Butina pleaded guilty last December to conspiring with a senior Russian official to access the NRA and other groups from 2015 until she was arrested last July. She said she was “ashamed and embarrassed” by her actions — but always maintained she was not a spy.
She admitted to working with Paul Erickson, her GOP operative boyfriend, “to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US politics … for the benefit of the Russian Federation,” according to court papers.
“” “” to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over US politics … for the benefit of the Russian Federation,”” “”
FBI newspeak for activism for better relations? She produced a great lesson for other young Russians who still believe Western propaganda on freedom, rule of law and lack of it.
Anyone think she was really a subversive Russian agent?
I can admit I don’t know. But I get the impression she was railroaded, that she pleaded guilty to a crime to avoid the potential of a much more onerous sentence from numerous potential charges. It would be expensive to fight, and the political climate was against her. Yes I believe she was a Russian patriot - but that she wasn’t here in the US to interfere with the elections or American politics but to learn from our processes and lobbying practices to take them back to her home country.
I could be wrong. I will admit that much and I haven’t followed every detail of her case. But I do know she was invited here earlier by the Obama Admin to learn about the Federal Reserve, and that I believe is likely why she came back to learn about the NRA and our governmental processes to take them back to Russia. Not that she had any anti-US nefarious intent.