Thread by @MuellerSheWrote

NEW INDICTMENTS: Today, the SDNY has unsealed an indictment against three Russians with ties to Putin. It appears these three sanctioned guys had a US citizen friend with ties to pro-Russian US congresspeople and used that person to try to set up meetings with them. 1/

The defendants have apparently been in contact with this US citizen since 2011, and used that person to try to get pro-Russian sympathy in the US after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Russians were sanctioned after that and were denied visas to travel here. 2/

In 2017, one of the defendants drafted a plan outlining how to "recruit well-known persons to launch propaganda campaigns in favor of Russia" using their longtime US Citizen friend. When they applied for visas, they listed the US citizen as a reference. 3/

After being denied, they activated their US citizen friend to reach out to US congresspeople and wrote a letter to one referencing their US contact (so whomever that is knows people in congress). In that letter, they referred to their US citizen contact as "friend". 4/

The DoJ says they did that instead of referring to them as "representative" to conceal the fact that the US citizen WAS ACTING AS AN AGENT ON BEHALF OF THE RUSSIAN LEGISLATOR" (one of the defendants is Duma). That's FARA, ya'll. 5/

In March 2017, the Russian defendants organized a conference in Crimea and invited the US Citizen (CC1), a US congressman, and a US businessman to attend. The conference was to benefit one of the defendants, the purported "prime minister of Crimea". 6/

The Russians asked the Businessman to deliver a speech at the event, and offered to pay for all travel and expenses for the Americans. The Businessman drafted a speech and sent it to the defendants for review. They also had CC1 try to recruit the congressmember to attend. 7/

The congressmember ultimately declined. The indictment has 3 counts: FARA violation, visa fraud, and conspiracy to violate the international emergency economic powers act (sanctions violations). So I have to ask who CC1, the businessman, and the two congressmembers are 8/

I also have to ask if this evidence was obtained recently from another FARA case going on in the SNDY right now that involves Ukraine. Can anyone think of one? lol PS: Rudy has some ties to one of the defendants. END rawstory.com/2019/12/reveal…

I'm pleasantly surprised with the interest in these indictments. I'll be doing a deep dive on the Mueller, She Wrote podcast this Sunday :)

PS: I should clarify here that this FARA is 951 (espionage lite) not 22 USC 611 (the FARA we all think of):

https://twitter.com/BVanGrack/status/1514660043832143881?s=20&t=_Ie75yPpoRhci2cf-XhQ4w

PPS: we know this indictment was filed under seal recently because it’s signed by Damian Williams, who wasn’t the US Atty until October, 2021.

Also, he says that CC-1 will be arrested and indicted.