for the U.S. at a Winter Olympics, took aim at Pence in January for what the skater said were the vice president's anti-gay views.

The Olympian also pointedly refused an invitation to meet with Pence, USA Today reported, although the vice president’s office denied that Pence had sought to meet one-on-one with Rippon.
“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” the figure skater told USA Today when informed he might be able to meet with Pence when he arrived at the Games in South Korea. “I’m not buying it.”
During his successful 2000 congressional run in Indiana, Pence’s website stated his support for directing resources “toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior” – a plank that some critics have said referred to conversion therapy, rather than safer sex practices.
On Wednesday, Pence seemed to take aim at that story.
“Headed to the Olympics to cheer on #TeamUSA,” Pence tweeted. “One reporter trying to distort 18 yr old nonstory to sow seeds of division. We won’t let that happen! #FAKENEWS. Our athletes are the best in the world and we are for ALL of them! #TEAMUSA.”

Headed to the Olympics to cheer on #TeamUSA. One reporter trying to distort 18 yr old nonstory to sow seeds of division. We won’t let that happen! #FAKENEWS. Our athletes are the best in the world and we are for ALL of them! #TEAMUSA

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 8, 2018

Pence, who was sent by the White House along with his wife, Karen, to lead the U.S. delegation at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang from Feb. 9-25, then addressed Rippon directly.

.@Adaripp I want you to know we are FOR YOU. Don’t let fake news distract you. I am proud of you and ALL OF OUR GREAT athletes and my only hope for you and all of #TeamUSA is to bring home the gold. Go get ‘em!

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) February 8, 2018

“@Adaripp I want you to know we are FOR YOU,” Pence wrote. “Don’t let fake news distract you. I am proud of you and ALL OF OUR GREAT athletes and my only hope for you and all of #TeamUSA is to bring home the gold. Go get ‘em!”
The positive Twitter messages drew a sharp contrast with Rippon’s posts on the same platform. Rippon, who previously told USA Today he “doesn’t think [Pence] has a real concept of reality,” tweeted that Pence had hurt members of the gay community.
“I personally have nothing to say to Mike Pence,” Rippon wrote in January. “Given the chance to talk after the Olympics, I would want to bring with me people who’s [sic] lives have been hurt by legislation he has championed.”
The vice president attracted the ire of some in the LGBTQ community by signing Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law as governor of Indiana in 2015, which critics claimed encouraged discrimination against gay people.

The VP has had little effect on my own life. I didn’t speak up for myself, I spoke up because it’s important to give a voice to those who feel they don’t have one.

— Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) January 20, 2018

Despite the bad blood, Rippon did seem open to meeting with Pence after the Games.
“If I had the chance to meet him afterwards, after I'm finished competing, there might be a possibility to have an open conversation,” Rippon told USA Today. "He seems more mild-mannered than Donald Trump.”

Pelosi gets most out of 'magic minute' in record-setting speech for DACA

There is no such thing as a filibuster in the House of Representatives.

But there is a “magic minute."

The “magic minute” isn’t a rule. It’s a special privilege spanning longer than 60 seconds afforded to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and other top leaders to speak on the floor for as long as they wish.
A key difference between the House and Senate is the Senate features unlimited debate. That leads to actual filibusters which impair legislative action. Floor time in the House is controlled. It must be. After all, you’re dealing with 435 members compared to 100 in the Senate. So time is at a premium.
The House restricts debate on most bills to an hour. Leaders allocate more time for major bills. Time is often doled out in one-minute increments. So-called “special orders” speeches at the end of the day run longer, but aren’t focused around actual legislative debate.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., seized on the “magic minute” phenomenon at 10:04 a.m. ET Wednesday to rally support for a DACA agreement.
“I am going to go on as long as my leadership minute allows,” said Pelosi.
Pelosi’s “magic minute” wrinkled time and bent physics. It emerged as the super-duper, magnificent, unicorn, voodoo minute. It ballooned to a staggering eight hours and seven minutes.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi gave a speech Wednesday that spanned eight hours. She did not sit once and wore high heels the entire time.  (Fox News)

