Tag: Maria Butina

And an unregistered Russian agent being held in a Northern Virginia detention center can have her legal bills paid by an NGO that is partly funded, but not directly controlled, by the Kremlin. But her prosecution in Washington, D.C., last year shed light on yet another avenue through which Russia tried to influence American politics in 2016: namely, via an old-fashioned, on-the-ground operation, conducted not by experienced spies but by disarming political operatives. (Ionov denied to me that he works for the Russian government.) Both have worked to infiltrate or meddle in American politics—Butina through the National Rifle Association and the conservative, Christian right; and the Anti-Globalization Movement through American separatists on either end of the political spectrum. It was during this period that the Anti-Globalization Movement held its first Dialogue of Nations conference in September 2015 in Moscow, which was attended by separatist leaders from Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Uhuru black nationalist movement. (IT’s vice president is Roman Khudyakov, a former Russian government official and a member of the Right to Bear Arms.) Ionov has a framed letter from Putin in the Anti-Globalization Movement’s offices in Moscow commending him for working “to strengthen friendship between peoples,” according to Vice. Driscoll, Butina’s lawyer, confirmed that he’s been in touch with Ionov about the funds collected for Butina’s defense fund. But he said he’s not concerned by the Anti-Globalization Movement’s controversial history with either the Kremlin or U.S. separatists—he’s just happy Butina finally has some money to pay her legal bills. Driscoll added that he’s optimistic that next month the judge will give Butina a sentence of time served, allowing her to promptly return to Russia.

Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump nominating Jessie Liu for the number three spot in the DOJ, allowing him to name her replacement as the U.S. attorney for D.C., overseeing such cases as Paul Manafort, Maria Butina, Roger Stone, and…

In audio tapes from and interview with alleged Russian spy Maria Butina, the gun activist shares she's shocked at how she's been treated in the US and denies being a spy. CNN's Brian Todd reports. #CNN #News #Russian

The brother of Paul Whelan, an American detained while traveling in Russia, said he firmly believes his brother is not a spy.

The statement implied that he had been caught red-handed, saying that the arrest had occurred “during an act of espionage.” A criminal case has been opened against Mr. Whelan, said the statement from the F.S.B., or Federal Security Service, which gave no other details. The arrest comes during an extended period of tension in relations between Moscow and Washington, particularly over the issues of election hacking and influence peddling... A Russian citizen, Maria Butina, 30, pleaded guilty this month in Federal District Court in Washington to a single charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent. She admitted to being involved in an organized effort, backed by Russian officials, to try to lobby influential Americans in the National Rifle Association and the Republican Party. The Russian government, while strenuously denying that Ms. Butina is a Russian agent, has organized a social media campaign to win her release. While there is no apparent connection between her case and Mr. Whelan’s, in the past, Russian authorities have arrested foreigners with an eye toward trading prisoners with other countries. Scenario 1: This is simply a brutal attempt at a Checkpoint Charlie maneuver. They want Butina back and they grabbed a handy American to trade and will hold onto said handy American until they get the deal they want. The president* is so hopelessly compromised that he has been pushed into a corner where anything he does is wrong. Scenario 2: The Russians have grabbed Whelan so that the president* can flex against Russia, thereby creating for himself a narrative within which he is Standing Up To Putin to throw up against whatever volumes of evidence Robert Mueller has compiled. In either case, this latest development illustrates nothing more than the fact that this administration* is hopelessly entangled with the authoritarian goon who is running Russia, and with his various cronies who are bleeding it dry.

Russian national Maria Butina has pleaded guilty, admitting to trying to influence U.S. Politics in the middle of the 2016 election. Butina pleaded to a conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors for failing to register as a…

Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey). The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case brought by two states—Kansas and Louisiana—that were seeking to end Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Maria Butina, the accused Russian spy who was close with officials at the National Rifle Association, seems to have reached a plea deal with the Justice Department, according to a new court filing. Hundreds of activists protested in the offices of three House Democratic leaders, including likely incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Who He Always Was: John Kelly’s employment in President Trump’s administration revealed the general’s true nature, writes James Fallows. Finding Mr. Right: President Trump is looking for a new chief of staff to replace John Kelly. The problem is, he doesn’t really want one, argues Rahm Emanuel. But it’s still not clear that he’s the kind of candidate that Democrats want to challenge Trump. (Vox) 29 Minutes With Sherrod Brown: Some Democrats think that the Ohio senator, with his Midwest pragmatism and populist reputation, would be a perfect challenger for Donald Trump.

Maria Butina, an accused Russian spy who nuzzled up to the National Rifle Association before the 2016 election, has begun cooperating with federal prosecutors after agreeing to a plea deal in recent days, according to a source familiar with the…

Rachel Maddow reports on new developments in the case of accused Russian spy Maria Butina, including attention on her boyfriend, Republican consultant Paul Erickson, that could portend news regarding Russia's efforts to influence American politics, perhaps with the NRA as…