General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOh Rachel! Damn! Nice find (Butina response post meeting)
Link to tweet
ABC News article:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/maria-butina-accused-russian-agent-reaches-plea-deal/story?id=59719083
Based on the description, the Russian Official appears to be Alexander Torshin, deputy governor of the Russian Central Bank and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under his direction, the agreement said, she sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics.
The agreement, which Butina signed on Saturday, Dec. 8, also notes that the conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison, but the deal could see Butina receive a lesser sentence, depending on the level of her cooperation, before likely being deported back to Russia.
It is unclear what Butinas cooperation might entail, but federal prosecutors have reportedly notified Erickson that he is a target of an ongoing investigation. The target letter sent to Erickson is from federal prosecutors in Washington, sources familiar with the case told ABC News, and separate from any South Dakota-based federal fraud investigation into his business dealings that has been the subject of earlier media reports.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)NRA leader, Jack Abramoff and GOP operative tied to alleged Russian spy Maria Butina have long history as foreign agents lobbying together
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/12/nra-leader-jack-abramoff-gop-operative-russian-spy-maria-butina-lobbying/
Erickson and Abramoff had been longtime friends whose professional lives often intertwined. After college Republicans, Erickson and Abramoff went on to do more than just develop the anti-Communist Dolph Lundgren flick Red Scorpion together.
In 1995, Erickson obtained a $30,000 contract for a six-week stint lobbying for entrance into the United States on behalf of Mobutu Sese Seko, the president of the Republic of Congo during the Rwandan genocide who was widely referenced as a military dictator. Mobutu had been banned from the entering the United States after he developed political ties while working as a journalist then formed an authoritarian regime. He was notorious for corruption, nepotism, and embezzlement between $4 and $15 billion during his reign as well as widespread human rights violations.
As Abramoff noted in the FARA disclosures, he was under no illusion we are dealing with Thomas Jefferson.
erronis
(15,326 posts)These bastards just never stop.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)The bodies are beginning to pile up.
dalton99a
(81,566 posts)Most notably, Butinas Russian gun rights group Right to Bear Arms hosted a delegation of former NRA presidents, board members and major donors in Moscow in 2015, where she appears to have succeeded in arranging a meeting between NRA insiders and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, raising the prospect of a discussion between conservative political operatives and a powerful member of Russian President Putins inner circle in the midst of a presidential campaign.
After that now infamous meeting, the agreement said, Butina sent the Russian Official a message, which was translated as saying We should let them express their gratitude now, we will put pressure on them quietly later.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)erronis
(15,326 posts)At least for me, when I get worried, I engage in that old predator-avoidance ploy: empty the bowels.
IthinkThereforeIAM
(3,076 posts)... huh?
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Of course they have better attorneys than Trump.
lindysalsagal
(20,726 posts)I hate it when I root for the nra...
H2O Man
(73,590 posts)I don't think the NRA has better lawyers than the DOJ, though!
This is an intense time.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)I believe that the overall conviction rate for federal criminal prosecution is around 93%. I believe all of the attorneys on Mueller's team are 100% ers.
The feds have enormous advantages because they only pursue very serious violations with multiple counts. They then only pursue those counts with overwhelming evidence.
I would guess that NRA's attorneys would get a similar conviction rate if they were on the other side.
A really good defense attorney going against feds is the one that gets you in the door the fastest and gets you to unload everything as fast as possible. A really good attorney is the one who, when the feds ask if you will wear a wire responds with, "are you sure one is going to be enough? We don't want to miss anything do we?"
I would nominate Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony as the two best private attorney's to come up against the Mueller team to date, by far. Their representation of Flynn has been spectacular. Not only did Flynn violate the rules governing the behavior of generals in retirement but this is the guy who besides setting up a back channel with the Russians but also put together a meeting to kidnap Muhammed Fethullah Gülen
In March 2017, former CIA Director James Woolsey told the Wall Street Journal that he had been at a September 19, 2016 meeting with then Trump campaign advisor Mike Flynn with Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, and energy minister, Berat Albayrak, where the possibility of Gulen's abduction and forced rendition to Turkey was discussed.[111][112]
Despite this pyramid of serious felonies Mr. Flynn is going to walk away with no prison time. If I am ever detained I would like to think that I would have the composure to tell the arresting officers to call my attorney Saul Goodman just for the hilarity of it. In the meantime I carry Kelner and Anthony's phone number with me just in case.
H2O Man
(73,590 posts)I think that you should expand upon this for an OP.
Augiedog
(2,548 posts)do a report about what is going on I her case. Its Hilarious. You can bet that governor Weasel is fuming about that.
EleanorR
(2,393 posts)He was in Russia in 2015. What a corrupt bunch.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)ffr
(22,671 posts)Hope it was worth it.
Traitors!
triron
(22,011 posts)WinstonSmith4740
(3,056 posts)She knows damn well who she's dealing with...if she cooperates with Mueller, she's a dead woman walking. Putin will serve her the tea personally if necessary. I'll bet she pulls a "Manafort"...she'll continue to lie thinking she's smarter than Mueller and his team. I want to see every one of those traitors go DOWN!!
FakeNoose
(32,714 posts)... going double/triple agent on everybody. If she convinces Pootie that down deep she's really loyal to him, then he'll let her continue playing her game as long as we let her stay here.
quakerboy
(13,920 posts)Putin ain't dumb. If trump ain't a liability yet, he has to know there's a strong likelyhood he will be soon. And Chaos and division within the US is to Putins advantage. So selling out the R's is not necessarily a death sentence for Russian operatives at this point.
donkeypoofed
(2,187 posts)Whether here or there, they WILL find her. So I say do not trust her and verify everything she says. If she's not dead within 60 days after being deported, then her confessions were just part of a plot.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)that her "cooperation" with the investigation depends on whether she receives political asylum and that she's entered to the Witness Protection Program. She's got to have some blockbuster information to warrant the government giving her that assurance, though. I think she knows that if she's returned to Russia she's a dead woman, whether she talked, or not. Putin isn't known for his generosity and kindness when handling compromised spies. She's going to have to come up with some earth shattering intelligence, foreign or domestic, to earn a new life somewhere in the United States. Chances are they'd find her in any event with her think Russian accent.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Right on US soil.
SergeStorms
(19,204 posts)at all. He does think he's a dictator.
WheelWalker
(8,955 posts)moondust
(20,002 posts)says he thinks she is a Russian spy.
He was on Chris Hayes' show earlier.
Yavin4
(35,445 posts)Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)They see themselves as patriots, but they're all Putin lovers.
The NRA and the GOP are going to be taking some major legal blows.
I want to see the NRA is out of business ASAP.
Fucking traitors...
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,429 posts)that, during the time Obama was POTUS, there were some right-wing Republicans starting to idolize Putin (I though mostly to spite President Obama and/or for Putin's authoritarian tendencies) but I had no idea they were literally getting in bed with him.
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)Sander
(137 posts)Rachel Maddow. She has been on fire this past year.
Xolodno
(6,398 posts)Yes, he get the info he wants. But at the same time, he gets the info he wants rather easily.
He has to know that Putin didn't just plan Trump's rise, but also his downfall. And at the end of the day, he wins, no matter what the outcome.
Many of us here want to "see" the pee tape...what concerns me is, we'll "see" the pee tape...and it will be delivered from Moscow with gladness. We've been played, soundly. And have no choice but to accept it.