The implication I’m seeing here is that the cooperation she gave did not result in any useful charging of others. That’s generally the deal: it’s not enough to just cooperate, you’ve got to give up enough that the prosecution can successfully charge someone else.
Could Trump pardon her?
A spy from a foreign country caught spying inside the U.S only gets a maximum sentence of 24 months? Or in her case even shorter and a free flight back home. Is this serious?
Also, she says she was here to improve relations between the 2 counties - so she is admitting to being affiliated with or working for the Russian government to acheive this objective? Or was she just a concerned citizen who thought she can make a difference if only she could befriend other gun lovers?
This whole thing stinks to me
Yes, though I don’t see why he would. Even if the prosecutors get their way it’s still just 24 months followed by a deportation. What’s in it for him?
“skilled intelligence officers can exploit for years and that may cause has caused and continues to cause significant damage to the United States.”
FIFY
Is she valuable to Russia? If so,Trump might like to show some love. 24 months is long enough for another meeting with Putin to take place.
Don’t see how he would benefit from it. He does things for himself, not others. He’s dangling a pardon for Manafort because Manafort has more dirt on Trump, not because he feels bad for Manafort.
I’m not sure on the details with respect to the intersection of domestic and international law (including treaties) here, but even assuming you’re correct about the maximum being 24 months, you need to ask yourself how long we want Russia or Iran or other countries holding OUR spies when they find them.
I think “spot an ass” may be a better description of this type of operation.
They might want to make a minor hero out of her, but they can still do that later. I doubt she has any info that she hasn’t already passed on.
or this administration…
Every day she is in the limelight is another day NRA fundraising is in the toilet. A lot of right wingers aren’t happy about her easy involvement with the NRA brass and their involvement with her. When she is gone a lot of folks who have been reluctant to give to them lately will forget and start giving again.
she was allegedly helping to identify vulnerable targets in the U.S. who may susceptible to recruitment by Russian spy operations in the future.
She met Trump?
Please gods, don’t let these prosecutors fuck up a chance to take down the NRA as the unpatriotic purveyors of mass murder that they have become.
Good point!
Hold her until we need to swap for a good guy.
Now Butina’s lawyers are arguing that the judge exclude for sentencing the claims about Butina’s participation in a “spot and assess” operation and to not let Anderson take the stand during the sentencing proceedings. They accused the government of “sandbagging” and rolling out a “new theory for the first time in the metaphorical bottom of the ninth inning.”
They argued this with a straight face? There is no limit to the information admissible in Federal Sentencing Proceedings. Hearsay from the FBI is routinely included in the Pre Sentence Report and taken as established fact by the Judges. Rules of Evidence do not exclude what the Judge can consider in forming a total picture of the Defendant’s life and circumstances. This is a Trumpian argument. Judge, you cannot consider this information because it is not favorable to our client. Or to the President.
A good guy with a gun.
Enough! This has already been legislated. When Americans voted for Trump, we knew he was subordinate to Putin. Putin is thus the legitimate, elected supreme leader of the USSR-USA axis. In serving Putin, Buttina merely demonstrates loyalty to our conjoint nation.
Among the new claims made public for the first time in the government sentencing filings is that Butina, in November 2016, sought to influence the incoming Trump administration’s choice for secretary of state.
So…if she sought to influence the choice for S of S, who was her choice? Rex? Why is this not known yet?