Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina pleads guilty to engaging in conspiracy against US

Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday for conspiracy to act as an illegal foreign agent in the United States.

Interesting development with the foreign national with connections to the NRA came today.

Butina, 30, was accused of working to infiltrate Republican political circles through groups such as the National Rifle Association to bolster Russian interests.

Butina said she acted "under direction of" a Russian official whom CNN has identified as Alexander Torshin, the recently retired deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia.

So it looks like she didn't have direct connections to the Russian Government so to speak, but Alexander may have been acting as a buffer, though that is speculation.

Her guilty plea and agreement to cooperate comes with the hope that prosecutors will ask for a reduced sentence. She agreed to turn over any evidence of crimes she is aware of, submit a full accounting of her financial assets, sit for interviews with law enforcement (and waive right to counsel during those interviews) and testify before grand juries or in trials in Washington or elsewhere.

She faces a maximum of five years in prison and will likely be deported after serving any time. A hearing was set for February to discuss a sentencing date.

CNN no paywall link.

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NYT

I'll be interested to see if she serves the full sentence.

It will be interesting to see if she survives.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Lots of spies working for decades inside the U.S. public administration.

Dianne Feinstein had (or has) a Chinese spy working for her for 20 years.

Guess it's just global politics 101.

Wow what a misleading headline!

engaging in conspiracy against US

WOW

originally posted by: headorheart

It will be interesting to see if she survives.

The time to whack someone is before they admit their guilt.

originally posted by: Aallanon
Wow what a misleading headline!

engaging in conspiracy against US

WOW

Care to share what is misleading about the headline?

originally posted by: vinifalou
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Lots of spies working for decades inside the U.S. public administration.

Dianne Feinstein had (or has) a Chinese spy working for her for 20 years.

Guess it's just global politics 101.

Yea, but THIS one is MUH RUSSIA!!!!!! ERRRR MER GERD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: headorheart

It will be interesting to see if she survives.

The time to whack someone is before they admit their guilt.

At least America can feel a sense of pride that Russia doesn't attempt that on our soil....

Or if you're from the other school of thought, at least our government isn't doing it and blaming it on them.

Jokes aside, her crime is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, there are Chinese espionage cases open in each state right now, mainly commercial espionage, but still.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Interesting indeed...

Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina was involved in high-level meetings with two senior U.S. officials in the Obama administration and a Russian official before the 2016 election, according to multiple sources and a Washington, D.C., think tank, as The Daily Wire and other outlets reported.

The meetings — “disclosed by several people familiar” with them, noted Reuters, and also by a report prepared by the think tank that arranged the meetings — involved Stanley Fischer, then Federal Reserve vice chairman, and Nathan Sheets, who was then the Treasury undersecretary for international affairs.

Butina reportedly came into the U.S. in April 2015 with then-Russian Central Bank Deputy Governor Alexander Torshin to participate in “separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets, to discuss U.S.- Russian economic relations during Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration.”

The Obama administration and Russia had a murky and tenuous relationship; long before the 2016 election, Russia was engaged in cyber-manipulation against the United States, which escalated during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“And yet, despite knowledge of the ongoing cyberwarfare,” wrote Monica Crowley, senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, based at King’s College in New York City, in a piece for The Hill, “the president at the time, Barack Obama, and his intelligence chiefs — John Brennan at the CIA, James Clapper at National Intelligence, James Comey and his predecessor, Robert Mueller, at the FBI — reportedly didn’t lift a finger to stop it.”

Maria Butina and Obama Team

Obama intel chiefs gave Russia a pass, and now blame — Donald Trump?

Wonder if Mueller wants to have a talk to her about that...

You know, what with the whole collusion with Russia and the 2016 election year thing he has going.

S&F!!!

a reply to: CriticalStinker

NO

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Alleged?

She plead guilty. More like confirmed.

And she may want to stay in jail. Less of a chance of her being silenced by Russia.

a reply to: Lumenari

The Obama administration and Russia had a murky and tenuous relationship; long before the 2016 election, Russia was engaged in cyber-manipulation against the United States, which escalated during the 2016 presidential campaign.

We've long been interfering with each others affairs. This one seems rather minor unless she is attached to individual names who knowingly engaged in the directive she was issued.

In July the FBI director said China is a much broader threat. We have cases on citizens from China in all 50 states.

He said he thinks China, from a counterintelligence perspective, represents the broadest and most significant threat America faces. China wants to replace the United States as the most powerful economic engine in the world and is infiltrating American businesses to get an edge. "We have economic espionage investigations in all 50 states" that can be traced back to China, Wray said. "It covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between. "The volume of it. The pervasiveness of it. The significance of it is something that I think this country cannot underestimate."

link

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
At least America can feel a sense of pride that Russia doesn't attempt that on our soil....

Or if you're from the other school of thought, at least our government isn't doing it and blaming it on them.

Russians are sissies. I'm calling those hard, pipe-hitting Saudis to go to work on the homegirl with a bone saw.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

We are a few years into a high profile Special Council investigation on our sitting President for something which it seems the people investigating him are actually responsible for.

I'm currently more interested in the debacle that is our own intelligence agencies than a foreign power right now.

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Alleged?

She plead guilty. More like confirmed.

And she may want to stay in jail. Less of a chance of her being silenced by Russia.

I wonder if her lips were as loose as Cohen's. cant wait to hear what beans she spilled if any.

originally posted by: odzeandennz

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Alleged?

She plead guilty. More like confirmed.

And she may want to stay in jail. Less of a chance of her being silenced by Russia.

I wonder if her lips were as loose as Cohen's. cant wait to hear what beans she spilled if any.

Me too... I wonder what she has on Barack Obama, and his intelligence chiefs — John Brennan at the CIA, James Clapper at National Intelligence, James Comey and his predecessor, Robert Mueller, at the FBI.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

All I want is for the pee tape to be real!
Now that would be one awesome Christmas present.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Hmmm, other than the obvious reference to pulp fiction I feel as though your post may have multiple meanings.

*contemplates*

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Alleged?

She plead guilty. More like confirmed.

And she may want to stay in jail. Less of a chance of her being silenced by Russia.

The story from a few months ago alleged her of being a Russian spy.

This story doesn't connect her to the government, hence the headline structure.

originally posted by: Aallanon
a reply to: CriticalStinker

NO

If you don't want to say why the headline is misleading (headline made from article not me)...

Than take your ball and go play somewhere else.

I went out of my way to make the OP as unbiased as possible.