Hacked emails list right-wing fundraiser partying with Russian fascists and oligarchs
A new database of hacked emails reveals attendance at a 2014 gala in Russia.
https://thinkprogress.org/hacked-em...partying-with-russian-fascists-and-oligarchs/
Jan 30, 2019, 8:00 am
Hacked emails list a vice president at the right-wing Bradley Foundation as partying with Russian fascists and oligarchs, some of whom are now sanctioned by the U.S. ILLUSTRATION BY DIANA OFOSU
Last week, a new leak site called Distributed Denial of Secrets went live, compiling a cache of hacked emails and documents of Russian officials, confidants of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, and those steering Russian interference efforts.
Among the revelations: A higher-up at the Bradley Foundation, one of the main financiers of right-wing groups in the U.S. — including the Daily Caller News Foundation and anti-immigrant organizations — apparently attended a notorious “pro-family” conference in Russia in 2014, held shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
Dan Schmidt, who worked for decades at the Bradley Foundation, was serving as one of the foundation’s vice presidents in 2014. That same year, according to leaked emails, Russian operatives involved in cultivating the American religious right listed him as attending a swanky gala alongside Russian fascists like Alexander Dugin and now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs like Konstantin Malofeev. The emails indicate the gala also included Igor Shchegolev, who was then working as an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Sergei Rudov, who helped host leaders of the National Rifle Association (NRA) during the gun group’s notorious 2015 trip to Russia.
Neither Schmidt nor the Bradley Foundation responded to ThinkProgress’ questions.
The latest front in Russian infiltration: America’s right-wing homeschooling movement
Far-right friends
The emails are part of a larger package of internal communications between those close to the Kremlin, those charged with spreading Russian interference efforts, and sanctioned Russian oligarchs and officials. Some of the emails involving the 2014 conference, originally unearthed by the Russian hacking outfit Shaltai Boltai, had been previously reported by BuzzFeed in 2014.
While some of the stolen emails deal with Russian security concerns, some of the emails also discuss the 2014 “pro-family” conference in Russia. According to experts like scholar Chris Stroop, who received a doctorate from Stanford in Russian history.and has focused on links between the Kremlin and America’s religious right, that conference was a turning point in how Western Christian fundamentalists viewed the Kremlin.
The conference was originally sponsored by the World Congress of Families (WCF), a group that is itself the primary bridge between America’s religious right and sanctioned Russians. The event brought some of the most vociferous, bigoted anti-LGBTQ voices in Russia in close contact with sympathetic ears in the U.S.
The WCF pulled its sponsorship of the conference after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. (The WCF has reportedly received funding from both Malofeev and sanctioned Russian oligarch Vladimir Yakunin, a close confidant of Putin; a representative for Yakunin denied to ThinkProgress that Yakunin has funded the group.) Some conservative groups also pulled out of the conference entirely, such as the Concerned Women for America, which said they didn’t want to “appear to be giving aid and comfort to Vladimir Putin.”
But a number of other Americans apparently participated in the conference, which happened just a few months after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine and began supplying the pro-Russian separatists who are believed to have shot down Malaysian Air Flight MH17.
One of the Americans in attendance at the conference was a representative from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the most influential right-wing homeschooling group in the U.S.
And another, according to the emails, was the Bradley Foundation’s Schmidt, then working as one of the Bradley Foundation’s vice presidents.
The Bradley Foundation describes itself as an organization whose mission is “to restore, strengthen, and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism.” It’s also one of the most noteworthy funders for a number of conservative organizations; as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described a few years ago, the group has built a “conservative empire.” Among its funding efforts, according to its most recent annual report, are grants to the Daily Caller News Foundation (totaling $100,000) and American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC (totaling $250,000).
The most recent annual report indicates that the Bradley Foundation has nearly $1 billion in total assets. Much of that growth, according to one analyst, is due to Schmidt’s efforts.
A new database of hacked emails reveals attendance at a 2014 gala in Russia.
https://thinkprogress.org/hacked-em...partying-with-russian-fascists-and-oligarchs/
Jan 30, 2019, 8:00 am
Hacked emails list a vice president at the right-wing Bradley Foundation as partying with Russian fascists and oligarchs, some of whom are now sanctioned by the U.S. ILLUSTRATION BY DIANA OFOSU
Last week, a new leak site called Distributed Denial of Secrets went live, compiling a cache of hacked emails and documents of Russian officials, confidants of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, and those steering Russian interference efforts.
Among the revelations: A higher-up at the Bradley Foundation, one of the main financiers of right-wing groups in the U.S. — including the Daily Caller News Foundation and anti-immigrant organizations — apparently attended a notorious “pro-family” conference in Russia in 2014, held shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
Dan Schmidt, who worked for decades at the Bradley Foundation, was serving as one of the foundation’s vice presidents in 2014. That same year, according to leaked emails, Russian operatives involved in cultivating the American religious right listed him as attending a swanky gala alongside Russian fascists like Alexander Dugin and now-sanctioned Russian oligarchs like Konstantin Malofeev. The emails indicate the gala also included Igor Shchegolev, who was then working as an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Sergei Rudov, who helped host leaders of the National Rifle Association (NRA) during the gun group’s notorious 2015 trip to Russia.
Neither Schmidt nor the Bradley Foundation responded to ThinkProgress’ questions.
The latest front in Russian infiltration: America’s right-wing homeschooling movement
Far-right friends
The emails are part of a larger package of internal communications between those close to the Kremlin, those charged with spreading Russian interference efforts, and sanctioned Russian oligarchs and officials. Some of the emails involving the 2014 conference, originally unearthed by the Russian hacking outfit Shaltai Boltai, had been previously reported by BuzzFeed in 2014.
While some of the stolen emails deal with Russian security concerns, some of the emails also discuss the 2014 “pro-family” conference in Russia. According to experts like scholar Chris Stroop, who received a doctorate from Stanford in Russian history.and has focused on links between the Kremlin and America’s religious right, that conference was a turning point in how Western Christian fundamentalists viewed the Kremlin.
The conference was originally sponsored by the World Congress of Families (WCF), a group that is itself the primary bridge between America’s religious right and sanctioned Russians. The event brought some of the most vociferous, bigoted anti-LGBTQ voices in Russia in close contact with sympathetic ears in the U.S.
The WCF pulled its sponsorship of the conference after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014. (The WCF has reportedly received funding from both Malofeev and sanctioned Russian oligarch Vladimir Yakunin, a close confidant of Putin; a representative for Yakunin denied to ThinkProgress that Yakunin has funded the group.) Some conservative groups also pulled out of the conference entirely, such as the Concerned Women for America, which said they didn’t want to “appear to be giving aid and comfort to Vladimir Putin.”
But a number of other Americans apparently participated in the conference, which happened just a few months after the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine and began supplying the pro-Russian separatists who are believed to have shot down Malaysian Air Flight MH17.
One of the Americans in attendance at the conference was a representative from the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), the most influential right-wing homeschooling group in the U.S.
And another, according to the emails, was the Bradley Foundation’s Schmidt, then working as one of the Bradley Foundation’s vice presidents.
The Bradley Foundation describes itself as an organization whose mission is “to restore, strengthen, and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism.” It’s also one of the most noteworthy funders for a number of conservative organizations; as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described a few years ago, the group has built a “conservative empire.” Among its funding efforts, according to its most recent annual report, are grants to the Daily Caller News Foundation (totaling $100,000) and American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC (totaling $250,000).
The most recent annual report indicates that the Bradley Foundation has nearly $1 billion in total assets. Much of that growth, according to one analyst, is due to Schmidt’s efforts.
