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Jill Stein says nothing happened at her dinner with Vladimir Putin

politicsSep 27, 202633629

Jill Stein told The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill that her December 2015 seat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin and Michael Flynn at RT's Moscow gala involved no substantive interaction. Stein said she did not know she would be seated with Putin or Flynn, that Putin "stormed in" and was "not at the table for very long," and that beyond a perfunctory handshake she did not hear any words exchanged between English speakers and Russians. Stein confirmed RT offered to pay her travel but did not offer compensation and she declined the travel payment; she said RT did not pay her. The article notes Flynn received $45,000 from RT for that appearance and later faced scrutiny for allegedly not disclosing it. Stein said her trip's purpose was to promote nuclear disarmament and build a "peace consensus," and that the RT dinner "had absolutely no relevance to my trip," though she met other peace advocates including former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura. Stein framed current Democratic criticism of Russia as tied to what she called "neo-McCarthyism" and warned the situation raises nuclear danger.

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