It’s hard to know what’s going on here, but it smells like an anti-gun, anti-Trump effort by the swamp to me.

“MOSCOW (AP) - By her early 20s, Maria Butina appeared to have a budding political career and a mini furniture empire in her remote Siberian hometown. Then she abandoned both to pursue her passion for gun rights - and, prosecutors say, to spy on the United States.

Butina, 29, faces a hearing Wednesday in Washington on accusations she worked as a foreign agent, representing a new generation of Russian operatives seeking a long-term U.S. foothold. Her lawyer says she did nothing wrong.
…
From her provincial beginnings, Russian media accounts say, Butina displayed remarkable ambition, political savvy and an overt love of weapons.

That carried her out of the Siberian steppe to Moscow, where she befriended a well-placed senator and founded a gun-rights group.
…
Butina is charged with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian government, suspected of gathering intelligence on American officials and political organizations and working to establish back-channel lines of communications for the Kremlin.

Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, called the allegations "overblown" and said prosecutors had criminalized mundane networking opportunities. Driscoll said Butina is not an agent of the Russian Federation but is instead in the U.S. on a student visa, graduating from American University with a master's degree in international relations…”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/a...4e61b0dd1d8443fc0551

"U.S. prosecutors suggest Butina used her gun-lobbying efforts to infiltrate the NRA and the Republican Party, both during the 2016 presidential campaign and after Donald Trump’s election."

This is all you need to know about this article and ridiculous charges...

Russian
NRA/Guns
Trump

It's a Democratic Trifecta Dream.

I smell Obama-holdover bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
I smell Obama- holdover Holder bullshit.

FIFY

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
I smell Obama-holdover bullshit.

Isn't the smell of old feces supposed to go away over time? This stuff is potent.



.

quote:

Originally posted by TigerDore:

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
I smell Obama-holdover bullshit.

Isn't the smell of old feces supposed to go away over time? This stuff is potent.

That's because it is still on the bottom of our collective shoe. We need to scrape it off.

FFS... "Court documents detailed extensive private Twitter conversations and other discussions between Butina and a senior Russian official about her activities in the United States."

Yeah, because, if you're out to spy in the U.S., the way to communicate back to the mothership is via Twitter conversations--as opposed to using something like Signal Private Messenger, WhatsApp or Allo, all of which offer robust end-to-end encryption

I watched the Fox News version of this story last night, including her tweets, and I didn't see anything that could be construed as a criminal act, or supported the charge that she was "infiltrating" the NRA. Nothing.

I'm not a fan of the Rooskies, but come on, guys! At least make something up that sounds good!

How does one "infiltrate" an organization that has open membership? I mean you pay your 25 bucks and BOOM! Infiltrated. Come on.

Yes, this is just a move by the left to associate the NRA and Republicans with the Russians. "Look the NRA is colluding with the reds too! They hate you!"

I'd bet money this has Rosenstein's fingerprints all over it.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
FFS... "Court documents detailed extensive private Twitter conversations and other discussions between Butina and a senior Russian official about her activities in the United States."

Yeah, because, if you're out to spy in the U.S., the way to communicate back to the mothership is via Twitter conversations--as opposed to using something like Signal Private Messenger, WhatsApp or Allo, all of which offer robust end-to-end encryption

Maybe she should have had a PRIVATE server. The FBI won't go near those.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wcb6092,

She's no Anna Chapman....that's for sure.

I want to collude with Anna Chapman.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
I smell Obama-holdover bullshit.

Indeed!

Assholes are still taking every opportunity, no matter how slim or ridiculous, to take another shot at Trump and the NRA

https://uk.reuters.com/article...icials-idUKKBN1KC0DE

Exclusive - Accused Russian agent Butina met with U.S. Treasury, Fed officials

Sarah N. Lynch
July 22, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accused Russian agent Maria Butina had wider high-level contacts in Washington than previously known, taking part in 2015 meetings between a visiting Russian official and two senior officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.

The meetings, revealed by several people familiar with the sessions and a report from a Washington think tank that arranged them, involved Stanley Fischer, Fed vice chairman at the time, and Nathan Sheets, then Treasury undersecretary for international affairs.

Butina travelled to the United States in April 2015 with Alexander Torshin, then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor, and they took part in separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets to discuss U.S.-Russian economic relations during Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration.

The two meetings, which have not been previously reported, reveal a wider circle of high-powered connections that Butina sought to cultivate with American political leaders and special interest groups.

Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, did not have any details about her participation in meetings with Treasury and Federal Reserve officials when asked about them on Friday.

The meetings with Fischer and Sheets were arranged by the Center for the National Interest, a Washington foreign policy think tank that often advocates pro-Russia views.

