Former Trump Consultant Michael Caputo Has World-Class Tantrum About Russia Investigation
Michael Caputo is not a happy man.
The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday that the former political consultant for Donald Trump and spreader of Reagan-era anti-communist propaganda in Central and South America delivered a truly wild statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. In it, he railed against Democrats for what he perceives as a witch hunt against not only Trump, but the people in Trump’s orbit who now have to worry about tedious stuff like, uh, testifying under oath.
In the prepared statement—which the Daily Mail reported that Caputo read at the end of an interview with the Senate Intelligence Committee—Caputo said that legal fees have ruined his life:
‘In 2009, my wife and I moved to my hometown of East Aurora, New York to have a family. Making far less money back home, we had a far better quality of life. That is, until the Trump-Russia narrative took off. Today, I can’t possibly pay the attendant legal costs and live near my aging father, raising my kids where I grew up.
‘Your investigation and others into the allegations of Trump campaign collusion with Russia are costing my family a great deal of money – more than $125,000 – and making a visceral impact on my children.
‘Now I must to move back to Washington, New York City, Miami or elsewhere, just so I can make enough money to pay off these legal bills. And I know I have you to thank for that.
Caputo then went on an extended rant about Daniel Jones, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer who was also the lead author of the Senate torture report. Jones has recently been a hot topic in conservative media for his connections to pee tape dossier author Christopher Steele and FusionGPS.
“Of course, very few of us in flyover country knew Daniel until recently,” said Caputo, who grew up in Buffalo and has advised politicians all over the world. “Now we know that he quit his job with your Senate committee not long ago to raise $50 million from ten rich Democrats to finance more work on the FusionGPS Russian dossier. The one the FBI used to get a FISA warrant and intimidate President Donald Trump, without anyone admitting — until months after it was deployed — that it was paid for by Hillary Clinton.”
Caputo then ended the statement in a very normal way:
What America needs is an investigation of the investigators. I want to know who is paying for the spies’ work and coordinating this attack on President Donald Trump? I want to know who Dan Jones is talking to across the investigations – from the FBI, to the Southern District of New York, to the OSC, to the Department of Justice, to Congress.
Forget about all the death threats against my family. I want to know who cost us so much money, who crushed our kids, who forced us out of our home, all because you lost an election.
I want to know because God Damn you to Hell.
Has any statement ever summed up the personal ethos of well-heeled Republican than, “Forget about the death threats against my family, I want to know who cost us so much money”?
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Caputo struck a markedly different tone, suggesting that the Mueller probe—as opposed to the Senate investigation—is a well-oiled machine that knows exactly what it’s looking for.
“Mueller knew more about what I did in 2016 than I knew myself, and I think they know more about the Trump campaign than anyone who ever worked there,” Caputo told CNN. “The Senate and the House are net fishing. The special counsel is spearfishing. They know what they are aiming at and are deadly accurate.”
Caputo said he interviewed with Mueller’s team on Wednesday for three hours. “I would compare it to a proctology appointment with a very large-handed doctor,” Caputo said. “It was an awful experience…once you get into that room, it’s fraught with peril.”