THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE: Bernie Sanders struggles to address Russian support after Mueller indictment.
A bombshell Feb. 16 indictment filed against 13 Russian nationals in Robert Mueller’s Russia probe bolstered those allegations, in stunning detail — but also said the Russians sought to help Sanders.
Russian nationals, the indictment said, “engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.”
The details create an awkward situation for the Vermont senator, as he is seen to be positioning himself for a potential 2020 White House run.
Sanders, however, has yet to give a clear response on whether he and his campaign were aware of, or took action to address, the interference — like Russian bot social media accounts allegedly supporting his campaign. Instead, Sanders, I-Vt., has tried to shift the scrutiny toward Clinton’s campaign for not doing more to prevent Russian meddling.
I’d say let him squirm, but what of it? Sanders has a long history of playing footsie with brutal socialist regimes like the Soviet Union and “Bolivarian” Venezuela, while insisting that his own socialist beliefs were the kinder, gentler, “democratic” variety.
That wasn’t enough to sink him with millions and millions of Democratic primary voters — so why should this more recent revelation be a worry?