Exclusive - Accused Russian agent Butina met with U.S. Treasury, Fed officials

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 2:30pm

Hmmm. Did Mueller get lucky and snare someone he can prove was once here acting for the benefit of Russia? Was she a Registered Agent at that time?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accused Russian agent Maria Butina had wider high-level contacts in Washington than previously known, taking part in 2015 meetings between a visiting Russian official and two senior officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.

The meetings, revealed by several people familiar with the sessions and a report from a Washington think tank that arranged them, involved Stanley Fischer, Fed vice chairman at the time, and Nathan Sheets, then Treasury undersecretary for international affairs.

Butina travelled to the United States in April 2015 with Alexander Torshin, then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor, and they took part in separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets to discuss U.S.-Russian economic relations during Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration.

The two meetings, which have not been previously reported, reveal a wider circle of high-powered connections that Butina sought to cultivate with American political leaders and special interest groups.

*

A judge on Wednesday ordered Butina, 29, jailed until her trial after U.S. prosecutors argued she has ties to Russian intelligence and could flee the United States. Butina has pleaded not guilty to charges she acted as a foreign agent for Russia. She is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for a status conference in her case.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-russia-butina-exclusive/exclusive-...

2062. Foreign Agents Registration Act Enforcement
https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-2062-foreign-agent...

She’s charged with acting as a foreign agent for Russia. Was she a registered foreign agent during prior meetings with US Government officials during The Empty Suit’s administration? .What was she up to talking to Trump? Did Mueller possibly get his hands on a dastardly RUSSIAN! here to throw the election?

I wonder who her lawyer is. And what’s up with this ‘status conference’ noise? Either they have the goods on her or they don't. Set a trial date or bail (or hold her as a ‘flight risk’). Just shit or get off the pot. Let’s see what we get for all the millions we’re spending on this “-vich hunt” as I saw it described here (I think) recently.

Tags:

Has Mueller finally found himseld a bad ‘guy’?

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Comments

Submitted by Azazello on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:05pm

So ...

It's the Obama administration that has ties to Russia and not Trump ?

—

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:24pm

Oh yeah...

@Azazello

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:45pm

Oh absolutely

@Azazello

I'm sure you've heard about the uranium one deal where 20% of our uranium was sold to Russia? And that Hillary's foundation received millions from the Russians involved with it. But did you know that the FBI had been investigating the companies and people involved in it, but they were told to keep their mouths shut. This is just one of many articles about the deal.

FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow

Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States, according to government documents and interviews.

Federal agents used a confidential U.S. witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather extensive financial records, make secret recordings and intercept emails as early as 2009 that showed Moscow had compromised an American uranium trucking firm with bribes and kickbacks in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, FBI and court documents show.

They also obtained an eyewitness account — backed by documents — indicating Russian nuclear officials had routed millions of dollars to the U.S. designed to benefit former President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation during the time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government body that provided a favorable decision to Moscow, sources told The Hill.

The racketeering scheme was conducted “with the consent of higher level officials” in Russia who “shared the proceeds” from the kickbacks, one agent declared in an affidavit years later.

Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice (DOJ) continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years, essentially leaving the American public and Congress in the dark about Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefiting Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions.

—

Here in the USA arming and funding Israeli genocide and mass murder is perfectly OK, but objecting to it will get you expelled, arrested or deported.

Submitted by Lookout on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:27pm

DO posted this link in another essay

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/07/nra-maria-butina-spying-cha...

Beginning back in 2013, Butina developed a relationship with an unnamed “American political operative” described in the court documents, who has been identified in media reports as GOP activist and NRA member Paul Erickson. In her private communications with Erickson, Butina spoke of the key influence of the NRA on the Republican Party, noting that the gun group is “the largest sponsor of the elections to the US congress.” Through Erickson and her connections with the NRA, Butina sought to establish “‘back channel’ lines of communication” to influential political figures. In photos that she posted to her Facebook page, she posed with Republican politicians, including former presidential candidates Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal, and former US Sen. Rick Santorum.

Very interesting...

