Russian Spy and NRA Activist Maria Butina is definitely lying about not being a Kremlin Asset. The Government’s story isn’t seamless yet, but give them time. Her ‘boyfriend’ is now under Indictment for fraud and surely aware, as we are, that shes been trying to cooperate against him from day one. It just keeps getting weirder.
Heres three very good, very brief reasons to Rightfully Believe she’s a Spy;
1– She’s Got Too Much Money
She had access to too much money to be just some Russian with a student visa. Why’s she running around with around 300 grand? Where’d the money she used to influence the NRA come from?
2- That Preposterous Fake Boyfriend
That 56 year old ‘boyfriend’ is plain old unbelievable. Fraudster Paul Allen Erickson owns only a 23-year-old non classic car. As far as political tricksters go he was even less successful than Roger Stone. He’s broke and always has been. He lied, cheated and stole for money and seems to have never worked. She started dating this con man troll when she was like 23? About the age of his car now? Sure. Why’d he give her 20 Grand? As I just noted, pimpin’ wasn’t easy for Erickson in the first place! I think that the Operation was always looking to self finance to advance its goals. Im sure she charged up her credit cards through the roof with fraudulent intent too. It’d be the least of her problems too, actually.
3- We’ve Heard this Before (From Putin)
Her story is Putin’s story. Both have said that if she were a spy she’s ‘the worst spy ever.’ Okay. Granted. I believe you’re the worst spy ever. And you know what, that’s not a denial, either. It’s actually in the running for the name of this article. How is getting caught proof you’re innocent?
The Government didn’t have every single duck in a row and may have been wrong believing Butina was trading in sex, but in light of her relationship with Erickson? He’s in no way appealing to someone in their mid 20s. He looks terrible even among people his own age. He’s a con man and looks like one.
Butina works for or was spun off by the Kremlin. Shes got some kind of loyalty and connection to Putin. It makes more sense than ‘she’s the greatest sweet talker of all time and was a wheel in the NRA by 27.’
It would be nice if anyone on CNN had noted she was saying the same thing Putin says. They have reported Putin’s comments on this. I guess eventually they’ll put 2 and 2 together and say it, but you heard it here first.
Well, I guess a guy who looks remarkably like the boss character from the Dilbert cartoons doesn’t think too hard about just HOW he landed a girlfriend half his age. Fortunately, we don’t need to read Paul Allen Erickson or Maria Butina’s minds. We have their words and deeds to go on.
As far as words; well who the Hell writes a hypothetical note to themselves (in their own hand) “How to Respond to FSB offer of Employment” ? Well that would be Erickson, who everyone is pretty sure is the only person to fit the description of the Butina Spy Ring member legally identified only as “US Person 1”
Just to catch you up Butina’s in jail, Erickson’s missing (and presumed alive) but sadly, they aren’t together anymore. Turns out loathing him was just too big a hurdle for Butina. Im guessing this is recent as Erickson was part of her story about moving to live with him again. The Fed’s have this crazy idea it wasn’t love and she was more likely going to split to Russia and there’s lots of reasons to believe they are right.
In Update news the July 25 Rachel Maddow show featured bombshell facts like that Butina had been approached in March about cooperating in an investigation into US Person 1 himself, our pal Erickson.
Erickson, 56 years young, would have us believe he’s a simple kind of guy who sincerely hopes that bankruptcy court lets him keep his 1992 Ford Mustang in the face of a looming $37,000 judgment on his Platinum Delta Skymiles Card. That’s a lot of fraud right there on just one credit card.
How does a South Dakotan whose hoopty has a “RTWING” vanity plate and is maybe being repossessed get into the position to even have 37,000 dollars in credit to begin with? Well turns out if court papers and things like legal judgments are any indication he simply lied.
Spinning yarns of an Incredible Medical Invention, specifically a Super Wheelchair; which was bringing back returns of 75%, (or roughly 300% what Bernie Maddoff claimed to be able to deliver) was just what his Right Wing friends loved to hear. He was a salt of the earth middle america guy who was outperforming the East Coast Elites at their own game! So of course they threw their money to him! At least that’s what he claimed when he took 30,000 smackeroo’s off a father-son business team which the court very much thinks he needs to return. I’m assuming he parked in back so they wouldn’t have the quandary of ‘why would a millionaire drive an 800 dollar quarter century old car?’ to shock them into reality. Or maybe Butina helped them see it his way? She does trade in sex.
