The New York Times reports:

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was voting on the floor of the House on the morning of June 23 when she saw her name trending on Twitter.

Ms. Greene, a high-profile, right-wing Republican who is no stranger to trending online, flicked through her feed and learned from the internet that two hours earlier, her colleagues in the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus had voted to remove her from the group. Just then, an emissary from the caucus, Representative Ben Cline, Republican of Virginia, approached Ms. Greene. He asked if she would attend a one-on-one meeting with its chairman, Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, who had been waiting to officially announce her ouster until he had spoken to her in person.

Ms. Greene balked. She couldn’t make the time, she said, because she had a meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s staff to discuss her legislation to ban transgender surgeries for children, an issue, she told Mr. Cline pointedly, “which the Freedom Caucus doesn’t care about.”

Ms. Greene and Mr. Perry never spoke.

Last week, after voting on a long series of amendments, the Republican majority in Congress (including Congressman Cline) passed— mostly along party lines– the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Taking every opportunity to fight the culture war, the Republicans approved amendments banning reimbursements to soldiers who need to travel out-of-state for abortions if they are stationed in states that outlaw the procedure; banning payments for soldiers to undergo transgender surgery or hormone replacement therapy; and gutting programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the military.

The House version of the NDAA stands no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But several amendments, because they failed, flew under the radar. I want to call attention to three in particular:

• An amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene to cut $300 million in funding to Ukraine.

• An amendment by Republican Andy Ogles to cut off lend-lease authority to Ukraine.

• An amendment by Republican Matt Gaetz to prohibit security assistance to Ukraine.

On all three amendments, Cline voted YES. He voted to cut off all US military assistance to Ukraine in its fight against brutal Russian aggression. He and the other Republicans who voted this way did exactly what Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wanted.

Besides Republican Bob Good, Cline was the only Virginian in the House to support this effort to betray Ukraine and enable Russia to crush a free, independent and democratic country.

This isn’t the first time Cline has voted in agreement with Putin. Last year he was one of only 18 House members to vote NO on expressing support for Finland and Sweden to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

What makes this all the more disgraceful is that Cline actually bragged in an email to supporters last year that he was one of “several” House members being sanctioned by Russia.

In fact, as I noted at the time:

What Cline didn’t mention is that the “several” were in fact 398— ranging from Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Republicans like Marjorie Talyor Greene.

Even North Carolina Republican Madison Cawthorn— who has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug” and the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil”– is on the sanctions list.

In fact the only reason some House members (such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi) are missing from the list is that Russia had previously sanctioned them.

The sanctions are in apparent retaliation for the US government sanctioning more than 300 members of the Russian Duma in March.

Now that Cline is voting precisely the way that Putin wants him to vote, I doubt he’ll end up on any more Russian sanctions lists. Rather, he probably would be a most welcome guest at the Kremlin.

Congressman Cline is one of the House Republicans who has been engaged in an unsuccessful months-long effort to expose supposedly criminal business dealings by the Biden family.

Among those he has cited as a source is think tank director Gal Luft, who has repeatedly accused President Biden and his family of corruption.

Now The New York Times reports:

In an eight-count indictment, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, of violating the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act in brokering arms deals between Chinese companies, Iran and countries in the Middle East.

Mr. Luft, promoted by some congressional Republicans as a keystone witness in their efforts to show corruption by the Biden family, is a fugitive from justice. He was detained by law enforcement officials in Cyprus in February in connection with the indictment, but fled after being freed on bond while awaiting extradition. If convicted, he faces up to 100 years in prison.

“He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies,” said Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, adding: “He acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil, and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.”

…..

Mr. Luft, prosecutors said, helped Chinese arms manufacturers sell anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers and mortar rounds to Libya (he referred to them as toys in communications obtained by the government), bombs and rockets to the United Arab Emirates and military drones to Kenya. He told an associate that the unwillingness of U.S. officials to sell weapons to Kenya provided them with an “opportunity” for profit, prosecutors said.

He also carved out a role as a middleman in transactions to broker sales of oil from Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions, ordering a business associate to refer to the products as Brazilian petroleum, the government charged. In one instance, Mr. Luft received a letter telling him explicitly that a shipment of the oil was Iranian but that it should be “be presented as U.A.E. origin without Iranian papers,” according to the filing.

Will Cline continue to praise the supposed bravery of a fugitive from justice who is credibly accused of helping China to sell arms and Iran to sell oil?