5 Times Democrats Collaborated With Russia for Political Gain

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, January 18, 2017

3. Ted Kennedy and the Soviet Union

In this Jan. 9, 2007 file photo, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., gestures as he answers a question following his speech at the National Press Club in Washington. A cancer-stricken Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has written a poignant letter to Massachusetts leaders asking that they change state law to allow a speedy replacement of him in Congress. | (Photo: AP Images / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

In 1983, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy allegedly made an overture to the Soviet Union, having his friend John Tunney visit Moscow.

According to a KGB memo from the time, Sen. Kennedy wanted the Soviets to help defeat Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1984 election.

"Kennedy believes that, given the current state of affairs, and in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake ... steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan and his campaign to psychologically burden the American people," stated the memo.

Tunney has denied the validity of the memo, labeling it "completely false." Politifact interviewed an expert on the KGB who explained that memos from the era were known to be factually unreliable.

"Stephen Cohen, a political scientist at Princeton University and New York University, suggested that KGB memos shouldn't be taken at face value," noted Politifact.

"'As someone who has worked for years in once closed Soviet-era archives, I can tell you that many false documents can be found there,' Cohen told PunditFact. 'As the saying goes, rubbish in, rubbish out.'"