The 30k he just took of course turd-blossomed into a court case. So when this happened of course Erickson got a lawyer. And when that lawyer never got paid and quit Erickson got himself another (who also quit due to non-payment). It’s unclear if he’s currently represented. So it’s likely all he has for a lawyer going in is a Public Defender…..against the Mueller Team. So in other words we will have an In Court recreation of the On the Court performance of the 1993 USA Olympic Basketball Dream Team vs China. In other words, a horrible legal slaughter featuring dizzying running up of the score to the point Erickson may never walk free again.
So, being hard up against the prospect of living in public park somewhere in Sioux Falls once that mustang gets seized by Marshals is one of the charming aspects of this handsome fellow who has a 28-year-old Live-In girlfriend (that apparently he wasn’t allowed to call ‘girlfriend’ in public). Her leading traits? She loved Putin and guns in that order. She also magically had just enough difference making cash whenever it needed to appear. I wonder why those cynics at the FBI don’t think this is love?
In some ways Erickson is sort of for real. He was almost a part of the Transition. We know now that means he was totally a part of the Transition and talked informally to Trump all the time. His assessment of the picks as bad and the rejects as worse seems to verify he had knowledge. Just ask the neighbor he boasted to for 5 years in the building Erickson’s been in since he was only a few years older than Butina is now. The neighbor told CNN all sorts of stuff. Like that Butina was always pining to go back to Russia.
When he did work it was as a Right Wing dirty tricks guy (per the same CNN article and other sources). His specialty? Well that just happens to be Negative Information on Democrats. Wonder who was feeding him that?
He also had a stellar rep with and emerging ties to, of course, the NRA. That helped his Right Wing Hater Rep and enabled him to steal even more.
The preposterous nature of this guys crazy grifting somehow made him an influential guy and pals with Trump and his buddies. In a way it makes sense. Erickson used the Trump University model to get his money. He lied to people about having a Golden Goose and a way to clone it for yourself.
Aside from a talent to spend money he didn’t have and lie this guy doesn’t seen to have anything going for him. He’s just one of those people who get a few years of fun out of conning people and then spends forever paying for it.
For Erickson being a chump and a loser whose spy girlfriend just wanted away from him is the first dose of ComeUppance. Theres sure to be many more before this guy ultimately goes to a Supermax forever.
Update – On the December 5 Rachel Maddow Show it was reported that Erickson has received a “Target Letter” from the FBI that maybe they’re looking to charge him with what amounts to spying. This as the NRA is looking to be under suspicion of being a tool of the Kremlin and as Butina seems to be trying to make some sort of deal.
UPDATE 2-7 Paul Erickson is now under indictment for Wire Fraud and some other financial cons, some including his ‘Girlfriend’ , Maria Butina, who seems to have started cooperating aginst poor Erickson before she was even formally charged herself, Jil seems imminent.
A Facebook message to Erickson has not been returned (kidding)
UPDATED – Thought by her Kremlin masters to be just unattractive enough to not be seen as a honeypot we have 29 year old soviet style FSB semi-sleeper Russian Agent Maria Butina. She’s been at the peripheral of the right wings worst ideas, notably the NRA and it’s constant push for expanded gun rights and a no Background checks.
A Ridiculous Fake Persona
Posing in some accounts as a grad student writing a thesis in whatever she was sort of a eyepiece for the Kremlin as it looked for Americans who were inclined towards or already on a treasonous path. So of COURSE groups like Evangelicals, CPAC and the NRA caught her attention and were passed up the FSB food chain where Putin and his guys can work them over into useful Quislings or worse.
