Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #butina

Most recents (6)

There's always more >> Accused spy Maria #Butina turned on her Russian charm to secure Russian jet fuel deal with David Keene, NRA president & prominent leader of the conservative movement, his lobbyist wife, & her boyfriend Erickson ā€” The New York Times nytimes.com/2018/09/02/us/ā€¦
THREAD on sloppy NYT piece on #Butina. See @john_sipher who says she's not a professional spy but an 'access agent teeing up fools for Russia to compromise.' She develops access & provides targeting information to the professionals, so they know who's vulnerable, who to go after.
@john_sipher There are spies and there are spies. Russia has a dizzying array of intelligence agents, special services & proxies, formal professionals & informal agents like Maria #Butina. @KirkseniyaSF reviews some of the nuances in @KyivPost kyivpost.com/article/opinioā€¦ cc @SethAbramson @nytimes
Read 4 tweets
So Maria #Butina also hit up JD Gordon, Trump campaign natsec adviser who notably changed GOP platform on Ukraine to pro-Russia position. (Erickson sounds like her handler and pimp in this WaPo story about her final weeks of 2016 campaign) washingtonpost.com/politics/trumpā€¦
JD Gordon once said Trump campaign was too disorganized to collude with Russians. Yet he fell right into Butina's honey pot. As I've said before, disorganized and stupid coupled w/ desperation is precisely what made team Trump easy prey for Russian spies.
A simple google search would make you wonder about #Butina. Gun rights are an absurdity in Russia, where more basic rights are lacking. She hangs with Torshin, a Kremlin banker w/ mob ties. But instead of calling FBI, Trump aide Gordon invites her to drinks & a Styx concert (yup)
Read 3 tweets
What a Russian disinformation campaign looks like: gaslighting, lies, whataboutism and the requisite FU trollingā€”to deny, distract, dismay. #Butina is literally now the face of Kremlin MFA. Complete w/ hashtag #FreeMariaButinaā€”while Russia jails political prisonersĀ”!#FreeSentsov
btw This crazy "#FreeMariaButina" disinformation campaign advanced directly from the Russian Foreign Ministry kinda proves US was right to argue Russian diplomats might scoop her up, making her a flight risk. Kudos to prosecutors & judge for the right call rferl.org/a/guns-sex-andā€¦
Maria Butina gets around. Before her gig infiltrating NRA & Republicans, she pushed Russian propaganda in E Ukraine to promote Russia's invasion. At 2014 Donbas rally she trashed new Kyiv govt & said ppl should support "separatists" enigma.ua/articles/krasnā€¦
Read 5 tweets
Something in the Butina indictment has been niggling at me. It's this portion of an email from U.S. Person 1 to Butina: Thoughts? #TrumpRussia #Butina
I'll add that when something niggles at me like this, it usually means I'm missing something, that there are unanswered questions or questions not asked, that there's something else beneath the surface.
Part of what this shows us is that the Russians are playing the long game (no surprise) and it's a very long game. It's far broader than current issues such as sanctions, Ukraine, and Syria. Seems to me like Trump may be a temporary tool in that long game. (Still more questions)
Read 5 tweets
šŸ’£OurPearlHarboršŸ’£

Putinā€™s Attack on the U.S. Is Our Pearl Harbor

Make no mistake: Hacking the 2016 election was an act of war. Itā€™s time we responded accordingly.

Former CIA Dir John Brennan called Trumpā€™s performance in Helinski "nothing short of treasonous."
šŸ’£OurPearlHarbor2šŸ’£

45 sold out his country to RU, then proudly affirmed it, live on camera. Ā 

A former intel agency chief just asked, "If the RUs didn't write 45ā€™s talking points, how could you tell?"

Trump called the US invā€™n of the interference ā€œa disaster for our country.ā€
šŸ’£OurPearlHarbor2šŸ’£3

Comey: This was the day an US POTUS stood on foreign soil next to a murderous lying thug and refused to back his own country. Patriots need to stand up and reject the behavior of this president.

Trump sides with Putin & GRU over US interests, our CIA & DOJ
Read 73 tweets
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. justice.gov/opa/pr/russianā€¦
Maria Butina, 29, a Russian citizen residing in DC, 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.
Read 37 tweets

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