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:43pm

I hope you were ‘talking’ to me because

@Lookout

I just went over to MJ and posted the snippet, the link, and the video. I’d sure hate to think I put a lot of knickers in a bunch for nothing.

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by Lookout on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 5:18pm

I was replying to your essay...

@Amanda Matthews

I hope that was all right? I found the link in a tweet divine order posted maybe in el's OT today. I found it interesting and relating to your essay. Thought you might find it interesting too.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Tue, 07/24/2018 - 12:01am

Thank you.

@Lookout

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by CB on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 11:47am

Butina's interest is bringing

@Lookout
"The right to bear arms" into Russia - to change the politics of Russia - NOT to "meddle" in American politics. She has been completely transparent about this since she first came to the US.

http://www.mid.ru/en/press_service/spokesman/briefings/-/asset_publisher...

We are dismayed by the reported arrest of Russian citizen Maria Butina in the US on July 15. According to a statement on the website of the US Justice Department, she is charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent without registration.

These unsubstantiated claims against our fellow national seem odd, to say the least. As we know, Maria Butina has been in the United States for a long time as a student at a university in Washington and she has not been hiding from anybody.

It appears that instead of dealing with its core responsibilities in fighting crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is carrying out a blatant political order. As we understand it, the order came from those who continue to stir up Russophobic hysteria, for which purpose they regularly plant more fictional sensations about Russia’s alleged interference in the internal affairs of the United States.

On July 13, twelve Russians, who are currently outside the United States, were charged, as we have already mentioned. Now these ridiculous claims are made against Maria Butina – and she has even been arrested.

We could go on and on analysing this situation. We have the impression that the arrest, as a restrictive measure, was selected specifically to show the seriousness of the issue to the US public and to allies outside the country. The media immediately started referring to Butina as a spy and looked for connections with the security services, to build up tension without any substantial facts.

All this is happened right before the bilateral summit in Helsinki, with the obvious purpose of minimising the positive effect of the meeting and doing this as soon as possible. It appears that somebody took a watch, a calculator and timed when the decision on Maria Butina’s arrest should be taken in order to do as much as possible to sabotage the results of the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. This is how good the timing was.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 5:16pm

Dupe

Submitted by CB on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 5:25pm

At least she is still alive

@Pluto's Republic
- so far. The deep state thinks nothing of suiciding people to further it's ends.

If you read my post below, she was the perfect patsy - she touched all the hot buttons the Dems liked to push. DKos and other dem sites have gone into a feeding frenzy - they can smell the blood in the water.

I imagine there will be a plea deal where Butina accepts a guilty plea in exchange for a ten-to-twenty jail sentence and is deported.

No wonder Strzok was grinning like an idiot when he was being questioned. This FBI operation was primed and ready to go the moment Trump landed in Helsinki.

Like I said when Trump got elected, it would only be a matter of time when the unelected PTB within the US government put a ring through his nose. But, he is still recalcitrant and had the utter gall to talk with the leader of Russia (that every other US president has done) so they are now going for his balls.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Tue, 07/24/2018 - 12:12am

Yep, this comment is posted to yours, just below.

@CB

I can see the Neocons using this silly arrest to spoil the Helsinki conference. But I cannot see this being pursued legally before she is deported. She behaved in a wide-open, non-covert fashion to build a coalition with the NRA and her non-profit rights org in Russia. It's not hard to see how she got mixed up with the Republicans — since her mission is socially deformed. It's not my cup of tea but I have to be intellectually honest about it. While the gun rights ploy may have started out as pandering for contacts to pursue her political career after graduating from a DC college, it clearly took off — in Russia. The US has nothing but innuendo and a face-saving technicality they can charge her with, one that has no serious penalties.

DC is currently filled with foreigners giving talks, building contacts, taking classes, and taking meetings to promote their cause. This has been going on for centuries. And foreign capitals are likewise filled with Americans doing the same — from doctors to missionaries to teachers to NGOs to consultants of every stripe. This is where the unintended consequences will begin. Not only will the world send back their US Dollars, they may start sending back their unaffiliated American internationals.

Reality Winner will take a plea deal. Butina will take permanent leave of the US on some migrant deportation plane.

