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Since former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hyped GOP nominee Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, calling him a “Putin puppet” in the last presidential debate in Las Vegas Oct. 19, 2016 the media and Trump’s enemies have tied him to the Kremlin. Hillary tried, but failed, in the last debate to land a knockout punch, insisting Trump was under Kremlin control. She said his refusal to release his taxes suggested his strong business ties to Moscow. Trump denied such ties but former Hillary Campaign Chairman John D. Podesta did his utmost to discredit Trump three weeks before the Nov. 8 election with damaging rumors of his ties to Russia. Reporting that Trump’s tax law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, was named “Russia Law Firm of the Year” in 2016, ABC News fans the Russia narrative, whipping up more hysteria sweeping Washington.

Retained by the Trump Organization since 2005, Attorneys Sheri Dillon and William Nelson certified in a letter in March and released in a letter Friday that Trump’s returns “do not reflect” ties to Russia “with few exceptions.” But even if Trump built golf course or condominiums in Russia, there’s noting illegal and certainly nothing like the accusations started by Podesta and Hillary, tying Trump and his campaign team to colluding with the Russian to hack the Democratic National Committee and Podesta’s email account. Raising the issue of Trump’s law firm named Russia’s “Law Firm of the Year” highlights how propaganda works. Instead of admitting that many law firms and businesses do business in Russia, ABC removes a small pieced of the big picture to indoctrinate readers into Trump’s alleged Russian ties. Bringing up his law firm’s ties feeds today’s Russia hysteria.

Trump’s law firm certified he has minimal business ties to Russia as reported in 10 years of tax returns. Yet ABC sees fit to highlight Morgan, Lewis & Bockius receiving the prestigious “Russia Law Firm of the Year” award. Washington was rocked in the 1950s by Sen. Joe McCarthy’s (R-Wis.) Communist inquisition, persecuting government and private citizens. Known as McCarthyism, anyone suspected of communist sympathies could watch their careers flushed down the toilet. Working with the House Un-American Activities Committee, McCarthy hit the country with a wrecking ball until his retirement May 2, 1957. ABC and other liberal broadcast and print outlets continue the McCarthyism, linking Trump and his campaign team to specious rumors spread by Hillary’s failing campaign. Raising the issue of Trump’s tax law firm highlights today’s guilt-by-association.

Showing how far today’s “Red Scare” has gone, former FBI Director James Comey welcomed a copy of Hillary’s paid opposition research against Trump, letting former MI6 agent Christopher Steele paint Trump as a Russian spy. When Trump fired Comey May 9, the media fixated on Trump’s attempt to stymie an FBI investigation into his alleged ties to the Kremlin. Started last July when Sen. John McCain (R-Az.), one of Trump’s biggest detractors on Capitol Hill, handed Comey Hillary’s anti-Trump dossier, Comey began his investigation. When former Atty. Gen. Sally Yates testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee May 8, she admitted that intel reports she received from the FBI already unmasked U.S. citizens caught up in incidental collection of foreign agents. Yates admitted to knowing former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s conversations with Russian Amb. Sergey Kislyak.

Yates stated emphatically to the Committee that Flynn was “compromised” by the Russians without giving any details. When Flynn talked to Kislyak Dec. 28, 2016, he was dealing with former President Barack Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats. Flynn erred in not admitting the contents of his conservation, especially to Vice President Mike Pence. But whatever Flynn said to Kislyak, there was nothing that compromised him with the Russians or anyone else. Yates’s testimony revealed she’d listened to taped conversations but refused, due to classified rules, to disclose to the committee the contents of Flynn’s conversations. Yates did her utmost to hype the Trump Russia connection, when, if fact, there was nothing more than inconsequential conversations with the Russian ambassador. All the Russian hype led Kremlin officials to say the whole brouhaha would blow over.

Doing business with the Russian Federation is not illegal, unethical or any different than doing business in any other foreign country. Whether or not Trump’s tax firm does business in Russia is irrelevant, only used by the press to fan the Russia hysteria sweeping Washington. Clapper was asked in the May 8 hearing under oath whether or not he’s seen evidence of Trump collusion with Russia. He said he had not. When asked the same question, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said May 12 he had seen no evidence of Trump collusion with Russia. Yet if you read the ABC News report about Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, you’d think the collusion was clear-and-convincing. If the FBI and other intel investigations found no evidence of collusion since last July, it’s doubtful anything will turn up in the foreseeable future.