New: Russian spy Maria Butina may be negotiating a plea deal (bad news for Trump and NRA)

[Mrs. Overall]

Link to tweet

Natasha Bertrand
‏Verified account

Looks like Maria Butina is negotiating with prosecutors.

[Botany]

1. Maria Butina is going to flip on Putin, Trump, and the NRA?

[Blue_true]

15. She has had Russian embassy contact the whole time.

Need to be cautious with her. She may have been told to make a deal, but give up what Putin wants given up.

[AlexSFCA]

2. cant see her flipping on putin

she understands that not only her life will be in danger for the rest of days but all her relatives lives.

[bluestarone]

3. YEP she's in a VERY TOUGH SPOT!!!

Wouldn't want to be in her shoes!!

[AlexSFCA]

4. her best bet is suicide to protect the family

[Botany]

6. Mueller can protect her in America but you might be right about the rest of her friends and family.

Why am I thinking of "Frankie 5 Angels" from Godfather 2?

[maryellen99]

8. I bet she ends up in Witness protection nt

[Blue_true]

16. I loved GF2.

But, missed the part about Frankie 5 Angels.

[Botany]

19. This might help

"They went home and sat in a hot bath and opened their veins, and bled to death. Sometimes they gave a little party before they did it.
Don't worry about anything Frankie Five Angels.

[Blue_true]

20. Ok, I thought that was it.

But there was also the attempted choking in the bar that the police officer broke up.

Thanks for the reminder.

[Botany]

21. Have you ever stopped and thought just how f***ing mobbed up Trump and company are ...

.... and have been.

[Blue_true]

23. Anyone that did real estate when his dad and him were building had to work with the mob.

The mob owned major construction and concrete in NYC during the 70s and 80s and into the 90s, until the Feds dropped RICO statues on their asses.

I wonder how big the Italian mob is these days, given other more vicious mobs like the Russians and Ukrainians?

[Botany]

24. I can understand buying concrete from the mob back then.

They owned the business and if you wanted concrete that is who you had to buy it from
but many examples of Trump working with the mob are out there such as his mentor
and mob lawyer Roy Cohen.

[Blue_true]

25. Yes, he did other business with the mob.

He is in a box now. Look like the Mueller investigation may be spreading based upon some info posted here on DU.

[Botany]

26. And all of Trump's many mob connections were well known but did we ever hear about them?

Not really but did we hear about HRC and her emails.

[Blue_true]

27. Yep. nt

[jpak]

5. Ruh Roh!

[libdem4life]

7. I don't see why she should have to flip on Putin. That would be self-defeating, IMO.

She needs to feel and be as safe as possible. I hope this is true. It would be giant investigative step and perhaps explain the recent action from Cohen and extension of Manafort's sentencing.

[Blue_true]

17. Anything she has to give up likely leads back to Russia.

Russian agents didn't act in isolation, Putin would have approved everything. She is in danger regardless.

[libdem4life]

29. Most likely...but leads back to and flipping...maybe not as much...hopefully.

I think the investigation will be sensitive to her safety concerns and she'll likely have some representation...particularly due to the linguistics. She may speak English, but this is a different level of language and cultural perception.

She is in a no-win situation, it seems. Wonder if she could have gone back to Russia before this? Surely she would have known this day would come.

[Blue_true]

31. She certainly won't make out like Anna Chapman did.

If Putin suspects that she has given up sensitive information, she just as well stay in the US under witness protection until Putin is dead and even beyond that. She has her ass in a sling.

I read that she was originally some poor girl from Siberia or some other outlying part of Russia, who was given a shot at the bigtime. There are likely more like her embedded in the USA, young, pretty, look to be doing innocent stuff like getting college BS and advanced degrees.

The Feds seem to have been tracking her for some time. If she was smart, the last time she went to Russia, she should have done a Snowden and stayed.

[triron]

9. This may be a very BIG deal. Time will tell.

Might this have any relevance to Mueller's filing yesterday?

[janx]

10. Yep. From Reuters:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-butina/prosecutors-in-talks-with-accused-russian-agent-to-resolve-case-filing-idUSKCN1NL2B3?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Her mug shot is in this article. I always thought she was just some two-bit player, but it appears that might not be the case.

[poli-junkie]

11. I hope she rats on McConnell and rest

of the repukes who were on the take from Russian laundered money through the NRA.

[Botany]

12. Like OH's Rob Portman who took $10,000,000. from the NRA?

[Achilleaze]

18. republicans are deep in bed with the russians and their money mob

As they work together to weaken America, and undermine American democracy.

[libdem4life]

30. Pressure heavy on The Cretin as likely 100s, or so I've heard,

may go down. The tentacles are deep, as the money was freely flowing. Time to pay the piper.

[triron]

13. knr

[UTUSN]

14. K&R

[Mr. Ected]

22. Manafort, Stone, Flynn et al. can bring down the Trump cabal

But Maria Butina could help bring down the GOP criminal syndicate, from Mitch to Devin to Rohrabacher to Chaffetz to Ryan to Rand. Hell, they're probably ALL co-conspirators.

[CentralMass]

28. It warms the heart on a Friday.

[Blue_Tires]

32. k+r