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Zoe Tillman @ZoeTillman
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Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina is asking the judge to set a change of plea hearing, and pitched several days this week. "The parties have resolved this matter"
Butina pleaded not guilty at her arraignment in July. She was indicted on two counts: acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the US govt, and conspiring to do that. She's been in jail this whole time: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
So a "change of plea hearing" would indicate she's now going to plead guilty to something, but it may not be those two charges. We know from earlier court filings that she's been negotiating an agreement with the govt
Federal public defender AJ Kramer is still referenced in this latest request as "advisory counsel" and we don't have addl info on what exactly that means. But we may get more info soon: Butina's lawyers are okay unsealing the part of last week's hearing that was sealed
New: Maria Butina's change of plea hearing has been set for Wednesday (12/12) at 3:15pm
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Some fireworks in court this morning as a judge criticized the lawyer representing Concord Management & Consulting in the special counsel Russian troll farm case for his language and harsh words about Mueller's office in filings — "unprofessional, inappropriate, and ineffective"
The judge told attorney Eric Dubelier that his strategy was "ineffective" and that his approach to filings — including pop culture quotes (see: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5676…) and accusing Mueller's office basically of lawlessness — was "undermining your credibility in this courthouse"
"Knock it off," Judge Dabney Friedrich told Dubelier. This then led to a heated exchange where Dubelier said he needed to consult his client since the judge had accused of unprofessional conduct, and now there might be bias from the judge. There's no bias, the judge replied.
Read 6 tweets
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New: This morning the DC Circuit vacated an injunction that had blocked the Trump admin's ban on transgender military service — this doesn't change the status quo, since injunctions issued by other courts still stand, but it's still noteworthy assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5674…
This is the first win for the administration in litigation over the transgender military service policy — judges in DC, WA, and CA issued injunctions. The cases went up on appeal, but DOJ then petitioned SCOTUS before the circuits ruled, which was unusual: buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
SCOTUS hasn't weighed in yet, and now in the meantime the DC Circuit has issued a ruling. It's a per curiam judgment, and not "published," which means it's not precedent for the circuit and no one judge on the panel is the named author, it's just on behalf of the court
Read 6 tweets
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Remember how Jerome Corsi filed a civil lawsuit against Robert Mueller, claiming various violations of his rights? A judge today denied Corsi's bid to have the case assigned to the same judge who ruled against the NSA bulk surveillance program a few years ago, Judge Richard Leon
Corsi is represented by Larry Klayman, who argued the NSA case before Leon. Normally cases are randomly assigned, unless they're related to another case. Klayman today argued the cases were related, since Corsi claims he's been illegally surveiled by the special counsel's office
But "related" has specific meanings under the court rules. For cases that have been dismissed at the district court level, as Klayman's NSA cases were (he's on appeal), Corsi's case would need to involve the same parties and subject to be "related"
Read 9 tweets

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THREAD: What does today's news that Russian agent Maria Butina will cooperate tell us?
1/ Today @abcnews reported that Russian agent Maria Butina will plead guilty to conspiring with GOP operative Paul Erickson to act as Russian agents without notifying the Attorney General, an "espionage-lite" crime for secretly acting as a foreign agent. abcnews.go.com/Politics/maria…
2/ According to @abcnews, Butina has also agreed to "cooperate with federal, state and local authorities in any ongoing investigations." That means that she would be obligated to cooperate with Mueller's investigation and other criminal and counter-intelligence investigations.
Read 7 tweets
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There's always more >> Accused spy Maria #Butina turned on her Russian charm to secure Russian jet fuel deal with David Keene, NRA president & prominent leader of the conservative movement, his lobbyist wife, & her boyfriend Erickson — The New York Times nytimes.com/2018/09/02/us/…
THREAD on sloppy NYT piece on #Butina. See @john_sipher who says she's not a professional spy but an 'access agent teeing up fools for Russia to compromise.' She develops access & provides targeting information to the professionals, so they know who's vulnerable, who to go after.
@john_sipher There are spies and there are spies. Russia has a dizzying array of intelligence agents, special services & proxies, formal professionals & informal agents like Maria #Butina. @KirkseniyaSF reviews some of the nuances in @KyivPost kyivpost.com/article/opinio… cc @SethAbramson @nytimes
Read 4 tweets
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Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina and GOP operator Paul Erickson left a trail of cash - new docs on transactions of up to $300K provides new info on Russian campaign to influence American politics, by @jasonleopold & @a_cormier_ HT @ThomasS4217 buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
About $89,000 passed between Erickson’s US accounts and one held by Butina at Russia’s Alfa Bank - the sanctioned bank run by Mikhail Fridman, which had communicated with the server in Trump Tower & DeVos connected Spectrum Healthcare in MI
buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonl…
Erickson sent two wires for $15,000 to a California company established by the son and brother of Jack Abramoff, a disgraced former lobbyist who is Erickson’s longtime friend, political ally, and business partner
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Read 5 tweets
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Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina had ties to Russian intelligence agency, prosecutors say.
wapo.st/2mt7yNy
It's worth noting, Maria Butina the alleged Russian spy with *deep* ties to the NRA, who claimed multiple times in public to be a back channel between Trump and the Kremlin was arrested and charged by the DOJ, but not by the Mueller team.
The gun-loving, NRA connected, Russian woman charged with being an unregistered foreign agent for Russia and cozying up to politicians to infiltrate the U.S. political system tried to swap sex for influence nbcnews.com/news/crime-cou…
Read 3 tweets
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🔥In the charging documents for accused #Russian🇷🇺agent Maria Butina, the unnamed “US Person 1” — who established a “VERY private line of communication btwn the Kremlin & key [@GOP] leaders through, of all conduits, the #NRA” — appears to be #GOP consultant Paul Erickson. 1/
💣BOOM💣

Note that #DOJ says that “US Person 1” arranged the secret backchannel btwn the Kremlin and **key @GOP leaders** (not just Team Trump).🔥

How many people in the #GOP freaked out when they read that Butina got busted⁉️ 2/

#RICO
#ComplicitGOP

Mueller is investigating the alleged flow of ILLEGAL foreign (#Russian🇷🇺) money for @GOP campaigns via the #NRA.

Don’t think for a moment that at least some #Republicans didn’t know where the #NRA’s sudden influx of cash came from.🙄 3/

Read 5 tweets

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