Pelosi held the floor all eight hours wearing black, stiletto heels. No sitting. Just talking. When Pelosi wrapped, she established a new record for the longest floor speech in House history. Pelosi bested House Speaker Champ Clark, D-MO, who set the old benchmark in 1909, two years before clasping the Speaker’s gavel. Clark spoke for five hours and 15 minutes.
But Clark was not shod in stilettos when he set his record.
Pelosi clutched a Kleenex for much of her speech. The heels were the least of her worries. Allergies proved to be an adversary.
“I thought I might be hungry. I thought I might be thirsty,” said Pelosi around at 5:34 p.m. “But I never thought I would get sniffles from the rug.”
It’s not unusual for House leaders to take advantage of the magic minute dispensation. Then-House Minority Leader and later Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, held forth for more than an hour in June, 2009 as the House prepared to vote on a climate bill known as “cap and trade.” Boehner’s oratory energized Republicans and infuriated Democrats. Former Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., even asked the House’s presiding officer, then-Rep. Ellen Tauscher D-Calif, why the Ohio Republican was permitted such protracted oration.
The stunt became known as the “Fili-Boehner.”
Pelosi - then serving as House Speaker - was poised to deliver her own closing argument on cap and trade to rebut Boehner. But Pelosi knew brevity was the soul of wit following Boehner.
“Just remember these four words of what this legislation means: Jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs. Let’s vote for jobs!”
And with that, Pelosi concluded.
Word of a budget deal leaked around the Capitol just as Pelosi began her speech Wednesday.
Around 10:30 a.m., the California Democrat sent out a statement, saluting the bipartisan budget pact forged by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to lift spending caps for the Pentagon and non-defense spending.
“The budget caps agreement includes many Democratic priorities,” declared Pelosi.
But there was a caveat. Pelosi noted the plan was bereft of a DACA accord.
“Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support.”

Rep. Champ Clark, D-MO, who set the old benchmark in 1909, two years before clasping the Speaker’s gavel.  (Fox News)

And so Pelosi made her case for Ryan to consider a DACA plan.
Pelosi’s marathon speech may have focused on DACA. But the speech was laced with internal leadership politics on both sides of the aisle.
Ryan would like to address DACA. But that could create turmoil for Ryan among conservatives who characterize a DACA fix as “amnesty.”
Younger House Democrats have pined for a leadership change. They believe time passed by Pelosi and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-MD. They want to infuse the party with a younger generation of leaders. Pelosi turns 78 in March. Hoyer is currently 78. But Pelosi’s prolonged presentation put to rest any question about her fortitude and endurance.
“I don’t think anyone has ever questioned Leader Pelosi’s tenacity,” said 44-year-old Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who challenged Pelosi to be the top House Democrat in late 2016. Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., has also pushed for younger blood.
“My issue with the leadership team has nothing to do with stamina,” said Rice.
Pelosi solidified her position among liberals in the House by advocating for DACA.
Just before 4 p.m., former Vice President Biden arrived to speak to House Democrats. Many thought Pelosi may wrap then.
“I have no intention of yielding back,” said Pelosi.
A few minutes later, Pelosi turned to her colleagues sitting behind her in solidarity.
“If you want to see Biden, you can,” said Pelosi.
“We want to see you!” replied Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
Still, some viewed Pelosi’s gambit as window dressing for DACA. After all, Pelosi was purportedly part of the talks with other top House and Senate leaders.
“I don't understand if you have four leaders agree to a bill why do you get to negotiate if you're not going to vote for the bill?” asked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
McCarthy’s view of the speech.
“I think it’s going to make her Wikipedia page. It’s her biggest accomplishment this year,” said McCarthy.
When she finished, Pelosi told reporters Schumer “got what he wanted” on the budget deal. But she was still pushing – publicly at least – for DACA.
Would Democrats support the plan?
“I have no idea where members are,” Pelosi replied.
If the bill is to pass to avoid a shutdown, scores of House Democrats must vote yes to fill the void created by Republican defectors. Some Democrats interpreted Pelosi’s speech as a lengthy campaign against the bill. That could jeopardize the legislation. That’s why some Democrats are nervous about another shutdown over DACA.
When she came off the floor, Pelosi told a group of reporters the time  flew by.
“When you’re out there talking, it seems shorter. When you’re listening, it seems longer,” said Pelosi.
“Yeah,” hollered one reporter who viewed Pelosi’s speech. “We know.”

Democratic AGs swarm Trump administration with lawsuits

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra are helping lead a slew of anti-Trump administration suits.

Nancy Pelosi. Chuck Schumer. The Russia probe. The "deep state." Of all the obstacles that could potentially thwart the Trump agenda, add to that tempest the flood of lawsuits now being plotted by blue-state attorneys general who have made no secret of their disdain for the administration’s policies. 

The Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA), a political fundraising group, touts the AGs as “the first line of defense” against Trump’s agenda.

“The Trump administration has trouble understanding the rule of law and that’s the reason Democratic attorneys general are filing lawsuits and winning them,” Sean Rankin, DAGA’s executive director, told Fox News.
To be sure, outspoken state prosecutors stalled many of the administration’s 2017 goals in court with a record number of lawsuits. And they’re doubling down in 2018.
In late January, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued the Trump administration over fracking rules. In early February, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced his intent to sue the Trump administration for reversing the Obama-era Waters of the United States regulation. Several East Coast states may soon band together to try to undermine the newly passed tax overhaul.
The lawsuits may only be energized by the election-year environment.
Attorney general races are playing out in 32 states in 2018, with 14 seats held by Democrats and 18 by Republicans. Rankin said DAGA is focused chiefly on winning races in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin.

