“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump...Swear to God"

[Straw Man]

said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy

He now claims it's a joke but sure didn't seem like a joke given that he added the "swear to God" comment

When asked about it he first denied it happened and then when he was told it was on tape he claimed it was a joke

A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks. . . . This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?utm_term=.6453a31ec727

[Nick Danger]

Unless we can hear the tape, I'll take it as a joke.

[Straw Man]

Unless we can hear the tape, I'll take it as a joke.

I would too but adding the swear to god comment really makes it seem like he believes it

It's a common thing that people add to a comment when they want you to know they are really telling the truth

This took place right after Ryan and McCarthy had talks with the Ukraine PM, who told them about “the Kremlin financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.”

transcripts are here:  http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-transcript-of-the-conversation-among-gop-leaders-obtained-by-the-post/2437/

[Nick Danger]

I would too but adding the swear to god comment really makes it seem like he believes it

It's a common thing that people add to a comment when they want you to know they are really telling the truth

Unless he was laughing...people often say "literally" when it's not literal.

[Straw Man]

Unless he was laughing...people often say "literally" when it's not literal.

they say literally even more often when they mean literally

keep in mind this was before Trump was the nominee

[Soul Crusher]

Straw grasping at straws

[Straw Man]

Straw grasping at straws

how original

[Ruffian]

The tape was played. He says swear to God without laughing. Ryan then says, no leaks, this is how we know we are all family here. Right wing or left wing they are just different sides of the same a hole. The both stink. For left wingers Fox news is BS for right wingers everything else is BS. Both of them denied the conversation took place until they were told the tape existed.