Russian agent Maria Butina to be sentenced in U.S. on April 26

boing
21

(b)“Foreign national” defined As used in this section, the term “foreign national” means—
(1)
a foreign principal, as such term is defined by section 611(b) of title 22, except that the term “foreign national”shall not include any individual who is a citizen of the United States; or
(2)
an individual who is not a citizen of the United States or a national of the United States (as defined in section 1101(a)(22) of title 8) and who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence, as defined by section 1101(a)(20) of title 8.

22

You say she’s an “accused” but “not proven” Russian agent. That’s incorrect as of the guilty plea.

She pled guilty to being a Russian agent*. That’s legally an admission of guilt and a conviction. She’s not just “accused” any more, but literally “admitted.”

To quote her guilty plea: “I am pleading guilty because I am in fact guilty[.]” I’m on mobile, but just Google Maria Butina plea agreement. I read it on lawfareblog. It laid out specific facts regarding her offense, which she agreed are “true and accurate.”

5 Likes
23

:joy: Good one.

2 Likes
24

This. She literally pled guilty to conspiring to covertly act as a foreign lobbyist to promote another country’s interests to our electorate and elected officials and to cooperate with an investigation in exchange for a more lenient charge.

I mean, there are a number of reasons one pleads guilty. Because you know you’re guilty and you want a more lenient sentence. Or because you don’t have the resources for a strong or long defense against government prosecutors (although I guess crowdfunding has raised about 30k so far?).

25

Collusion is an act, not a crime (the acts that add up to collusion may be).
Laundering foreign money through a domestic entity who then distributes money to politicians looks to me like collusion, but sure, if Crooked Donnie and his party and base say no collusion, there’s no collusion, facts be damned, right?

2 Likes
26

I compare the NRA to the Catholic Church. One got off for fking children, the other will for fking this nation.

27

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.