Bombshell report: Kremlin directed GOP congressman to stage pro-Putin 'show trial' on the House floor

A bombshell report claims that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who has long been described as "Putin's favorite congressman," was given explicit instructions by the Kremlin for how to attack sanctions against Russia last year.

The Daily Beast reports that "after being given a secret document by officials in Moscow, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher sought to alter sanctions legislation and tried to set up a virtual show trial on Capitol Hill" last June, right at around the time that Donald Trump Jr. and key members of the Trump campaign met with Russian nationals who claimed to be representatives of the Russian government's efforts to undermine the candidacy of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Rohrabacher's original plan was to have a show trial in Congress of anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder in which he would "confront Browder with a feature-length pro-Kremlin propaganda movie that viciously attacks him—as well as at least two witnesses linked to the Russian authorities, including lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya."

The purpose of this "show trial," according to an email reviewed by the Daily Beast, was to undermine a set of sanctions placed on Russia that were named after Sergei Magnitsky, who served as Browder's tax attorney before being imprisoned after exposing a Russian corruption scandal.

"Rohrabacher’s office was given the film by the Prosecutor General’s office in Moscow, which is run by Yuri Chaika, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin who is accused of widespread corruption, and Viktor Grin, the deputy general prosecutor who has been sanctioned by the United States as part of the Magnitsky Act," writes the Daily Beast. "That same Prosecutor General’s office also was listed as being behind the “very high level and sensitive information” that was offered to Donald Trump Jr. in an email prior to his now infamous meeting with Russian officials at Trump Tower on June 9—just days before the congressional hearing."