Boom! Things may start to happen fast and furious. I didn't have an inkling about this. Ties to the NRA even.

Maria Butina, an Alleged Russian Spy with Ties to the NRA is Arrested and Charged
By

Ed Krassenstein
Published on July 16, 2018

Just moments ago federal prosecutors in the United States have unsealed a criminal complaint against a woman named Maria Butina. In the official complaint, Butina is accused of a “Conspiracy to Act as an Agent of a Foreign Government”. The government alleges that Butina conspired with others known and unknown to the government to act “as an agent of” the “Russian Federation” without notifying the Attorney General of the United States. These accusations date from 2015 and possibly earlier, up until present day.
(picture of complaint at link)

What is even more significant here is that Butina is a deputy of Russian politician Alexander Torshin, and also happens to have spoken to Donald Trump, when she asked him about sanctions in 2015, one month after Trump announced he would run for President. Her question was: “If you will be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics especially in the relationships with my country? And do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging of both economy [sic]? Or you have any other ideas?”

Butina is also the founder of the Right to Bear Arms, a gun-rights group in Russia. She helped Alexander Torshin work to bring conservative operative and NRA member Paul Erickson to Russia for an NRA delegation in December of 2015 with Sheriff David A. Clarke. Torshin happens to be a large donor of the NRA and was put under sanctions by the U.S. government this past April. Butina has also previously started a business called Bridges, LLC, with Erickson.

On May 10, 2016, Erickson contacted Rick Dearborn, a senior advisor to Jeff Sessions, as well as a senior campaign official and member of the Trump transition team, writing:

“Switching hats! 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.”

Maria Butina has bragged that she was part of the Trump campaign’s communications with Russia.

This could be a significant arrest for the U.S. DOJ and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. If a criminal conspiracy exists between the NRA, the Trump Campaign and Russia, Butina might just hold the keys. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Below you will find a video of Trump actually telling Butina that he would remove Russian sanctions if elected President. (at link)

https://hillreporter.com/maria-butina-a ... arged-3813

And, I hope it keeps coming and they find more Russian interference - make trump look even the bigger fool than he did today. I have noticed on a few boards the right-wingers are kind of quiet - I think they are waiting for their media masters to tell them how to think and spin all this.

This should be interesting when it all shakes out. FYI, Keene was the president of the National Rifle Association from 2011 to 2013.

Maria Butina Connects Russians, NRA, Trump, Sibby, and Mathew Wollmann

As the Legislature convenes one more time to deal with Governor Dennis Daugaard’s veto of two of their gun bills, an eager reader gets me reading about the National Rifle Association’s Russia connection, which will lead us to Donald Trump, Sibby, and Mathew Wollmann.

In 2014, to punish Russia for supporting separatist militias in Ukraine, the United States imposed sanctions on two state-owned Russian banks, two state-owned Russian oil companies, and six Russian arms manufacturers, including Kalashnikov, maker of the AK-47 rifle. To maintain access to the lucrative American gun market, Kalashnikov spun off a sanctions-evading U.S. branch that is building a factory in Florida.

The year before those sanctions, the National Rifle Association started forging connections with certain Russians. Russian senator Alexander Torshin, who Spanish investigators allege has ties to Russian mafia, attended the NRA’s national meeting in Houston in May 2013. Former NRA president David Keene reciprocated with a visit to Russia in November 2013. Specifically, Keene attended a conference of Право на Оружие—Pravo na Oruzhie, which translates as “Right to Arms”—a new Russian activist promoting gun rights in Russia.
......
Butina also likes American politics. Shortly after she attended the NRA national meeting in Nashville in April 2015, she and Torshin got introduced by David Keene to Wisconsin Governor and GOP Presidential hopeful Scott Walker:



Then in July 2015, Butina showed up in the audience at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas and posed a question to GOP candidate Donald Trump

Butina asks about American sanctions on Russia that are “damaging” both countries. Trump says, “I know Putin, and I’ll tell you what: we get along with Putin…. I don’t think you’d need the sanctions. I think that we would get along very, very well.”