How powerful a spy is she? Well we cant be sure but she had a powerful Spymaster controlling her, one Alexander Torshin. Consider him an FSB Oligarch in the service of Putin. Torshin garnered hapless congressman Dana Rohrbacher as a pal and even punked John Bolton into going to Russia to encourage a (fictional) gun rights movement for a fistful of dubious cash Bolton all too naively took. (The idea Russia would let its citizens own guns is outright ridiculous as its a complete autocracy that has long been killing journalists. Like they would want those journalists to be able to shoot back? Come now!)
The “Foreign Policy Expert” comes off like a complete idiot in the video, and the fake russian group left up until late summer 2018, so you can see it HERE – its a real LOL actually
So no two ways about it, Butina is a big deal. She could pick winners and losers via dirty tricks, she could funnel money and information. Was she was a full blown spy? It seems that way.
Maria Butina and Rick Santorum
It was most likely either her or Torshin who bagged over or arranged some kind of crypto-currency exchange of 30 MILLION DOLLARS to the NRA, much earmarked for Pro-Trump (and virulently Anti-Hillary) ads. She was somewhat ubiquitous in attending Right Wing Functions like Gun Shows and CPAC. An image search brings back dozens of pictures of her gun totting and bible thumping with the dumbest of them.
UPDATE- Butina seems to have legitimately had a 5 grand a month contract with the Outdoor Channel. Why? It’s pretty hard to say but it was reported as verified on the July 25 Rachel Maddow Show. I’m pretty sure the NRA figures in to this too. So the Spy is doing better than her fake boyfriend.
She got caught up in some ‘gun totter on the streets’ interviews the NRA put together for the internet. More bizarrely, she was suddenly a press corps member whose strange question about US – Russian Sanctions to Trump at an NRA Friendly right wing forum on July 11, 2015 scared the shit out of Steve Bannon (per Fire & Fury and other sources). Butina came off like a spy to Bannon, proving that even bigots can have moments of clarity.
The NRA- Ready-made Traitors
With then NRA president Wayne LaPierre
If your goal is dividing America and taking it apart the NRA is a great place to start. YOu don’t need to be genius to figure this one out. Former NRA President Wayne Lapierre was an endless fountain of UnAmerican comments.
Disdain for law enforcement, constant sympathy for armed Open Carry lunatics and introducing Conspiracy Theories at the moment any Gun Massacre occurs are the methods of the NRA. They are right out of the old Soviet Playbook that Russian Intelligence works off of. Its EASY to make a case the NRA is a Russian Front Organization.
Not Hiding in plain sight
The NRA is such a treasonous, unAmerican Organization that you don’t need to be all that smart to see it ripe for sowing sedition in it’s rhetoric. As far back as the early 90’s the NRA had called US Federal Agents acting on a duly sworn warrant “Jackbooted Thugs”, a statement that so pissed off former president George HW Bush he uttered a few profanities while quitting and then condemning the organization.
While I’m no fan, Bannon allegedly was smart enough and savvy enough to immediately be struck by Butina’s question and stunned enough to think it over and judge it more than a bit strange. Bannon, for all his bile, racism and bad ideas policy-wise, was perhaps the most intelligent Trumpist and he was totally right on this one.
Butina was a plant and the question was written by the Kremlin. Why Trump, who hates the media, indulged her for a question also seemed weird to Bannon (and he was right to think that). So we’re not talking subtlety here. Borderline Brazen is a better term.
Butina had claimed some strange privileges in the past. Like saying she had a Diplomatic Passport and could spirit people in and out of Russia in a boasting session to an FBI Agent. So like I said, this wasn’t all that subtle. So maybe the full blown spy wasn’t given the best training? Nevertheless she was effective.
UPDATE- in the July 18 installment of CNN with Don Lemon, Juliette Kayem said theres some indications the NRA actually sponsored Butina’s student visa, meaning she’s a planned plant and the NRA is an ongoing treasonous enterprise.
Butina in Custody
Now sitting in jail and unlikely to get out barring some kind of spy exchange, Big Butina is probably going to clam up and wait for her government to go ahead and catch someone worthy of exchanging for her (unlikely).
