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

[luckyshot]

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.



https://www.npr.org/2018/12/13/6764...gent-case-admits-clandestine-influence-scheme

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.

 

[abiG]

You people are both idiotic and hypocritical no end. None of the idiots on this Russia crap gives a shit about foreign dangers, spying, inappropriate relationships, let alone agents from a foreign nation running wild in America.

 

[Higus]

Crazy that the NRA has basically become a Russian money laundering front to destabilize democracy.
So we don't forget, here's a picture of the Russian spy with the at time president of the NRA and DTJ.

 

[KILL KILL]

Good lord. Russia be all up in our Republican party.

 

[luckyshot]

You people are both idiotic and hypocritical no end. None of the idiots on this Russia crap gives a shit about foreign dangers, spying, inappropriate relationships, let alone agents from a foreign nation running wild in America.

Thanks for for telling me what I think and believe.

Insert your comment directly into the toilet, flush.

Crazy that the NRA has basically become a Russian money laundering front to destabilize democracy.
So we don't forget, here's a picture of the Russian spy with the at time president of the NRA and DTJ.

Thanks. Added to OP.

 

[KILL KILL]

You people are both idiotic and hypocritical no end. None of the idiots on this Russia crap gives a shit about foreign dangers, spying, inappropriate relationships, let alone agents from a foreign nation running wild in America.

lol wut

 

[Wet Blanket]

But Hilary's emails!

 

[The Big Bang]

But Hilary's emails!

Yeah. I can't sleep at night thinking about them.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

Why would Putin need a back channel to the GOP and Trump for dialogue if Shillary and obummer were giving them all our uraniums in exchange for piss tapes?

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Damn the NRA is on the wrong side of this fight. Kinda glad I cancelled my NRA membership a while back. Too political for my blood.

 

[M3t4tr0n]

National
Russian
Association

 

[abiG]

Thanks for for telling me what I think and believe.

Insert your comment directly into the toilet, flush.

Well, from the OP, it seems clear you believe that talking to a Russian is a federal offense.

lol wut

Thank-you, my point exactly, you and the three morons who liked your post know nothing!

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Was anyone from the NRA charged with anything? What was the NRA trying to accomplish by being friendly with the Kremlin?

 

[AlexDB9]

 

[panamaican]

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.

 

[Quipling]

Was anyone from the NRA charged with anything?

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

What was the NRA trying to accomplish by being friendly with the Kremlin?

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

 

[ShinkanPo]

National
Russian
Association

There it is.

Vomit

 

[panamaican]

Was anyone from the NRA charged with anything? What was the NRA trying to accomplish by being friendly with the Kremlin?

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.

 

[JamesRussler]

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.



https://www.npr.org/2018/12/13/6764...gent-case-admits-clandestine-influence-scheme

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.

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.

 

[luckyshot]

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.

I'm not a lawyer, but it was my impression that you had to register as the agent of a foreign power if you were working on behalf of one to influence American politics?

Butina has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the laws governing foreign agents operating in the US (conspiracy against the US).
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/russian-operative-maria-butina-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-n947431
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/politics/maria-butina-guilty-plea/index.html


If you think it is a bullshit charge, I guess you should take it up with Butina's lawyers; they obviously thought pleading guilty to one count was the best they could do.