Discussion: Russia: Too Early To Consider Swap Of US Spy Suspect For Maria Butina

[tecmage]

Malcolm Nance had a great comment on Whelan and it wasn’t good!

[austin_dave]

@cervantes

he could be on a mission to be something

This sure rings true…

[Lacuna-Synecdoche]

@richardinjax

I doubt he’s spying on anyone. That’s Moscow talking and those guys are full of shit. He went to Russia with a US passport but could have used an Irish one. But he did not. He did not travel in circles that would lead to anything a spy was interested in. he just got in country. He’s not a spy. He’s an American and Russians being the punks they are thought they could pry Butina out with him. Trump would like to see her gone as well.

I concur. I doubt Whelan’s a spy at all.

[cervantes]

@Lacuna-Synecdoche

One would think that a bad-conduct discharge makes Whelan ineligible for full-time employment by any of the US intelligence agencies, and/or ineligible for security clearance.

Can’t comment usefully about Whelan in particular but I’m sure you know what a cover is.

[austin_dave]

He’s so simply structured as a non-curious human being, so it shouldn’t be to hard to find out his few inputs are, and why they are so compelling to him.

[Lacuna-Synecdoche]

@c_stedman

Yes, there was nothing to be gained by Trump if we got Shweikani back.

Shweikani died in Syria in late December, 2016. About a month before Trump was inaugurated.

[outis]

@rascal_crone

do you not have cats in your part of town?

I suspect that this smells bad enough that even they would prefer not to eat it. (Certainly, my cat would turn up her nose at it.)

[dickweed]

Well I guess the big thing is how is he being fed this pro-Russian info. Does Putin have some way to communicate this to him that intel doesn’t know of? Jesus would a treason charge be great or what?

[rascal_crone]

one time we got our cats gourmet canned food for some reason with big hunks of anchovies - they took one sniff and walked away. They prefer dry food, thank goodness, and we’ve never bothered to try and get those stinky cans

On christmas morning they get tuna though - THAT they love

[oc1968]

Why would they want Butina? Per Putin, they’ve never heard of her.

[bobatkinson]

President Obama traded five low level Taliban prisoners for Bowie Bergdahl and the right wing went nuts because Bergdahl in his mentally ill state had walked off his base in Afghanistan headed to a different base. He had none of his weapons with him and of course was captured by the Taliban shortly after leaving the base. No one would do that in any war unless they were mentally incapacitated. He endured five brutal years of captivity including being buried alive in coffins until Obama made the decision to leave none of our POWs behind. Bergdahl was brought back to America where he went through the military justice system. Watch for right wing media to attempt a comparison of this dishonorably discharged thief Whelan to the trade for Bergdahl made by Obama when dotard does the trade for Butina. She is one of the keys to the Russian/NRA/GOP money laundering machine so McConnell especially does not want her implicating him or any other GOP PACs in the treasonous scheme to violate US election laws.

[bobatkinson]

I thought Natasha was totally beautiful when I was 10.

[Lacuna-Synecdoche]

@dickweed

Well I guess the big thing is how is he being fed this pro-Russian info. Does Putin have some way to communicate this to him that intel doesn’t know of?

Rumor is that Trump and Putin talk on Trump’s unsecured phone about twice a week. I have no idea whether there’s any veracity to that rumor at all, but if so, that could be one way they could be communicating.

OTOH, they wouldn’t have to communicate at all for Trump to get his pro-Russian propaganda talking points. Most of it appears to come straight from RT and Sputnik.

[dickweed]

OTOH, they wouldn’t have to communicate at all for Trump to get his pro-Russian propaganda talking points. Most of it appears to come straight from RT and Sputnik.

Yeah but that would require Donald to read or listen and comprehend, so no, that’s not how!

[greylady]

Either that or he’s a small-time trump - helping his contacts avoid taxes by “investing” overseas. Penny-ante stuff, so the oligarchs wouldn’t mind seeing him picked up by Putin’s goons.

[bobatkinson]

Having her testify in a courtroom setting after McConnell is indicted would be powerful theatre compared to just having her spilling her secrets to Mueller’s cracker jack team behind closed doors. The GOP wants her gone more than Putin wants her back.

[bobatkinson]

Jared got his secured back channel communication operation set up after all?

[splunge]

Perhaps I’m paranoid, but a prisoner swap is a convenient way to get rid of a woman who can tell us an awful lot about Trump and the RNC’s election shenanigans.

Setup?

[greylady]

I have to admit I’m curious about the reason why he was in Russia this time - to see his former-Marine friend get married in Moscow. A US veteran getting married in Russia is definitely unusual in my book…

[henk]

Maybe, but there is another school of thought where she completed her mission successfully, Donald was elected after all and all that money did make it into NRA coffers, so there is a chance she’ll be welcomed home a hero.