Last month in the New Republic magazine, veteran intelligence author James Bamford came to the defense of Maria Butina, the American University graduate student who has been often depicted as a Russian spy. I have done so on this blog. Bamford argued that Butina is not a spy but scapegoat for prosecutors with a weak...
Tag: Maria Butina
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Fate of Arrested American Linked to Russian Spy Maria Butina
Russia’s arrest of Paul Whelan, a court-martialed Marine Corps private, on espionage charges, has triggered speculation about a possible trade for Maria Butina, convicted Russian agent and one of the world’s worst spies in 2018 According to a Russian news agency, Whelan was arrested in Moscow last week, just minutes after receiving a USB memory...
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Maria Butina’s Gun Has a Whiff of Smoke
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago–meaning last week–President Trump avowed there was no collusion between his presidential campaign and Russian state agents. And one of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill agreed. Then came Thursday’s plea agreement from Maria Butina, the Russian graduate student who insinuated herself into Republican circles with...
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Feds Target Butina’s GOP Boyfriend as Foreign Agent
Maria Butina is the accused Russian agent who infiltrated American conservative circles to ingratiate Russian president Vladmir Putin with the right-wing in Washington. Now her American boyfriend, Paul Erickson, has been warned he might be charged as a spy too, according to the Daily Beast. “Charging an American under 951 in the context of the...
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Suspicious Money Transfers Followed the Trump Tower Meeting
From Buzzweed, some answers to the enduring question, “Where is the evidence of collusion?” Answer: In the relationships of Russians doing business with the Trump entourage: Over the past nine months, BuzzFeed News has reported on the financial behavior of Manafort, former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, accused foreign agent Maria Butina, GOP operative Peter W....