Did Nancy Pelosi take Russian money?

After I mentioned reporter Sarah Kendzior in the preceding story, a reader informed me that Kendzior had gone cray-cray. Apparently, Sarah Kendzior accuses Nancy Pelosi of taking Russian money. Kendzior cites a source: A series of tweets by the remarkable Jennifer Cohn (who has done great work on election integrity).

The trouble is, Cohn doesn't really point the finger at Pelosi.

Cohn's tweets are about Leonard Blavatnik, 50th wealthiest man in the world. Born in the USSR, he used to be partnered with Viktor Vekselberg, who indisputably is a sanctioned oligarch (though he is officially listed as an Israeli citizen). Blavatnik now holds dual British/American citizenship, and was actually knighted for his philanthropy.  His conglomerate Access Industries made billions from oil, plastics, chemicals, and aluminum. Stuff like that.

Borrrrrring.

Blavatnik bought Warner Music some years ago, and it looks like he caught the movie bug in a big way. They say he wants to buy a major studio -- probably Sony. Maybe he can patch up that Spider-Man tiff...?

This Hollywood Reporter story discusses Blavatnik's ties to both Russia and Trump. Whatever you do, don't call Blavatnik an oligarch in his presence...

The use of the O-word would annoy Blavatnik, 61. The press-shy billionaire has long maintained that he's not an oligarch but a naturalized American citizen who emigrated from the Soviet Union as a young man in 1978. Nonetheless, he has found himself on the radar of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, according to ABC News. Amid the drumbeat of the probe of Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. election, Blavatnik is on a quest to achieve his stated goal of building a "media platform for the 21st century."

Yes, it is true: Blavatnik gave $124,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2019. He normally gives much, much larger donations to Republicans. He gave a cool million to Donald Trump's notoriously corrupt inaugural committee.

So why the DCCC donation? Looks to me as though the guy is giving just enough money to get an audience with a Democratic congressperson, should the need arise. That sort of thing is pretty common.

There's another possible reason. Since Blavatnik is trying to establish himself in Hollywood, he probably needs to distance himself from Trump. The Hollywood Reporter story mentioned above drops some impressive names -- Martin Scorcese and Steven Spielberg and Buz Luhrman and so on. While traveling in that world, Blavatnik would find it advisable to claim that he donates to both parties.

I'm increasingly annoyed by Pelosi, and I'm now open to the idea of replacing her. But Kendzior's claim -- though technically accurate -- is over-the-top.

In the past, some people have called me a conspiracy theorist, while others have called me an opponent of conspiracy theorists. What I oppose are people addicted to playing an adult version of "cooties." There's a picture of Naomi Watts sitting at a restaurant table with Leonard Blavatnik. That doesn't mean she's a secret agent working for Putin.