Secret GOP tape implies Trump was on Putin’s payroll

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy hugs President Trump at a White House ceremony this month. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy hugs President Trump at a White House ceremony this month. Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Secret GOP tape implies Trump was on Putin’s payroll 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

KIEV, Ukraine — A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy, R-Bakersfield., said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by the Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Costa Mesa (Orange County) Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

Before the conversation, McCarthy and Ryan had emerged from separate talks at the U.S. Capitol with Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman, who had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.

News had just broken the day before in the Post that Russian government hackers had penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee, prompting McCarthy to shift the conversation from Russian meddling in Europe to events closer to home.

Some of the lawmakers laughed at McCarthy’s comment. Then McCarthy quickly added: “Swear to God.”

Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: “No leaks. ... This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

The remarks remained secret for nearly a year.

When initially asked to comment on the exchange, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Ryan, said: “That never happened,” and Matt Sparks, a spokesman for McCarthy, said: “The idea that McCarthy would assert this is absurd and false.”

After being told that the Post would cite a recording of the exchange, Buck, speaking for the GOP House leadership, said: “This entire year-old exchange was clearly an attempt at humor. No one believed the majority leader was seriously asserting that Donald Trump or any of our members were being paid by the Russians. What’s more, the speaker and leadership team have repeatedly spoken out against Russia’s interference in our election, and the House continues to investigate that activity.”

“This was a failed attempt at humor,” Sparks said.

Ken Grubbs, a spokesman for Rohrabacher, said the congressman has been a consistent advocate of “working closer with the Russians to combat radical Islamism. The congressman doesn’t need to be paid to come to such a necessary conclusion.”

Adam Entous is a Washington Post writer.