December 10, 2018
SPIES AND RIFLES AND BEARS, OH MY:
Accused Russian spy Maria Butina appears to reach plea deal (Sara Murray and Katelyn Polantz, December 10, 2018, CNN)
Maria Butina, an accused Russian spy who nuzzled up to the National Rifle Association before the 2016 election, appears to have reached a plea deal with the Justice Department, according to a new court filing in her criminal case.Her attorneys and prosecutors filed a two-page request on Monday for a "change of plea" hearing before a federal judge as soon as Tuesday. "The parties have resolved this matter," the filing in DC federal court said Monday morning. Butina's case was brought by federal prosecutors in DC and not by Robert Mueller's team in the special counsel's office.
NRA leader, Jack Abramoff and GOP operative tied to alleged Russian spy Maria Butina have long history as foreign agents lobbying together (Anna Massoglia, December 10, 2018, Open Secrets)
In December 2015, Butina's Russian gun-rights organization called the Right to Bear Arms sponsored an NRA delegation to Moscow where attendees met with influential Russian officials including former deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin who had been under U.S. sanctions since 2014.The convoy to Moscow included Keene, Trump campaign surrogate Sheriff David Clarke, president and CEO of the Outdoor Channel Jim Liberatore, soon-to-be NRA president Peter Brownell and NRA donors Jim Gregory, Arnold Goldschlager and Hilary Goldschlager.Alexander Torshin -- a Russian politician and longtime associate of Butina who has since come under U.S. sanctions -- played a key role in the trip and, allegedly, Russia's decade-long operation infiltrating American conservative groups. A conservative Nashville lawyer named G. Kline Preston IV who has done business in Russia claims that he first introduced David Keene to Torshin in 2011 while Keene was NRA president.Keene and Torshin quickly forged an alliance based on mutual interests."Just a brief note to let you know just how much I enjoyed meeting in Pittsburgh during the NRA annual meeting," Keene wrote in a 2011 letter later obtained by anti-corruption activists in Russia that extended a personal invitation to the NRA's conference the following year.Keene added, "If there is anything any of us can do to help you in your endeavors . . . please don't hesitate to let us know.""We will start organizing our own Russian NRA," Torshin tweeted shortly thereafter.In 2011, Maria Butina became founding chair of a new Russian gun rights group called the Right to Bear Arms.By 2013, Keene was introduced as an honored guest at the Right to Bear Arms conference in Moscow. "There are no peoples that are more alike than Americans and Russians," Keene said. "We're hunters. We're shooters. We value the same kinds of things... we need to work together."Erickson accompanied Keene to the 2013 conference, where he reportedly first crossed paths with Butina.Senate intelligence and finance committees have reportedly requested documents on the NRA's connections to Russia, including documents related to whether the NRA took Russian money and the 2015 delegation. After spending a record $54.4 million to put President Donald Trump in the White House and support Republicans in Congress, the NRA's membership dues dropped precipitously the following year.
Posted by Orrin Judd at December 10, 2018 5:32 PM