title:  There’s A Bill In The House That Would Completely Shut Down The Russia Investigation
text: For Republicans, the Robert Mueller investigation into Donald Trump s Russian ties is a very inconvenient truth. If Trump is found guilty, there s little doubt that many others in the party would be dragged down with him. It s also putting a big damper on the Republican agenda to screw the poor and the middle class while giving big bonuses to Trump and those in his tax bracket (whatever that is). Now there s a bill in Congress to shut the whole thing down and it can be done, legally.Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill that would financially starve the investigation by cutting off funding after six months and would limit its scope to nothing prior to June, 2015, which was when Trump decided to run for president.According to a Washington Post report, Trump has been seeking business opportunities in Russia for three decades. It began in 1987, when he explored the options of opening a hotel in Moscow. He found it rather inconvenient, because everything is owned by the government while Russia was under communist rule.Almost 10 years later, in 1996, Trump announced that he was going to invest $250 million in buildings in Moscow. Those deals didn t pan out, but he was given a lot of trademarks that year.In 2005, Trump further expressed interest in building in Moscow, saying,  It s ridiculous that I wouldn t be investing in Russia,  he said.  Russia is one of the hottest places in the world for investment.   We will be in Moscow at some point. In 2008, Donnie Jr. admitted that the Trumps have all kinds of money tied up in Russia. In terms of high-end product influx into the US,  he says,  Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets   We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia. In 2013, while planning the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, Trump tweeted about Putin becoming his  best friend. Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow   if so, will he become my new best friend?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2013During that year, he also continued his talk about doing more business in Russia.Cutting the investigation off at 2015 isn t a guarantee that Trump will get away with it. There have been numerous meetings between Russian officials and Trump officials since then.Mueller, though, is going broad. He s going after money laundering and all of Trump s business ties and he s probably going back years. DeSantis sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on the Judiciary. It s very possible that he has some insight into the scope of Mueller s investigation and he knows that if he prevents him from looking at anything pre-2015, Trump may have cleaned up his act, at least on paper.The provision, which is part of a government spending package may never see a vote, but if enough Republicans see this as a way out of the mess, it could.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images