Butina is now taking graduate classes at American University in Washington, D.C.

https://dakotafreepress.com/2017/03/27/ ... -wollmann/

What do they mean spy? It seems like she's always operated above board. People, including the press, know who she is. Nobody says she's in the country illegally. They always seem to know where she is. It seems to me this is one of those drummed up charges that doesn't have any basis in real wrongdoing.

Maria Butina might be a bit player, but she is strongly linked to "bigger fish" ~ ~ Sooz

Justice Department charges Russian who eyed NRA as a foreign agent
07/17/18 08:00 AM—Updated 07/17/18 09:37 AM
By Steve Benen

The Rachel Maddow Show, 7/16/18, 9:00 PM ET
Maddow: Time for Americans to face 'worst case scenario' on Trump

Late last week, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against 12 Russian intelligence officials for their role in allegedly attacking the U.S. elections in 2016. Yesterday, federal prosecutors charged another Russian, but this story is a little different. NBC News reported yesterday:


If Torshin’s name sounds familiar, there’s a reason for that: McClatchy News reported earlier this year that the FBI is exploring whether “a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money” to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency. The specific focus was reportedly the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, a close Putin ally, and someone who’s faced allegations of money laundering and connections to organized crime.

Mariia Butina, by all accounts, is a Torshin protégé, who worked to establish connections to the NRA and prominent figures in American conservative politics.

And now Butina is facing federal criminal charges, with the Justice Department accusing her of working as a Russian foreign agent – at the direction of Torshin – and trying to establish “backchannel” lines of communication with American politicians in order to advance Putin’s agenda in the United States.

More to the point, the new indictment appears to describe an effort, backed by the Russian government, to use Butina and Torshin to influence Republican politics – using the NRA in particular as a point of leverage.

According to the charges, Butina put together a blueprint on how she intended to move forward with her influence operation: in 2015, she said she expected Republicans to control the U.S. government after the 2016 elections. Her plan went on to say that while the Republican Party has traditionally been hostile toward Russia, Butina believed there was an opportunity to cultivate relations because of a “right to negotiate.”

Why did she think Russians had a “right to negotiate” on future Republican policies? What made Butina so confident of a GOP takeover following the 2016 elections? Who were the Americans Butina was in contact with during her intelligence operation?

We don’t know, but as the legal proceedings unfold, it’s likely we’ll find out.

Rachel added on the show last night that, at its core, these new charges are a “collusion indictment,” filed by the FBI and the national security division of the Justice Department, which alleges that “an agent of the Russian government was working in Republican and conservative politics in this country to, among other things, set up secret contacts and secret lines of communication with the Kremlin – with support from, and approval from, Vladimir Putin.”

And at the heart of the plan was Russia’s intention to use the NRA as a vehicle.

Watch this space.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/justice-department-charges-russian-who-eyed-nra-foreign-agent

I guess we now know why the NRA has been so quiet lately.

Not quite above board, jim. They wanted to collect evidence and connect the dots before an arrest. That takes time if the connection are covert or blurry. As sooz said, bigger fish.

I certainly didn't know this. juanitajean posits that she may have been arrested for her own protection.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/pu ... c27b570601

"Agent" and "Spy" aren't the same thing, although they are sometimes used as if they were.

She hasn't been charged with "espionage".

True enough, CM ~ but I would add the word "YET" after "espionage" in your above quote ~ she was indicted for not registering as a "foreign agent" ~ but the digging into her actions is just beginning, and the investigators must have found enough to go public with their findings ~

Sooz

I'm betting there's MUCH MORE here than has been made public so far ~ ~ Sooz

Butina arrest: 6 things to know
By Katelyn Polantz, CNN / 1 day ago

The Justice Department on Monday charged a Russian national, Mariia Butina, also known as Maria, with conspiring against the US as a secret agent.

Here are six takeaways from the court documents:

Russians sought back channels into the US government

Butina and her mentor, Alexander Torshin, "took steps to develop relationships with American politicians in order to establish private, or as she called them, 'back channel' lines of communication," an FBI affidavit filed in court says.

"These lines could be used by the Russian Federation to penetrate the US national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation."

Leading up to the 2016 election, Butina sought to introduce Russians to Americans. She discussed posing as a go-between herself between powerful Americans and the Russian government.

She also suggested in September 2016 to two Americans that they should work to build "an advisers team on Russia for a new president."

