Lawyer mentioned in Russian probe also had ties to Blackburn
A Nashville lawyer with ties to a Russian banker mentioned in national media reports on probes into that country’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election also has ties to U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, reports The Tennessean.
Kline Preston IV, a graduate of the Nashville School of Law, has authored books about Russian regulations, and has represented clients in Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Cuba and England.
Among Preston’s Russian clients and longtime friends is Alexander Torshin, a prominent Russian politician who has close ties to President Vladimir Putin. Torshin is under scrutiny for illegally channeling Russian funds to the National Rifle Association in an effort to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Preston first introduced Torshin to then-president of the NRA David Keene in 2011 and the pair attended the NRA’s annual convention in Nashville in 2015.
Among Preston’s U.S. clients: Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and her son-in-law, Paul Ketchel, a Nashville healthcare entrepreneur.
In 2005, Preston represented Blackburn when she was facing allegations of possible campaign finance violations. He also provided legal services to her campaign in 2007, according to federal filings.
Preston’s wife, Tiffany, worked for the Blackburn campaign, earning $25,100 between 2004 and 2006 for administrative work, according records filed with the Federal Election Commission.
A spokeswoman for Blackburn, a Brentwood Republican, declined to answer specific questions about Preston’s work for the campaign or his relationship with her or her family members, instead issuing a statement that said:
“Congressman Blackburn believes Russia is not our friend – and thinks we need to treat Russia like any bully: we need to be strong enough to prevent them from pushing the United States and our allies around, and we need to draw firm lines and show them that America is not to be trifled with.”
In a telephone interview from Moscow, where Preston served as an independent observer of their national elections on Sunday, Preston told the USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee his relationship with Blackburn was “close.”
“We’re family friends,” he said Friday. “Long time. My spouse is friends with the Congresswoman and her daughter.”
13 Responses to Lawyer mentioned in Russian probe also had ties to Blackburn
Leave a Reply
This has turned into McCarthyism. Good grief. Give it a rest. I have a friend who is Russian. Am I now a suspect in a mass conspiracy?
Depends on who your Russian friend is and who they’re connected with in Russia. This is very serious when our President won’t hold Putin accountable and politicians don’t know how to pick the people they associate with better. We need to start holding our politicians accountable for their actions and who they associate with while in office. There are plenty of Americans with Russian lineage and then there are Russians here on visas. Yes, we need to be a lot more careful and get our heads out of the sand before people like Trump lets someone like Putin walk all over us literally.
Yes Kathleen, so much better if he would lean over to Putin and whisper “wait until these investigations are over when I can be so much more flexible” paraphrasing that pillar of strength in confronting our enemies Obama.
One of the last things that I’m concerned with today, is Ms. Blackburn’s ties to a lawyer who worked in Russia. Russia may be able to mess with our Grid, but that is about as far as their capabilities go. The media gives them too much credit. They could not even pool all their money together and could buy into our corrupt government politician club. I once met the guy who stood next to Stalin at the May Day military parade in Moscow’s Red Square. I guess I’m guilty of collusion and so isn’t Trump because I voted for him.
Get over the stupid propaganda put out by the socialists!
Yeah Tom, James sounds reasonable, not a conspiracy theorist at all,
don’t worry about Putin and his oligarch kleptocrats influencing anything in the United States.
James ‘Mickey’ White is all over the real threat to the U.S. & Democracy, like his blog ‘mission statement’ says, he’s fighting those that
“INCREASE THE POWER OF A CONSPIRATORIAL CLIQUE OF INSIDERS WHOSE GOAL IS TO ENSLAVE THE WORLD.”
FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html
Russian twitter account @Ten_GOP had 150,000 followers
while actual TN Republican Party twitter had 130,000 http://abcn.ws/2zflty8 pic.twitter.com/uO4IKhB3Hq
New Charts Show What The Russian Troll @TEN_GOP Account Was Tweeting This Summer https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/new-charts-show-what-the-russian-troll-tengop-account-was?utm_term=.eh1dYB6Qq via @cwarzel
And Marsha Blackburn votes Poorly:
http://mickeywhite.blogspot.com/2009/09/tn-congressman-marsha-blackburn-votes.html
This is bad journalism at best, and worse borderline slander.
read Republican & CIA Veteran Evan McMullin’s tweet about Mr. Preston’s Russian contact/mentor Torshin https://twitter.com/Evan_McMullin/status/969427392128266240
& the corresponding article
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590076949/depth-of-russian-politicians-cultivation-of-nra-ties-revealed?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
Is Vladimir Putin the richest person in the world? This financier claims he’s worth $200 billion http://cnb.cx/2FjzNW4
97 banks “killed” last yr +30 so far this yr, with assets totalling 3 trillion roubles “stolen” sent abroad #Torshin #MoneyLaundering #TrumpRussia #NRA @izaslavskiy @ABarbashin @Bershidsky @LaurinaviciusM @BillBrowder #Mueller https://shar.es/1V9wRv
rt @MaxSeddon Marat Ismailov, the Dagestan election observer, is finally out after the cops tried to arrest him for stopping ballot stuffing and some goons showed up to beat him up. He says while this was going on the polling station workers cranked up turnout from 30% to 55% pic.twitter.com/iU8xNZkyCK
Show this thread