Maria Butina, Russian gun rights advocate, charged in U.S. with acting as Russian Federation agent
Last edited Mon Jul 16, 2018, 04:58 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
A Russian national with alleged ties to a top Russian official was charged in federal court in Washington Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation, and was ordered held without bond.
Maria Butina, 29, was arrested Sunday in the District and made her first appearance in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson. Her attorney, Robert Neil Driscoll, told the judge that Butina's residence was searched by the FBI in April, that she had testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed session several months ago, and that "we have been offering to cooperate with the government the entire time."
Butina did not speak during the brief hearing other than to state her name. A detention hearing and preliminary hearing were set for Wednesday.
The charges against Butina come days after the Justice Department unveiled an indictment against 12 Russian intelligence officers for allegedly conspiring to hack Democrats in 2016 and just hours after President Trump cast doubt on Russia's involvement in an extraordinary joint news conference with President Putin.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maria-butina-russian-gun-rights-advocate-charged-in-us-with-acting-as-russian-federation-agent/2018/07/16/d1d4832a-8929-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html
Original CNN article (they are taking too long to update so changing sources) -
Washington (CNN)The US government charged a Russian national heavily involved in gun rights with being a spy for the Russian government in the US and developing relationships "with US persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics."
Maria Butina, who was involved with a Russian gun group that the National Rifle Association was supportive of, was arrested on Sunday and appeared in court in Washington, DC to Monday, according to the Justice Department.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/us-charges-russian-national-maria-butina/index.html
This is HUGE. She is a direct tie to the NRA.
See this for background - https://trump-russia.com/tag/maria-butina/
She ties directly into the NRA -
From Atlantic reporter Natasha Bertrand -
Link to tweet
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Natasha Bertrand
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@NatashaBertrand
Wow. Maria Butina, a Russian gun advocate who once bragged about being involved in comms between the Trump campaign and Russia, has been charged with being an unregistered foreign agent and is being held until her hearing on Wednesday. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiracy-act-agent-russian-federation-within-united-states ...
3:07 PM - Jul 16, 2018
Copy of DOJ Press release -
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 16, 2018
Russian National Charged in Conspiracy to Act as an Agent of the Russian Federation Within the United States
A criminal complaint was unsealed today in the District of Columbia charging a Russian national with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie K. Liu, and Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office.
Mariia Butina, 29, a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested on July 15, 2018, in Washington, D.C., and made her initial appearance this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was ordered held pending a hearing set for July 18, 2018.
According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018.
The court filings detail the Russian official's and Butina's efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation. The filings also describe certain actions taken by Butina to further this effort during multiple visits from Russia and, later, when she entered and resided in the United States on a student visa. The filings allege that she undertook her activities without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law.
The charges in criminal complaints are merely allegations and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. If convicted of any offense, a defendant's sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The investigation into this matter was conducted by the FBI's Washington Field Office. The case is being prosecuted by the National Security Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiracy-act-agent-russian-federation-within-united-states
DOJ affidavit - https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1080766/download
Was waiting for "Big Ben" and here is is. Boom!
Link to tweet
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Benjamin Wittes
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@benjaminwittes
Boom!http://tinyurl.com/yc25w3o5
3:52 PM - Jul 16, 2018
= new reply since forum marked as read
but then since this came out of one office and not Mueller's directly, they have obviously been watching her for some time.
Whatever Rachel was going to talk about tonight... well... she knows the drill! 
It was a damn gusher because of the NRA connection to Russia AND the election financing that is finally being publicly established (in legal form). 
It was like a Tetris multi-row clear!
