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

[MelissaB]

Source: Reuters

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 traveled 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.



Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-butina-exclusive/exclusive-accused-russian-agent-butina-met-with-u-s-treasury-fed-officials-idUSKBN1KC0DC?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social

---

The same think tank that arranged this Treasury & Fed meet with Butina & Torshin also hosted the Mayflower hotel event that Sessions & Kislyak attended.This think tank is run by a Russian with ties to Putin

Link to tweet

[Botany]

1. TRUMP: Well, first of all, he (Trump) said there was no collusion whatsoever.*

The same think tank that arranged this Treasury & Fed meet with Butina & Torshin also hosted the Mayflower hotel event that Sessions & Kislyak attended.This think tank is run by a Russian with ties to Putin


* http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/insisting-there-was-no-collusion-trump-quotes-putin

[tanyev]

2. Well, what graduate student hasn't met with Treasury and Fed officials?

[Fred Sanders]

16. Indeed, a foreign computer science student meeting with top American officials and top gun

lover groups is just normal for all students! Also said student having a billionaire benefactor who is buddy buddy with the head of state of the foreign country is what all foreign students are like! Not to mention being able to pay for many travel junkets to a Russian for anyone who asks!

What a country, America, only the best, brightest, well connected...and traitorous.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Any contacts with Wall Streeters?

Mnuchin, et al? Usually Wall Street emerges unscathed because they push back. I doubt they'll even look.

[drray23]

4. Wonder how many of them slept with her and are compromised.nt.

[ancianita]

5. I can't find anywhere the name of the "Washington think tank" that brought them to the Treasury and

hosted Trump at the Mayflower Hotel meeting.

Is it supposed to be a secret?

[FakeNoose]

7. In the Reuters OP article it says

The meetings with Fischer and Sheets were arranged by the Center for the National Interest, a Washington foreign policy think tank that often advocates pro-Russia views. The meetings were documented in a Center for the National Interest report seen by Reuters that outlined its Russia-related activities from 2013 to 2015. The report described the meetings as helping bring together “leading figures from the financial institutions of the United States and Russia.”

Does this help?

[ancianita]

8. Yes. I must have missed that. Thank you. Now, to investigate think tank members and agents.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. It's the Center for (the) National Interest

The Hill has an article identifying the think tank....it was founded by Nixon.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "Center for the National Interest"

Wil Wheaton (and other celebrities) saved the thread -

https://twitter.com/i/moments/845707955483766784

Abramson had a 50-tweet megathread. Tweet #4 was this -

Link to tweet

TEXT

Seth Abramson
✔
@SethAbramson

4) The speech, arranged by Jared Kushner in mid-March, was to be hosted by the Center for the National Interest, a conservative think tank. pic.twitter.com/yXj3J7DpQJ
9:49 PM - Mar 23, 2017

[ancianita]

19. I love it when this place gets cookin'. Great,usable stuff to help us grok the FBI investigation too

[BumRushDaShow]

21. Yeah much of the stuff written and speculated about last year

when trying to put the puzzle pieces together, is slowly being verified via the Mueller indictments and info from his (and other U.S. Attorney offices') court documents!

[ancianita]

22. I also love how DU is piecing it all together these days, too. The map is reaching Maddow, too.

MSNBC's "read" on likely culprits and their methods is echoing throughout all media except, of course, right wing-owned media.

Facts, and the breadth of fact-based analyses don't lie.

[Lonestarblue]

11. This article from 2017 sheds some light.

It appears to be the Center for the National Interest. Jared Kushner mentions it in his interview after the meeting, which had been assumed to be Manafort’s idea.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/24/was-the-mayflower-hotel-event-really-jared-kushners-idea/

I couldn’t find a source for who provides the money for this think tank, but it was established in 1994 by Richard Nixon, so even though they claim to be nonpartisan they clearly support Republican priorities. They definitely support U.S.-Russia cooperation. This paragraph is from their website:

“Executive Director of the Center for the National Interest, Paul J. Saunders, directs the U.S. – Russia Relations Program, which focuses on American policy toward Moscow and on U.S. – Russian dialogue. The program is built around a regular series of seminars on key issues in the bilateral relationship, including non-proliferation, the war on terror, energy, and Russia’s domestic evolution as it relates to democracy, the media, and corruption. The program has recently focused on U.S. and Russian interests and interaction in the former Soviet territory.”

On the surface, this think tank doesn’t seem to be overrun with Russian money (their revenue in 2015 was less than $4 million, but I did not find more recent data), but NBC also reported that this think tank sponsored the Mayflower Hotel event. The article describes the Center as a pro-Russian organization.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/did-trump-kushner-sessions-have-undisclosed-meeting-russian-n767096

[ancianita]

13. REALLY great stuff. Thank you. We all need to keep abreast of orgs and dark money from now on.

Yep, if it quacks like a Russian duck, it is one, no matter its more innocent, seemingly pro-democracy history, which many capitalist dark money players hide behind for as long as they can.

We need org charts, player names overlain on them, donors and timelines just like investigative agencies have.

I found the Muckety Maps website useful, if incomplete, for that.

[Lonestarblue]

17. We definitely need more media focus on think tanks and dark money groups.

Now that groups like this no longer need to disclose donors, their lobbying and donations will only get worse. I would like to see a mainstream media organization like CBS, NBC, or ABC run regular segments on their news programs highlighting the most active think tanks, what they lobby for, and who their donors are. The Koch brothers alone have hundreds of think tanks and PACs so no one can keep up with everything they do, though those could mostly be lumped together because they’re all anti-government. Not so long ago, I asked some highly educated friends (mostly educators, masters and doctorates) about ALEC. None had even heard of it, much less knew what it does. Many people simply don’t know how our laws and our opinions are being manipulated by these groups with no basis for what they do other than supporting wealthy donors and big corporations.

[ancianita]

18. A million times, YES! Your ALEC example is part and parcel of the whole ambush model!

But we're gonna get these racketeers. Wait and see.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

12. Center for the National Interest - It's buried in the Reuters article.

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

Link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-butina-exclusive/exclusive-accused-russian-agent-butina-met-with-u-s-treasury-fed-officials-idUSKBN1KC0DC

(snip)

The meetings with Fischer and Sheets were arranged by the Center for the National Interest, a Washington foreign policy think tank that often advocates pro-Russia views.

The meetings were documented in a Center for the National Interest report seen by Reuters that outlined its Russia-related activities from 2013 to 2015. The report described the meetings as helping bring together “leading figures from the financial institutions of the United States and Russia.”

After that, hold your nose and go to: https://nationalinterest.org/

.............

[ancianita]

14. Ugh. We need the dirt on these dark money cesspools! Thanks to all of you!

We will need to put out campaign flyers with lists (and reliable cited sources, say Reuters or Pew) of pro-Russian players in this country.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. Our public has been duped to believe "think tank" must be good....

but we know that ain't necessarily so. Heritage Foundation first comes to mind.

Just like many have been fooled to believe the NRA is still just around for gun safety....

[ancianita]

20. Rightly so, because think tanks used to be used in the public interest. Now, they've privatized. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Torshin deposited his payload like a virus injecting its DNA into a cell

Both of these results happened after that -