Submitted by movie buff on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:29pm

Around three or four years ago

A man sat in a meeting. They all sat around a table in a nondescript office. The AC vent made a low drone from its place near the ceiling. A gray man in a gray suit was standing before the assembled group, giving a stultifying PowerPoint presentation about the balance of trade or crude oil futures or something of the like. But our man had to pinch himself to stay awake. In just three hours he had to catch a flight home; his wife's birthday was this weekend and he wanted to be a lot more bright-eyed for that. But the presenter's voice--with its marked European accent--was like a sleeping pill and he felt his eyes closing again.

Little did our man know that one day this meeting would become the subject of hysterical speculation from the proponents of something called "Russia-gate." What went on at this meeting? they would wonder. Were bribes paid or accepted? Were plans laid out to subvert the American election? Were Russian hookers present? Did they dance on the table? After the meeting did they all partake in an underage Russian sex ring? Was Satan himself invoked and praised?

Why all the speculation? Because the pudgy, bespectacled man sitting two places to our man's left was--you guessed it--from Russia. And that's all it takes.

—

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." --Noam Chomsky

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 4:57pm

But she did that during the Obama administration soo it

was okay don't you know? It was okay when both Barry and Hillary said that they wanted better relations with them, it's just not okay that Trump did too. Why? Reasons of course.

BTW. The other Russian woman who met with Donald Jr couldn't get authorization to come to the country because her passport had been flagged. But then the kindly FBI stepped in to fix it so she could make the meeting. This seems kind of fishy that the FBI wanted her to make the meeting so she could give them the "dirt" that she had on Herheinous.

This Russia Gate fraud never would have happened if the FBI and the other intelligence agencies hadn't been writing the script for it. Putting their own people into Trumps campaign to set people up sure seems wrong to me.

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Here in the USA arming and funding Israeli genocide and mass murder is perfectly OK, but objecting to it will get you expelled, arrested or deported.

Submitted by detroitmechworks on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 8:04pm

You really don't want to pull that thread, Dems.

Seriously, it's tempting as hell, but if it doesn't come off in your hand things will get VERY ugly, very fast.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Submitted by CB on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 10:32am

Butina is the perfect patsy

for conflating Russian national with spying, sex, honey pots, guns, NRA, prayer breakfasts and other things that Democrats are currently obsessing upon.

If you are curious where Butina is coming from and why she has been making all those contacts with Americans:

This program is an interview with Maria Butina, a founder and head of “The Right to Bear Arms”, a Russian version of the National Rifle Association (NRA). What does it mean to own arms in Russia? Is it different from America? What kind of risks does it have? Host – Alexander Domrin.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8HLpT8Y-K8]

The best detailed rebuttal to this stinking pile of bullshit: (don't shoot the messenger before you listen to him)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aekqTKDZGKA]

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 5:15pm

Her professional life will be badly damaged

@CB

...in part to justify to Americans an expensive new cold war with Russia. But the Neocon Deep State that occupies the Intelligence Agencies looks unusually clumsy and obvious as they rush this hoax. The indictment filed against her is hasty and incomplete, with many contradictions. It also smacks of revenge for the mocking of the useless Mueller Indictments that highlight his impotence in making a case over something that was never there: The collusion of Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin.

Thanks for those summary videos, CD. They hint at the damage that the US is doing to itself in the world.

The actual physical evidence, in this case, shows that Maria Butina was actively engaged in trying to influence Russia, by creating a large organization inside Russia, dedicated to changing specific Russian laws to make them more like US laws. As always, the Deep State has no evidence to present, so it relies on sexual innuendo and guilt by association — the same kind that it is using in the $100 million dollar RussiaGate investigation. Both cases are evidence-free and both are obviously papered with Deep State smears, sabotage, and revenge.

Like everything the dying Empire does during its steep decline, it will turn into a liquid shit puddle at their feet filled with unintended consequences. The Maria Butina case, in particular, does not resemble what the Deep State is trying to prove. They have either gone delusional, or they really believe they can pave over the gaping holes with propaganda. This will work with the Democrats who can be easily manipulated because the NRA is involved, but the Republicans being smeared as collateral damage, not so much....