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'Something Close' to the Pee Tape Is Out There, US Senator Says

"It's a standard strategy of Russia," Democratic senator Jeff Merkley said.
Drew Schwartz
Brooklyn, US
Screengrab via BuzzFeed / Twitter; photo of Trump and Putin by Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva via AP

While President Trump met with Russian president Vladimir Putin Monday—culminating in a bizarre press conference where Trump said he didn't believe Russia meddled in the 2016 election—Democratic senator Jeff Merkley went on BuzzFeed's AM to DM to discuss his thoughts on why Trump has been so chummy with a leader accused of undermining American democracy. The Oregon senator said he believes Russia might have compromising material on Trump, and that "something close" to the infamous pee tape is likely out there.

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"It's a standard strategy of Russia when people visit there who are important to try to get compromising information on them," Merkley said, "to set them up with hookers, to tape everything that goes on in their room."

For those of you who just emerged from a two-year coma, the "pee tape"—mentioned in a dossier put together by former British spy Christopher Steele—allegedly shows Trump ordering prostitutes to pee on a hotel bed in Moscow back in 2013. Some parts of the dossier have been verified by the FBI, and we now know which parts Merkley thinks are true. But the question remains: What the hell would "something close" to the pee tape look like?

When even Putin himself won't actually deny that it exists, the mind reels at the possibilities.

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