Jill Stein is starting to sound more and more like Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Vanity Fair:

Amid the ever-expanding investigations into the Russian government’s interference in the presidential election, some Democrats have called for Stein to appear before Congress to testify under oath about her Kremlin ties. “We’re certainly interested in any efforts the Russians made to influence our election,” Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Politico. “There have been public reports, I think, that Jill Stein was also in Russia attending the RT function, so we’re going to need to look at any efforts the Russians made through whatever means to influence our elections.” 

But for her part, Stein has no qualms about the role she played in last year’s election. In fact, she has begun to rely on certain defenses similar to those invoked by the man she is accused of helping elect. When asked about Russia during an interview with Politico, Stein was quick to dismiss speculation and leaned on many of the same arguments as the Trump team has in recent months. After rebuking claims that she espoused the merits of Putin as “fake news”, the erstwhile presidential hopeful said, “Putin is an authoritarian and has a very troubled, disturbing record.” On the other hand, she also noted, “It’s important to look at where Putin comes from. . . . It was Larry Summers and the guys from Harvard who basically privatized the public domain [in post-Soviet Russia] and created the oligarchs.” Stein also expressed skepticism toward the United States intelligence community’s conclusion that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 election. “Most people are saying, ‘Oh it’s the Russians,’ but there is not a lot of evidence,” she said. 

And in terms of whether she blames herself for Trump’s victory, Stein argues that neither candidate was a good choice. “There are differences between Clinton and Trump, no doubt, but they’re not different enough to save your life, to save your job, to save the planet,” she says. “We deserve more than two lethal choices.” 

I have long suspected that Stein was more involved in this Russian interference thing than she has let on.

So it is not at all surprising to hear her continue to spout the Russian troll talking points.

I would not be at all shocked to learn that she has been on Putin's payroll since the beginning. 

Nope, not a bit.