Texas Republican Compares Mexican Singers to Russian Interference
Says actors and singers who performed at Clinton rally tried to influence election, too
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said the Mexican singers and soap opera stars who appeared at Hillary Clinton events influenced the election as much as Russian hackers did.
“Those are foreign actors, foreign people, influencing the vote in Nevada. You don’t hear the Democrats screaming and saying one word about that,” Conaway told the Dallas Morning News.
Democrats used Mexican soap opera stars and singers like Vicente Fernandez and Mexican group Los Tigres del Norte to rally Democrats in a “fiesta” after a debate in Las Vegas.
Asked if that was comparable to Russian releasing material intended to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances, Conaway said, “Sure it is, it’s foreign influence. If we’re worried about foreign influence, let’s have the whole story.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, laughed when told about Conaway’s assertion and told the newspaper that he assumed he was joking.
“He knows there’s a big difference between Vicente Fernandez performing at a Hillary Clinton event and Vladimir Putin ordering interference with our elections,” Castro said.
Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who attended the “fiesta” in Nevada, wasn’t as amused, calling Conaway’s remarks “pathetic and offensive.”
This is a pathetic and offensive attempt to try to diminish the consensus that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to boost Donald Trump. https://t.co/XEVmmLatBD
— Senator Cortez Masto (@SenCortezMasto) January 13, 2017