Crime Maria Butina Pleads Guilty to Working on Behalf of the Kremlin Through the NRA

[panamaican]

I haven’t been following the Butina saga. Can you please link to any filings (indictments/ informations, memoranda, etc.)? Nothing you described above is illegal, so the charge must be related to something else—perhaps failing to properly register, money laundering, or something else.

I’d actually like to know whether this lady committed a crime, or if this is another case of prosecutors scaring a defendant into a plea in order to target the POTUS.

Sure, I'll try to help.

She was working for the Russian government to influence American government at the request of a Russian official.

Title 18 of the United States Code, section 951 (Agents ofForeign Governments), makes it a criminal offense for any person, other than a diplomatic or consular official or attache, to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, as required by law. For purposes of this law, the term "agent of a foreign government" includes an individual who agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official.

 

[luckyshot]

It's crazy to me. At the time of the election, it was obvious that a foreign government (probably Russia) was more interested in shifting this outcome than previous elections. It's fascinating to see the extent to which this was orchestrated.

Makes me wonder - were Trump's guys more open to it because they're inexperienced/greedy or were they just easier to catch because they're inexperienced. Or a bit of both. They were more willing to be compromised because they're greedy and easier to catch because they're inexperienced. Either way, it's a black mark on the GOP that they've allowed themselves to so publicly demonstrate these failings, both internally and with one of their biggest public supporters.

The group most aggressively talking about America First are the group most aggressively compromising themselves with foreign governments.

I also don't think you can overlook the Cohen revelations that Trump was in serious talks about a Trump Tower Moscow at the time all this was going down.

I'm not sure where that fits in with something like Butina's work on behalf of the NRA, but it seems like there was a fairly porous relationship between the Trump campaign and Russian influence at pretty much every level-- Flynn, Manafort, Erickson, DJT, Cohen... almost like everyone in the campaign knew it was the angle to play (or where the profits were to be made).

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Not at this point. This guilty plea came out today, though.


Money or political advantage, I imagine. The plea doesn't discuss that in detail.

Thanks.

They probably were just trying to expand the brand. The NRA has morphed, imo, into a lobbying business above and beyond the basic protection of the 2nd Amendment. They were, possibly unintentionally, allowing a Russian national to use them to expand Russian influence in the US in exchange for greater NRA exposure in Russia.

It's just classic greed where one person turns a blind eye to the bad acts of their business partner so long as they both profit. They feel fine because they're not doing anything wrong, even if their partner is.

Do you expect any charges against anyone from the NRA? Maybe this broad lied on her Visa or something so there's that, but the rest of it sounds like free speech.

 

[jk7707]

She better watch out for what's in her milkshake when she gets deported back to Russia.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

The NRA has been hijaked by fringe reactionaries and are now dealing in anti American activities.

The organization should be brought to its knees

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

The NRA has been hijaked by fringe reactionaries and are now dealing in anti American activities.

The organization should be brought to its knees

The NRA and its ilk are all russian fetishists.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Can anyone confirm if this is accurate.

@panamaican @luckyshot @Edison Carasio

when Trump was first starting his campaign, someone in the audience asked him how he felt about Russian sanctions. He predictably said he didn't like them, but that's not the weird part. The weird part is that the person in the audience was Maria Butina. And there's video of it.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

The NRA and its ilk are all russian fetishists.

Yup these fucks wanna watch America burn even if it helps the Russians.

 

[JamesRussler]

Sure, I'll try to help.

She was working for the Russian government to influence American government at the request of a Russian official.

And the criminality occurred when she allegedly did so "without prior notification to the Attorney General," in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 951. So her offense was basically failing to register her activities.
Got it.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

Can anyone confirm if this is accurate.

@panamaican @luckyshot @Edison Carasio

when Trump was first starting his campaign, someone in the audience asked him how he felt about Russian sanctions. He predictably said he didn't like them, but that's not the weird part. The weird part is that the person in the audience was Maria Butina. And there's video of it.

This is the video you're probably thinking of but you don't see the person asking the question.

 

[panamaican]

I also don't think you can overlook the Cohen revelations that Trump was in serious talks about a Trump Tower Moscow at the time all this was going down.

I'm not sure where that fits in with something like Butina's work on behalf of the NRA, but it seems like there was a fairly porous relationship between the Trump campaign and Russian influence at pretty much every level-- Flynn, Manafort, Erickson, DJT, Cohen... almost like everyone in the campaign knew it was the angle to play (or where the profits were to be made).

Top to bottom.

Their greed led them to repeatedly disregard protecting the interests of the nation if it meant potentially profiting personally. A bad enough error made worse because they were the ones trumpeting "America First" but failing to uphold that maxim.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

This is the video you're probably thinking of but you don't see the person asking the question.