She has no chance of getting bail. She will rot in jail until some kind of trial, which will probably be the End of the NRA and maybe her sugar daddy congressman buddy, Dana Rohrbacher, a guy fellow GOP Rep Kevin McCarthy has described as “taking money right from Putin”
UPDATE- Butina now seems to be willing to make a deal with the US Government. It’s described as ‘Unheard Of”. In an unheard of move Mara Butina is ‘cooperating’ with US Government Investigators. Its crazy,, but then again, so’s everything else about her story. Keep your “Punked Filter” on as always when dealing with the Kremlin and its minions. She may be trying to pull something on her own behalf or be continuing her mission from jail It’s hard to say.
Butina’s charges aren’t sealed. This makes her somewhat unique among Mueller Probe Catches. She will be a valuable window for the general public to see some of the machinations of the Mueller Probe, which to this point looks effective and inexorable.
Butina was certainly sizing up options for the Kremlin. The indictment against her includes statements to known FSB sources as damning as “I await further orders.” She wasn’t selling stuff on consignment to Pottery Barn, so you don’t have to be genius to know what that meant.
Final thought – Maybe Jessica Chastain for the movie? Jessica’s much prettier, but on the other hand, she’s familiar with spy roles.
Since the inception of this blog I have referred to the NRA as a Russian Front. I have called Putin the ‘actual leader’ of the NRA and I have pointed out that their rhetoric is Anti-American. Yesterday I got a whole lot of backup on that in the form of Maria Butina, a Russian spy and weirdo who you may have noticed on the peripheral of right wing activism.
The National Rifle Association has been on a Treasonous Path at least since the Ruby Ridge Incident in 1992. Thats when then NRA Wayne LaPierre called the government agents acting on a duly sworn search warrant “Jack Booted Thugs”. This was so out of line then president George HW Bush purportedly said “Who the Hell is Wayne LaPierre anyway?” and quit the organization out of disgust.
And its been easy to connect the dots since then. If they weren’t already getting money to undermine the government at that point they had started broadcasting a desire for it.
How to Train Your Traitor
Essentially the world is full of horrible people who will do anything for money. The more money you throw in the mix the more horrible people are willing to act. Its McTeag’s Law.
Wayne LaPierre got over 15 MILLION DOLLARS for 3 years helming the NRA before treasonous loser Ollie North replaced him in May of 2018. Where’s that kind of money come from? Looks to me like it’s coming from Putin and his oligarch’s.
Loathsome Dana Loesch, enigmatic Colion Noir and North are part of a three headed treasonous monster fed by the Kremlin and controlled by Putin directly. They eat Bitcoin and Putin feeds them well. Why else would they hatefully attack schoolchildren for having the temerity to survive an Active Shooter? The shady secret all the NRA ‘faces’ have in common is that they care nothing for their nation or their fellow citizens, not even the children. Just listen to a few seconds of anything Ted Nugent says and its clear these people are NOT about America at all.
All for money. RT aka Russia TV and NRA-TV have the same message all the time. Its a pro Kremlin Message that is hateful and UnAmerican. The uniformity of the messages is undeniable.
There’s other Gun Rights Groups out there if you just cant live without being part of a gun agitation group. The National Rifle Association doesnt need your money and doesnt care what you think. They’re pawns of Putin and an extension of the Kremlin
Russian Spy and Right Wing darling Maria Butina has been down with them for 4 years and has rated them ripe for mobilization as a Treasonous Organization for the Kremlin. They were already completely against America and Civility. They just needed an injection of cash, which the Kremlin was happy to provide. They also threw in a few style tips that culminate in the guise of NRA TV’s crazy messages and propaganda. The real question is if the NRA was in with the Russians before all this. My guess is- Probably. The Anti-Government and Anti-Law Enforcement Statements have been their true north for more than a decade (at least).
Trump and the NRA were a natural match. It was like setting up two people with the same strain of herpes. They were already toxic and a breeding ground for new diseases. The NRA ploughed MILLIONS of dollars into pro-Trump, Anti-Hillary Ads. In an election as fluke-ish as 2016 it was enough to be one of several reasons Trump overcame the odds and somehow won.
Resist the NRA. They are in fact nothing more than a Treasonous Terrorist Anti-Police Organization.