The meetings were documented in a Center for the National Interest report seen by Reuters that outlined its Russia-related activities from 2013 to 2015. The report described the meetings as helping bring together “leading figures from the financial institutions of the United States and Russia.”

A judge on Wednesday ordered Butina, 29, jailed until her trial after U.S. prosecutors argued she has ties to Russian intelligence and could flee the United States. Butina has pleaded not guilty to charges she acted as a foreign agent for Russia. She is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for a status conference in her case.

Butina worked for Torshin, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and served as his interpreter at various Washington events.

Fischer, an in email to Reuters, confirmed he met with Torshin and his interpreter. While he could not recall details, Fischer said the conversation involved “the state of the Russian economy” and Torshin’s new role as deputy central bank governor.

Another person familiar with the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it occurred on April 7, 2015, and confirmed Butina attended.

Federal prosecutors have accused Butina of conspiring with two American citizens and a top Russian official to influence U.S. policy toward Russia and infiltrate a gun rights group believed to be the National Rifle Association. The NRA is an influential pro-gun lobby with close ties to Republican politicians including President Donald Trump.

Questions relating to Russia have cast a cloud over Trump’s presidency.

‘ADVANCE THE INTERESTS’

The description of the top Russian official mentioned in the indictment matches Torshin. The indictment said that beginning in about 2015 Butina and the official conspired to “advance the interests of the Russian Federation.”

“I recall Mr. Torshin mentioning, as an aside, that he planned to attend a meeting of the National Rifle Association, a fact that I considered irrelevant to our conversation,” Fischer wrote to Reuters.

Sheets declined to comment through Ted Smith, a spokesman for asset management firm PGIM, where Sheets currently works.

Fischer and Sheets met with many international banking officials as part of their official duties.

The Treasury Department in April imposed sanctions on Torshin and a number of other Russian businessmen and government officials in Putin’s inner circle.

The think tank hosted Trump at an event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington in April 2016 also attended by Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to Washington at the time.

The April 2015 visit by Butina and Torshin came about a year after Obama’s administration imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Two months earlier, in February 2015, the group’s Russian-born CEO, Dimitri Simes, travelled to Moscow, where he met with Putin and other Russian officials, the organization’s records showed.

During the same April 2015 trip, Torshin and Butina also participated in a private “off the record” discussion at the center about the “Russian financial situation and its impact on Russian politics,” according to people familiar with the meeting and the think tank’s report. That event was moderated by the group’s chairman emeritus, former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the report showed. Greenberg did not return calls for comment.

Among the think tank’s board members is David Keene, a former NRA president and former chairman of the American Conservative Union. Keene has previously been photographed alongside Butina at events.

Paul Saunders, the think tank’s executive director, said Torshin spoke at an April 2015 event about the Russian banking system and Butina attended. Saunders said people at the organization cannot recall details of Torshin’s presentation.

“We were unaware of any charges or suspicions of illegal or inappropriate conduct or of any connections to Russian intelligence services,” Saunders said in an email.

Prosecutors said the think tank’s magazine published an article by Butina in June 2015 in which she said “certain U.S. politicians and Russians share many common interests.”

Randy Weber, a Republican U.S. congressman from Texas, also met with Torshin during the April trip, according to the think tank’s documents. A spokeswoman for Weber did not respond to multiple calls or emails seeking comment.


Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Damon Darlin and Will Dunham, Grant McCool

This reads like a dossier, close ties, unrevealed secret meetings, conspiracies of undefined nebulous scope and purpose. Guilt because we say so.

Did she channel millions of dollars to the Clinton Slush Fund?

Never mind.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accused Russian agent Maria Butina had wider high-level contacts in Washington than previously known, taking part in 2015 meetings between a visiting Russian official and two senior officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.

Butina travelled to the United States in April 2015 with Alexander Torshin, then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor, and they took part in separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets to discuss U.S.-Russian economic relations during Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration.

So the people running the whole depose Trump movement have been working with foreign interests for years?

Shocking.

So it ends. She pled guilty, but that means little nowadays – so did Gen. Flynn.

“The Russian woman convicted in the United States of being a Russian agent returned to Moscow on Saturday and declared that she has no desire to go back to America.

Maria Butina was deported on Friday by the United States after serving a prison sentence, arriving the next day at the Russian capital's Sheremetyevo Airport.

Carrying a bouquet of flowers, she rested her head on the shoulder of her father, Valery, who had come from their Siberian hometown of Barnaul to meet her.

Butina, a gun rights activist, sought to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups [they claim] and promote Russia's agenda around the time that Donald Trump rose to power…”

https://mol.im/a/7616209