Never Trumper (Who Pushed Collusion Hoax) Ditches Russian Uranium Lobbying Gig

John Weaver, a staunch Never-Trump political operative, has pulled out of an agreement to lobby on behalf of a Russian state-owned nuclear energy company following blowback — with many critics noting his long history of claiming President Donald Trump is subservient to Vladimir Putin.

Weaver, a top strategist for former Ohio John Kasich’s (R) failed 2016 White House bid and a commentator for MSNBC, signed a contract in April with the Tenam Corporation, a subsidiary of the state-owned Rosatom, and registered as a foreign agent to lobby against “sanctions or other restrictions in the area of atomic (nuclear) energy, trade or cooperation involving in any way the Russian Federation.” The contract was worth $350,000, plus expenses, according to disclosure filings reported first by Politico Wednesday.

In the wake of a social media firestorm, Weaver revealed Thursday that he was ending his agreement with the Tenam Corporation. “I’m rejecting the contract,” he told CNBC reporter Brian Schwartz. “‘[M]y only focus is the replace of Donald Trump as ‘president’ and his low traveling minions. While I believe strongly in a stable uranium market, for the US national security issues and economic issues — plus keeping proliferation at bay — I don’t want to be distracted or disputed.”

Hours after the Politico report broke, Weaver had taken to social media in an attempt to explain how he believed his plum lobbying gig boded with U.S. national security interests despite being an ardent critic of Russia president Vladimir Putin.

Despite Weaver’s best effort, the political operative was nonetheless assailed for the swampy and politically hypocritical move.

While not as prominent as his fellow Trump-Russia collusion hoaxers, Weaver has pushed their same conspiracry theories about Putin’s influence over President Trump and the Republican Party. In December 2016, Weaver called for the Russian president to face “Sanctions from Hell” to prevent him and his “KGB cronies” from moving their money.

The Kasich ally urged an independent counsel and bi-partisan congressional committee to study potential sanctions against Putin.

He attacked President Trump just five months ago for lifting sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, insinuating that Putin ordered the change.

Weaver has even suggested that Putin was President Trump’s “handler.”