Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., called Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska a “bottom-feeding scum-sucker” during Attorney General William Barr’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
The comment came as Sasse focused the discussion on special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings about Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Russian oligarch has been a subject of interest in the Mueller investigation, mainly because of his strong ties to the Russian government and his deep relationship with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Sasse referred to sanctions levied on Deripaska and other Russian oligarchs by the Treasury Department in response to “a range of malign activity around the globe” by Russia.
“Oleg Deripaska is the designated individual,” Sasse said after Barr declined to discuss Deripaska, as he is described in the Mueller report.
“He possesses a Russian diplomatic passport and regularly claims to represent the Russian government,” Sasse added. “He is an aluminum and other metals billionaire. He has been investigated by the U.S. government and by other of our allies for money laundering, he has been accused of threatening the lives of his business rivals, he’s been charged with illegal wiretapping, taking part in extortion and racketeering schemes, he’s bribed government officials, he’s ordered the murder of a businessman and has many links to Russian organized crime.”
His next comment prompted a chuckle from Barr.
“So I think we can agree in an open setting, at least agree that he is a bad dude. Right? This is a bottom-feeding scum- sucker,” Sasse said. “He has absolutely no — I’ll take your laugh as agreement — he has absolutely no alignment with the interests of the U.S. people and our public.”
.@SenSasse describes Oleg Deripaska as a “Bottom-feeding, scum-sucker.” pic.twitter.com/RYEFH11Zuf
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 1, 2019
Sasse went on to press Barr to discuss what is legal and what is illegal for foreign interests in terms of being involved in U.S. elections, moving on how to defend future contests from interference.
Deripaska sued the Treasury Department in March to get the federal government to lift the economic sanctions placed on him last year. “The effect of these unlawful actions has been the wholesale devastation of Deripaska’s wealth, reputation, and economic livelihood,” his attorney, Erich Ferrari, wrote in the 28-page lawsuit.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the sanctions in April 2018.
“The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,” Mnuchin said at the time. “The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities. Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.”