From what I read that’s was her asking those questions. I’m not sure if thats correct though.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

From what I read that’s was her asking those questions. I’m not sure if thats correct though.

Thats what is being reported. But in interest of fairness i cant say it is her just from what ive seen.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Thats what is being reported. But in interest of fairness i cant say it is her just from what ive seen.

Yeah that’s why I asked you 3. I don’t want to start some right wing CT that they’re so good at fabricating.

 

[DEN]

With so many complicated tentacles to the Russia scandal, just another shrimp on the barby:

"Butina worked in concert with her boyfriend, GOP fundraiser Paul Erickson, and a Russian handler, Alexander Torshin, who also cultivated his own relationships with important conservatives in the United States.

Butina laid out her plans in a document called "Description of the Diplomacy Project," according to court documents; she wrote that she believed Russia could not reinvigorate ties with the United States through official institutions.

Instead, she argued, Moscow should expand its "unofficial channels of communication," of which she could be one.

The course she chose was via gun rights, building off Butina's history of shooting and gun ownership inside of Russia. So Butina, Erickson and Torshin sought to strengthen their relationships with the politically powerful NRA."



Butina and Torshin moved in gun rights circles in the United States and, according to court documents, she and other Russians also arranged to host NRA members in Moscow in late 2015. During the trip, the gun rights organization members met with high-level Russian government officials according to court documents in the Butina case."

Butina's boyfried Erickson sent this e-mail to Trump campaign booster and then Senator Jeff Sessions in 2016, offering to use his NRA connections to establish a back channel between the Trumps and the Russian government:

"I'm now writing to you and Sen. Sessions in your roles as Trump foreign policy experts / advisors. [...] Happenstance and the (sometimes) international reach of the NRA placed me in a position a couple of years ago to slowly begin cultivating a back-channel to President Putin's Kremlin. Russia is quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S. that isn't forthcoming under the current administration. And for reasons that we can discuss in person or on the phone, the Kremlin believes that the only possibility of a true re-set in this relationship would be with a new Republican White House."

Lol, thanks for putting that right on the nose, Pauly boy.





Butina pictured with head of the NRA and DTJ:

Man, there sure have been a lot of guilty pleas lately involving high-level Republican players and improper relationships to foreign powers.

Why arent Republicans outraged at Russia again?

 

[Fawlty]

It would be fucking if hilarious if the Trump campaign planted a Russian spy in their rally to "ask a question."

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

Why arent Republicans not outraged at Russia again?

Because hillary and democrats and trannies and antifa

 

[HunterSdVa29]

It's crazy to me. At the time of the election, it was obvious that a foreign government (probably Russia) was more interested in shifting this outcome than previous elections. It's fascinating to see the extent to which this was orchestrated.

Makes me wonder - were Trump's guys more open to it because they're inexperienced/greedy or were they just easier to catch because they're inexperienced. Or a bit of both. They were more willing to be compromised because they're greedy and easier to catch because they're inexperienced. Either way, it's a black mark on the GOP that they've allowed themselves to so publicly demonstrate these failings, both internally and with one of their biggest public supporters.

The group most aggressively talking about America First are the group most aggressively compromising themselves with foreign governments.

I mean they aren't the ones that were got by a simple spearphishing scheme....
stupidity and ineptness are abound in politics

 

[panamaican]

And the criminality occurred when she allegedly did so "without prior notification to the Attorney General," in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 951. So her offense was basically failing to register her activities.
Got it.

No, her offense was not a failure to register her activities. Not registering turned her activities into crimes. She didn't register her intentions. Not a crime. She proceeded to act while knowing that she wasn't registered - that is a crime.

You can try to downplay it but I don't know why. This law exists so that we can prosecute foreign spies on our soil.

But I get it. This is in keeping with the sad theme of trumpeting "Protect our nation and our sovereignty" while whispering "Our nation's sovereign integrity doesn't really matter if it's sold for the right price." Lotta Benedict Arnold sympathizers out there. You guys probably would have shot Paul Revere's horse to keep him from riding out, lol.

 

[panamaican]

I mean they aren't the ones that were got by a simple spearphishing scheme....
stupidity and ineptness are abound in politics

Yeah but think about this. The Dem's got tricked into giving up their information. These guys were intentionally trading access to our government for personal gain. You really think that's the same thing?

The grandson that loses his grandma's house because he didn't read the fine print is as bad as the grandson who sold her house so he could pocket the money for himself? Sure, grandma's on the street but the guy who did it intentionally is worse to me than the guy who got tricked.