'This is not about the rule of law or holding the line to stop the feds from preempting state laws, this is about power.'

“For the first time, I believe, general voters, as well as elected officials, understand this is an office of considerable importance and not just a down-ballot race,” Rankin said.
Amid the lawsuit flurry, the association reported it increased its 2017 fundraising haul by $2.4 million from the previous year -- growing its donor base from fewer than 500 in 2016 to more than 5,000 in 2017. Beyond raising money, DAGA facilitates weekly phone conferences with the nation’s 23 Democratic attorneys general to discuss lawsuits and strategies.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has sued the Trump administration over fracking rules.  (AP)

This is familiar territory. During the Obama administration, the GOP attorneys general routinely challenged policies on ObamaCare, immigration and the environment -- but filed far fewer lawsuits per year.
‘Nullification by other means’
The past year has been a bonanza of anti-Trump lawsuits. DAGA highlighted numerous cases in a year-end report. And while Democrats scored victories at the district court level, they had mixed results on appeal.

• Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson first sued over Trump’s travel ban on people entering the United States from terrorism hot spots in the Middle East. Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin sued to block another version of the travel ban.
• After the Trump administration rolled back the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) -- which shielded from deportation about 800,000 illegal immigrants brought to the country as minors -- 16 Democratic attorneys general challenged the move.
• Becerra of California, Maura Healy of Massachusetts, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Ferguson of Washington challenged the Department of Health and Human Services' rollback of the ObamaCare contraception mandate.
• Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Healy and Schneiderman sued the Education Department over a student loan policy. 
• Another 14 Democratic attorneys general sued the Environmental Protection Agency alleging it isn’t enforcing smog rules.

“We would expect Democrats in Congress and Democratic governors to be part of the resistance, but we should expect more from chief law enforcement officials in their states than to seek nullification by other means of federal law,” Curt Leavy, president of the Committee for Justice, a conservative legal group, told Fox News. “Parts of the judiciary itself and many AGs see themselves as part of the resistance.”
‘Sheer volume’
Throughout 2017, Democratic attorneys generals filed 35 multistate lawsuits against the Trump administration, according to tracking by Paul Nolette, a political science professor at Marquette University and author of “Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policymaking in Contemporary America.”
By contrast, Republican attorneys general brought 46 multistate legal challenges during all of former President Barack Obama’s two terms.
The “sheer volume” of Democratic lawsuits is “staggering,” said Scott Will, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is a leading force in anti-Trump lawsuits.  (Office of the Attorney General)

“This is not about the rule of law or holding the line to stop the feds from preempting state laws; this is about power,” Will said in a statement. “Look, Republicans and Democrats had a history of banding together to prevent the federal government from preempting state laws, but those days are over and that is unfortunate.”

Democrats flip deep-red Missouri state House seat, signal problems for GOP

Democrat Mike Revis won the special election in Missouri on Tuesday, flipping a deep-red seat.  (Revis for Missouri Facebook)

Democrats flipped a Missouri House seat in Tuesday’s special election in a district that President Trump won by 28 points in 2016, signaling problems for the GOP ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Democrat Mike Revis won the election with nearly 52 percent of the vote while Republican David Linton received 48 percent. Tuesday’s election marks a 31-point swing to Democrats in the district compared to the 2016 presidential election.

“Representative-elect Mike Revis’s victory tonight will undoubtedly send another shockwave through the GOP as we continue to run the best candidates focused on addressing local issues and improving their neighbors’ quality of life,” Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Executive Director Jessica Post said in a statement.
“The DLCC continues to be impressed by our dedicated and talented slate of candidates, who have stepped up to run in these precedent-setting special elections."
Revis, a 27-year-old procurement manager, ran on a platform as a centrist Democrat with particular focus on education, access to health care and support for the labor community, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
State Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, told the newspaper that Revis’ win was “enormous” and made possible only due to “a lot of grass-roots support and a hardworking, authentic moderate candidate from his community.”
The election result might signal the changing tide for the GOP that is heading into the midterm elections this year against a highly-mobilized Democratic opposition united against the president.
In December, embattled Republican Roy Moore lost a deep-red Senate seat in Alabama to Democrat Doug Jones, making him the first Democrat in a decade to win any statewide office in the state.
Last month, Democrat Patty Schachtner flipped a state Senate seat in Wisconsin that had been held by Republicans since the start of the century in a district that Trump carried by 17 points in the presidential election.
Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called the results a “wake up call” for the party.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said the party should take interest in why it lost the election. “Typically, we’ve held this seat, and we lost this seat last night. So, yeah, I think we should pay attention to it,” Ryan told reporters last month, The New York Times reported.
But as problems continue to mount for the Republicans, in three other special elections in Missouri on Tuesday, Republicans held their seats – continuing the GOP’s supermajority in the state House.

