Failed Rhode Island GOP candidate illegally asked Russian intel to help him win election: FEC documents

"Russia, if you're listening," was the plea that former President Donald Trump made in 2016 as he desperately tried to find some bit of "dirt" to bring down Hillary Clinton.

It turns out that another Republican also tried that same tactic in 2016.

The Providence Journal revealed that H. Russell Taub, a Republican running against U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), reached out to to the Russian intelligence agency, the GRU, on Twitter.

According to newly unearthed Federal Election Commission documents, Taub "violated 52 U.S.C. § 30121(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the 'Act'), and 11 C.F.R. § 110.20(g) of the Commission’s regulations, by knowingly soliciting, accepting, or receiving a prohibited in-kind foreign national contribution in the form of opposition research related to the candidate’s opponent.

In one message to Guccifer 2.0, Taub told the Russian intelligence officials that he could "use your help to defeat cicilline (sic)."

He then sent his email address. He got a dossier with opposition research, polling data and other information on the district. It's unclear if this information was among the things hacked from the DNC or RNC servers.

Taub pleaded guilty although he was excused from having to pay a $31,000 fine for this infraction due to financial hardship that resulted from getting previously convicted for defrauding political donors.

"In 2019, after pleading guilty to wire fraud and campaign-finance violations, Taub was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to repay $1.1 million that he took through unregistered political action committees," said the Providence Journal report. "Taub admitted to raising $1.6 million in donations and using more than $1 million of the money on cigars, meals, clothes, airfare, strip clubs and escorts, among other personal uses."

Read the full report.