New report reveals Mitch McConnell's shady ties to a Russian-backed project in his home

Zdravstvuyte, Mitch McConnell. We're looking at you again, and your former staffers who lobbied the Treasury Department and Congress to make sure that $200 million deal for a Russian oligarch to build a plant in your state goes through.

The aluminum mill in Kentucky is going to be backed by Rusal, a huge Russian company owned by Oleg Deripaska, the buddy of Putin who helped meddle in our elections, as well as plenty of other nefarious schemes. Financial disclosures from the lobbyists, former McConnell chief of staff Hunter Bates and Brendan Dunn, who advised him on tax, trade, and financial services, show that they have worked on smoothing the path for the plant, which included having sanctions lifted on Deripaska.

Back in May, McConnell told reporters that his support for lifting sanctions was "completely unrelated to anything that might happen in my home state." Uh huh. Just a total coincidence that these two guys who had key positions with him, Dunn as recently as last year, happened to be the guys who picked this lobbying contract. Nothing to see here, nothing at all.

Keeping the pressure on Moscow Mitch, Democrats in Congress are calling for the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to investigate. This project, with Russia owning a big stake, could end up vying for defense contracts, and that's a major concern. That, and finding out if McConnell has sold his soul to Putin.