Some Muslim immigrants should be watched 'long-term,' draft DHS report says

An initial draft of a Department of Homeland Security report from last month called for authorities to carefully monitor large numbers of Sunni Muslim immigrants fitting a broad "at-risk" profile, saying it might be necessary to “continuously evaluate persons of interest” even after they are living in the United States.
The document, obtained exclusively by Foreign Policy magazine, analyzed 25 terrorist attacks in the U.S. from 2001 to 2017 to determine which kind of immigrants should be tracked on a “long-term basis."
Risk factors identified in the report, which focused specifically on Sunni Muslims, included being young, male and hailing from countries in South Asia, the Middle East or Africa.
The draft report, which was created for U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner Kevin McAleenan, caused consternation among current and former DHS officials, Foreign Policy reported.
Some told the magazine the results were misleading in part because the report focused only on Sunnis, rather than other religious groups.
“First, this report would steer policymakers to implement unfair and discriminatory surveillance of particular ethnic groups,” a DHS official told the magazine. “Second, the analysis, which is misleadingly packaged as a comprehensive analysis of post-9/11 terrorism, could lead policymakers to overlook significant national security threats.”

"This report would steer policymakers to implement unfair and discriminatory surveillance of particular ethnic groups."

- DHS official

In a strongly worded statement, CBP officials emphasized that the document was an initial draft and not a final intelligence assessment.
“The initial draft assessment … not only is still undergoing internal CBP review, but, at the time of its improper disclosure, did not reflect a large number of substantive comments and revisions that have since been made to subsequent versions of the document as a result of CBP’s internal and external review process,” a CBP spokesperson told Foreign Policy.
Last month, the DHS and DOJ released a report that revealed nearly three out of four individuals convicted on international terrorism charges in the U.S. were foreign-born.
President Trump reacted to that report by tweeting: "We have submitted to Congress a list of resources and reforms we need to keep America safe, including moving away from a random chain migration and lottery system, to one that is merit-based.”

Schiff apparently pranked by Russian radio hosts who promised 'naked Trump' photos

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee held an eight-minute phone conversation last year with Russian radio hosts posing as a Ukrainian politician who promised to provide compromising images of President Trump.

The conversation involving Rep. Adam Schiff, which took place on April 10 of last year, was first reported by The Atlantic last month. On Tuesday, the Daily Mail published purported audio of the call.

In the conversation, a caller identified himself as Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of Ukraine's parliament. In fact, "Parubiy" was two people, Vladimir "Vovan" Kuznetsov and Alexey "Lexus" Stolyarov, who have previously prank-called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
During this call, "Parubiy," claimed that Trump met Russian model and singer Olga Buzova while in Moscow for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, and that the two had had a brief affair.
"She got compromising materials on Trump after their short relations," the caller told Schiff.
"OK, and what's the nature" of the material? Schiff asked.
"Well, there were pictures of naked Trump," the caller said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin was made aware of the "images" by Ksenia Sobchak -- a Russian journalist he described as "the goddaughter of Putin."
"Parubiy" assured Schiff that he could provide records of Sobchak and Buzova discussing the images. He also claimed that the former national security adviser Michael Flynn met with another Russian singer, Arkadiy Ukupnik, in a Brooklyn cafe to discuss keeping the supposed images under wraps.
"On that meeting, Ukupnik told Flynn that all those compromising materials will never be released if Trump will cancel all the Russian sanctions," the caller told Schiff, who responded that "obviously we would welcome the chance to get copies of those recordings."
A spokesman for Schiff told The Atlantic that the committee reported the call to "appropriate law enforcement and security personnel" and told them "of our belief that it was probably bogus."
Kuznetsov and Stolyarov were described by Atlantic writer Julia Ioffe as having ties to the Kremlin, having hosted shows on state-run TV channels and meeting with elected officials.
"We wanted to talk to someone who specifically works on intelligence and give him a completely insane version of events," Kuznetsov told The Atlantic of the call to Schiff. Stolyarov added that the pair had given Schiff "a bunch of disinformation" and described the call as "completely absurd."
The Atlantic reported that when Kuznetsov and Stolyarov called McConnell, he told them that new sanctions against Russia were unlikely. When they called McCain, he had "sounded like he didn’t know what to do — like, at all," according to Kuznetsov.
"This would never happen in Russia," Stolyarov told the magazine of the prank calls. "People wouldn’t be so trusting, especially if they are a member of parliament or a civil servant."
Kuznetsov added that the pair would like to target Hollywood stars, but they are "much harder to reach than American senators."

MSNBC Cartoons