So by now, I’m sure you’ve heard about this:
A federal grand jury indicted Mariia Butina on Tuesday on charges of conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent, adding a new charge against the Russian national, who was arrested over the weekend in Washington and accused of playing a part in a secret Russian attempt to influence U.S. politics.
Jessie Liu, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, signed off on the two-count indictment against Butina, 29, who is accused of working as an unregistered Kremlin agent from at least 2015 through the present day.
Butina had been charged Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, an offense with a statutory maximum of five years in prison. On Tuesday, U.S. officials persuaded the grand jury to add the second offense of acting as the foreign agent, which has its own 10-year-maximum prison sentence.
Like the charging documents releasedMonday, the latest complaint against Butina says she was working under the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government and Russian central bank “to arrange introductions to U.S. persons having influence in American politics, including an organization promoting gun rights … for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.”
While the indictment doesn’t name the Russian official or the gun rights group, it appears to refer to Alexander Torshin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a longtime supporter of the National Rifle Association who also reportedly has ties to both Russian security services and organized crime figures.
Charles P. Pierce has a new piece out in Esquire that targets one certain Republican’s interaction with this Russian agent:
Oops, sorry. That's Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage their midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin, and recently appointed midwest sales director for the Foxconn Company, grinning his fool head off with Ms. Butina. From the Capital-Times:
Butina wrote on her Russian-language blog (translated via Google Translate) that meeting Walker "will remain in my memory forever." "With genuine interest and ready to ask a question on the topic of Russian-American relations, I went to him. And then something happened that I did not expect: the first words in many, many days in Russian, I heard from the future nominee in the US presidency from the Republican Party, who, having learned that I from Russia with a smile said 'Hello!', And during the conversation he remembered another word: 'Thank you!'" Butina wrote.
"We talked about Russia, I did not hear any aggression towards our country, the president or my compatriots," Butina wrote about her conversation with Walker. "How to know, maybe such meetings are the beginning of a new dialogue between Russia and the US and back from the Cold War to the peaceful existence of the two great powers ?!"
Confronted with this memento of the lovely time they had together, Walker had his spokescritter issue the following lame-ass statement to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Walker spokesman Brian Reisinger said by email that while Walker was in Tennessee, he "appeared in an atrium area while waiting to deliver his remarks, where event attendees had the chance to say hello. There were thousands of people at the convention and many of them approached the governor and asked to say hello and take a photo with him."
Just a friendly guy, our Scottie.
Something truly stinks of borscht in Wisconsin politics. Besides Walker, there are dozens of photos showing former Milwaukee County sheriff—and full-time Happy Meal medal recipient—David Clarke enjoying the hospitality in Moscow, and Wisconsin Senator Ron (Shreds of Freedom) Johnson was one of those senators who spent the past Fourth of July in Russia. (He, too, managed a lame-ass statement in the wake of the presidential debacle in Finland.) Ms. Butina's travels were general, all over the United States. Expect more embarrassing photos and lame-ass statements to come.
Man, it’s already bad enough that Walker has this hanging over his head:
President Donald Trump’s trip to Wisconsin on Thursday should be a highlight of Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) re-election bid ― the two are attending the groundbreaking of a facility that could eventually employ 13,000 people in a key swing county in the state’s southeast corner.
But the $3 billion package to lure Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn, which observers once thought would be a centerpiece of Walker’s run for a third term, has instead become a potential liability. It is unpopular in public opinion polling, and Walker’s potential Democratic opponents are lining up to attack it. They hope it could be the key to finally toppling Walker, who has crushed the state’s union movement and survived two Democratic attempts to oust him.
“I hear about it all the time, everywhere I go in the state,” said Kelda Roys, a former state assemblyman backed by EMILY’s List in the crowded primary to challenge Walker. “People are hopping mad about this deal, which they realize Scott Walker negotiated to benefit his political future, not them.”
Republicans say they’re confident that the gathering of Walker and Trump in the Racine County village of Mount Pleasant on Thursday afternoon will be the start of a turnaround in opinion about the deal. They argue the massive new facility ― it will have as much floor space as 130 Walmarts, if things go according to plan ― proves Walker’s reforms have worked, and any fight over the economy will only help his bid for a third term.
Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the Madison area, said polling and focus groups indicate the deal is deeply unpopular, with residents of rural areas Democrats struggled to win in 2016 questioning why state cash is flowing into a Taiwanese company’s coffers.
“He’s prioritizing a foreign corporation over education,” Pocan said. “He’s subsidizing a foreign corporation over rebuilding local roads.”
“They’re just fleecing us,” said gubernatorial candidate Mahlon Mitchell, the head of the state’s professional firefighters’ union. “There’s no way it’s going to help the entire state.”
When the deal was announced at the White House last July, Republicans imagined it as a top achievement for Walker and Trump, the embodiment of Trump’s make-it-in-America agenda to revive manufacturing. But Wisconsin voters are far from sold.
But with the latest news on Trump and Putin and Russia, this is just more ammo for Democrats. Right now, we still don’t know who our Democratic nominee is because of the primary isn’t until August 14th. I urge you all to donate and get involved with the Democratic candidate you support:
Tony Evers
Matt Flynn
Mike McCabe
Mahlon Mitchell
Kelda Roys
Paul Soglin
Kathleen Vinehout
And click below to donate and get involved with these Wisconsin Democrats:
Tammy Baldwin for Senate
Josh Kaul for Attorney General
Randy “Ironstache” Bryce (D. WI-01)
Dan Kohl (D. WI-06)