Following Donald Trump's election in 2016, she and Torshin discussed their predictions for secretary of state, and whether that was good for "our people," the affidavit said.

She made connections with GOP, National Rifle Association

One of the Americans she worked with said one month before the 2016 presidential election they were working on a "VERY" private line of communication between the Kremlin and one political party through a gun rights organization, believed to be the National Rifle Association, according to court documents. Butina was involved with a Russian gun group that the National Rifle Association was supportive of and has met several Republican politicians, as evidenced in photos she took with them.
Maria Butina at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee (April 2015) © Facebook/Maria Butina Maria Butina at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee (April 2015)

Butina and Torshin spent three years coaxing the Republican Party to be Russia's ally. They were preparing for when Obama and Putin would no longer be presidents.

"American society is broken in relation to Russia," she said in a Twitter direct message to Torshin in 2016. "This is now the dividing line of opinions, the crucial one in the election race. [The Republican Party] are for us, [the Democratic Party] against -- 50/50. Our move here is very important."

The American person she was in touch with in 2015 told Butina she could help guide Russian-American relations after Obama and Putin left their offices.

The person applauded her meeting Americans and attending conferences in America.

Butina was set up to influence both American politicians and corporate leaders

In 2015, Butina met privately with a political candidate. She also discussed a plan for Torshin to buy a plane ticket for a US congressman to visit Moscow.

Butina met leaders of one political party while being called "a representative of informal diplomacy" for Russia, the affidavit says.

At one point in 2015, she and an American discussed a $125,000 budget for her "special project," to participate in major Republican conferences. The American told her she would have unlimited ability to meet American companies if she could be a potential intermediary to the Russian government, the complaint stated.

Later, following the 2016 presidential election, Butina and the Russian official discussed a possible pro-Russian converence that US members of Congress could attend, according to the documents.

She tried to get Putin into the National Prayer Breakfast

Some of Butina's work in the US revolved around the National Prayer Breakfasts in 2016 and 2017.
Instagram/butina_maria © Instagram/butina_maria Instagram/butina_maria

Butina allegedly raised the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend the event in 2017. The demands: 15 world leaders at the breakfast, and a personal invitation from the President. The Prayer Breakfast organizer responded that he would provide 10 seats at the event. Putin did not attend.

There may be more to come

The case against a Russian agent infiltrating the Republican Party may be larger than just the one arrest.

Newly unsealed court documents show that prosecutors indicated in a court filing on Saturday their investigation into the Russian foreign agent had more than one subject.

"The government will continue its investigation after execution of the arrest warrant," the prosecutors wrote to the judge. "And disclosure of the arrest warrant would jeopardize the investigation by providing the subjects of the investigation an opportunity to destroy evidence or flee and jeopardize the investigation by disclosing the details of facts known to investigators, the identities of witnesses, and the investigative strategy."

Court records indicate that a two-minute discussion during her appearance in court Monday was still sealed.

The judge initially agreed to seal the case so as not to give Butina a chance to flee or destroy documents, according to the court filing.

She was directed to have 'patience and cold blood'

This court filing has an overview of Russian influence efforts similar to that which Trump denied on Monday in Helsinki.

"Moscow seeks to create wedges that reduce trust and confidence in democratic processes, degrade democratization efforts, weaken US partnerships with European allies, undermine Western sanctions, encourage anti-US political views, and counter efforts to bring Ukraine and other former Soviet states into European institutions," the FBI wrote.

Torshin also reflected on their spycraft in a private Twitter exchange with Butina in 2016, according to the FBI. "It is not about winning today's fight (although we are striving for it) but to win the entire battle. This is the battle for the future, it cannot be lost!" he wrote, according to private messages published in court documents.

She responded that "harsh and impetuous moves will ruin everything early."

"Patience and cold blood + faith in yourself. And everything will definitely turn out," he wrote.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/butina-arrest-6-things-to-know/ar-AAAaRJb?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280

Hope they squeeze her for all she's worth.

And you don't think the US has been doing the same sort of thing in other countries for just about forever? Heck, I've met a couple of US "cultural attaches" ….

But she got caught and doesn't appear to have diplomatic immunity.

