Discussion: NYT: Butina, Former NRA President, Lobbyist Wife Pursued Massive Jet Fuel Deal, Failed

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ā€œIt might be a novel someday,ā€

Or something scrawled on a prison wall.

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Well they already did a song about it though she ainā€™t boarding a plane anytime soon.

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An unnamed person familiar with it said the potential partners Keene had provided ā€œfeared it was some kind of scam"ā€¦

The NRA?

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Butina kept herself busy. Just a guess here but there are probably more revelations yet to come.

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I wonder if Paul Erickson is related to Erick.

The GOP like to keep it in the family is why I ask.

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ā€œIt might be a novel someday,ā€

ā€œThe Gang That Couldnā€™t Shoot Straight, Part IIā€ Too bad Breslin isnā€™t around any more.

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My but Mariia was a busy, busy girl.

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The potential partners Keene had provided ā€œfeared it was some kind of
scamā€ [ā€¦] and reported Butina and Erickson to the FBI.

Iā€™m just waiting to hear that Donna Keene was reported to the FBI by the ā€œPakistani-American businessmenā€ or the ā€œIsraeli-American salesman for a Virginia-based lawn care and sprinkler equipment company.ā€

That would make the story complete (among other things).

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[quote="]Butinaā€™s lawyer told the Times the deal was ā€œjust further evidence that she wasnā€™t here on any mission on behalf of the Russian Federation. She was essentially operating on her own account.ā€
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Butinaā€™s layer is generally regarded as some sort of legal hotshot, but he seems to me like he might be a couple stamps short of first class rate. ā€˜Getting ahead of the storyā€™ does not consist of making stupid, unsupported statements whenever a new revelation comes out. There is no logical connection between not being a Russian spy and trying to broker a deal for Russian jet fuel. The two simply do not correlate.

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How fuelish of them.

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Itā€™s a deal that just never took off.

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ā€œButinaā€™s boyfriend, the Republican strategist Paul Ericksonā€¦ā€

Just two crazy kids, head over heels in love.

So beautifulā€¦

(Sniff)

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A fly by night scheme.

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ā€œI are just poor little honey-pot Russian student who able to hire big-bucks American lawyer, dahlink. America: what a country!ā€ - Mariia ā€œYakov Smirnoffā€ Butina

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I wonder how she found time to ā€œstudyā€.

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That she is an unknown, to the US public, love child of Trump and a Russian?

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Itā€™s also a stretch to imply this stuff could somehow act to keep you from wandering off the straight and narrow path. Most of us know neā€™er-do-wells who are always cooking up get-rich-quick schemes. They tend to become more and more impulsive and desperate the longer they fail to get rich. Itā€™s not character-building at all.

Thereā€™s some question, actually, about whether she was ever a formal member of their intelligence service. She might be something like an enthusiastic, energetic, bright, but erratic washout from their training program, and in the end they let her run around here because why not and they had a standing offer to put up money if she could get NRA types etc. to take it. Some arrangement like that. A freelancer, basically.

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I mean, how delicious the the ā€œnationā€™s oldest civil rights organizationā€ as the NRA likes to style itself, and the defender of freedom, is totally in bed with Russia. Seriously, you couldnā€™t write a movie about it and make it believable.

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Itā€™s almost like ā€œAn Affair To Rememberā€, only instead of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr we get Scott Baio and Ann Coulter in the leading roles.

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