CM, maybe I'm just over-tired but I don't understand what in my above comment prompted your reply ~

Sooz

Don't forget that she met with the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors and apparently agreed to cooperate. I still think there's more to this and it's a ruse, if you will. She will spill the beans as long as they keep her in protective custody which has been framed as some sort of indictment. She will be a target for those whom she has exposed, both foreign and domestic. I sense some sort of plea bargain and witness protection for this woman in the end. jmo

It wasn't really directed at you Sooz, more just a comment on the general situation.

Ok, I didn't see this coming. Probably should have.

Not surprising that an indicted Russian agent was invited to attend the National Prayer Breakfasts, and compromise the Christian Right.

Alleged Russian Spy Was Working to Infiltrate Religious Right As Well As Gun Groups
Ed Kilgore

The more we learn about freshly indicted Russian spy suspect Maria Butina, the stranger the 29-year-old Siberian woman’s story becomes. As Eric Levitz explained earlier this week, Butina has had some extracurricular activities that are unusual for a grad student, which is supposedly why she was in the United States to begin with:



Her apparent associate (or perhaps dupe) in her intelligence operations was U.S. “political operative” Paul Erickson, who was 30 years older than Butina but reportedly lived with her. He’s had his own colorful pre-espionage career, which included Pat Buchanan’s 1992 presidential campaign and a stint as “media advisor” to John Wayne Bobbitt, the man whose wife Lorena famously dis-membered him. The New York Daily News helpfully reports that Erickson was the genius behind Bobbitt’s “international ‘Love Hurts’ tour during which they sold t-shirts and autographed steak knives.”

In any event, Erickson had lots of useful contacts among U.S. gun activists that Butina, who led a gun-rights group back in Russia, was able to exploit very successfully. Her apparent boss, Russian pol (and Putin ally) Alexander Torshin, attended multiple NRA conventions, and Erickson reportedly hooked him up with Donald Trump Jr. at the 2016 event. He also sought to set up a meeting for Torshin with the mogul himself around that same time.

Butina also took advantage of Erickson’s links with the Christian right, as Slate’s Ruth Graham reports, though Torshin had his own relationships in that universe, having attended multiple National Prayer Breakfasts.



Earlier, in 2015, Butina and Erickson also appeared on the radio show of conservative evangelical superstar (and big-time Trump promoter) Eric Metaxas to discuss gun rights and religious freedom — topics that are strangely congruent in the conservative Christian circles in which all these birds flew.

The affection with which many Christian right figures hold Russia and specifically the gay-bashing Putin is hardly a secret, as I noted in 2016:



So there is a U.S. religious constituency that very self-consciously supports Trump’s apparent interest in forming a new world order based on a Washington-Moscow axis, outflanking the decadent, secular, tolerant globalists of Western Europe.

One of the latest tidbits about the rather unusual relationship of Butina and Erickson emerged today in a memorandum from prosecutors asking that she be held without bail, as NBC News reports:



“Butina appears to treat it as simply a necessary aspect of her activities,” the memo says. “For example, on at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than U.S. Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization. Further, in papers seized by the FBI, Butina complained about living with U.S. Person 1 and expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with U.S. Person 1.”

Yikes. Erickson’s continued freedom may depend on him playing the role of a deceived and spurned lover rather than a collaborator of a foreign spy.

But in a story that now includes espionage, guns, sex, and conservative politics, there’s no telling what else is on tap.

numerous live links at source

SOURCE

I still don't see the "espionage". "Agent"? Probably. "Spy"? No evidence so far.

And, of course, the US has people doing exactly the same thing all over the world.

What real "crime" has she committed, except making fools of a lot of right-wing idiots?

It's my understanding that parts of the Butina indictment are still sealed ... so there's no current way to know what we don't know ~ it's also fairly routine for indictments to be revised/updated as new info is released publicly ~ but the feds won't go public with anything that might give the defense a pre-trial advantage ~

Sooz

She got caught.

Anyone know what the penalty for "Conspiracy to Act as an Agent of a Foreign Government" is?

Because isn't "espionage" a capital crime?

Haven't heard of too many spies being executed by the US post WWII. Usually they hold them for prisoner swaps against Murricans who get caught.

Usually ... but:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_an ... _Rosenberg

Hardly post WWII.