***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[Belgium]

Excerpt:

Butina is accused of trying to cultivate “back-channel” relationships with the Republican Party’s leading 2016 presidential candidates and develop close ties to the NRA to provide Russian officials “with the best access to and influence over” the party.

Prosecutors alleged that Torshin coordinated Butina’s activities, writing that at his direction, she drafted language to persuade the Russian Foreign Ministry to let him attend the NRA meeting as a “unique opportunity” to network with Trump and his entourage.

The campaign declined a request by Erickson to have Trump meet Torshin, but Torshin and Butina briefly chatted with Donald Trump Jr. at a dinner at the convention, the president’s son has said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.12be7b86e31f
Maria Butina, alleged Russian agent who met with NRA and other groups, is in plea talks
Attorneys for a Russian woman jailed on charges of seeking to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other American conservative groups for the Russian government are in negotiations with federal prosecutors, both sides said in a court filing Friday.

Lawyers for Maria Butina, 29, and the U.S. attorney’s office for the District made the disclosure about talks over a potential plea agreement in a two-page filing that asked U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to postpone a Dec. 6 court hearing by about two weeks.

“The parties state that they continue to engage, as they did before yesterday’s defense filing, in negotiations regarding a potential resolution of this matter and that those negotiations would be potentially hindered” by simultaneous litigation, both sides wrote.

The motion came a day after Butina attorneys Robert N. Driscoll and Alfred D. Carry asked the court to dismiss the two charges their client faces, arguing that a law that bars acting in the United States as an unregistered agent of a foreign government — one of the counts — is unconstitutionally vague and criminalizes otherwise protected and legal speech by noncitizens. They said that a second count alleging conspiracy was duplicative, charging Butina with the same underlying conduct.

Chutkan granted the delay and set new court date for Dec. 19.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu declined to comment, as did Driscoll. A gag order is in place in the case.

Butina pleaded not guilty after being indicted July 17. Her defense said she was merely networking to develop relationships with Americans and not acting as a clandestine agent.

The court ordered Butina held without bond as a flight risk.

Butina is accused of trying to cultivate “back-channel” relationships with the Republican Party’s leading 2016 presidential candidates and develop close ties to the NRA to provide Russian officials “with the best access to and influence over” the party.

Butina allegedly was assisted by Paul Erickson, a South Dakota-based Republican consultant she met in Moscow in 2013 and with whom she has been romantically linked.

Erickson helped introduce Butina to influential political figures and who sought to organize a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Alexander Torshin, Butina’s colleague and a Russian central banker, at a May 2016 NRA convention.

Prosecutors alleged that Torshin coordinated Butina’s activities, writing that at his direction, she drafted language to persuade the Russian Foreign Ministry to let him attend the NRA meeting as a “unique opportunity” to network with Trump and his entourage.

The campaign declined a request by Erickson to have Trump meet Torshin, but Torshin and Butina briefly chatted with Donald Trump Jr. at a dinner at the convention, the president’s son has said.

 

[aepps20]

Very proud of my President Elect for his explanation. Makes perfect sense to me and I'm sure he made this decision with a heavy heart. Rain can cause colds which can lead to death. Don't blame him for not risking it.

 

[SoleByThePound]

Where is the "you better stand for the flag" and "I'm boycotting Nike" crowd at?

Planning their next cross burning and clan rally.

 

[deleted]

This bish really need to point out the funny parts of these "jokes" she has made

 

[...So]

.

 

[RustyShackleford]

**** Kemp

 

[aepps20]

Brian Rainman Kemp handled everything BEAUTIFULLY. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.

 

[d nice]

This was pure theft. **** that ***** *** ***** Kemp!

 

[blastercombo]

Where is the "you better stand for the flag" and "I'm boycotting Nike" crowd at?

Still wearing their “roll tide” Nike t shirts.

 

[blastercombo]

This was pure theft. **** that ***** *** ***** Kemp!

If you needed any proof the voting system as is is a joke, there ya go. From throwing votes in the trash to signature BS

 

[d nice]

Throw white supremacy in the dustbin of history if you want a better future.

 

[plansb]

kemp is just a kid, this is absurd

edit: those stacey stussy shirts are dope

 

[Cashflow]

 

[HIM]

Voter suppression running rampant and we still got people who respond with “my vote doesn’t matter.”

That’s a great way to fight it. That’ll show em

 

[boris]

u aint lyin
i feel weird walking around in downtown livermore

San Francisco has gotten real bad with all the tech. It's a bunch of ****ing yuppies.

 

[d nice]

Gonna be paying special attention to that Mike Espy race in Mississippi. His opponent Cindy Hyde-Smith has been caught on camera joking about lynching people.

 

[...So]

.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

It’s amazing how very little has changed.

 

[tay1]

So what's the deal about several prominent Democrats voting against the prison reform bill?

 

[RustyShackleford]

So what's the deal about several prominent Democrats voting against the prison reform bill?

As I understand the bill Trump put support behind is a stripped down version of a bipartisan strip down compromise. Many fear Trump and some conservatives are only willing to pass peanuts for a PR win and to have a talking point to kill the discussion for more broader reforms. Some civil rights groups are against the bill because they say it does little, and they are scared of said implications about how it is going to be framed.

Just imagine:

Obama wanted broad reforms, the GOP said **** no.

Now Trump agrees to peanuts, then gets to walk around and say "I did something for the blacks Obama didn't even do", and a lot of low information people are gonna fall for it.

This bill is not a broad criminal justice reform by any measure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/prison-reform-bill.html

 

[IATT]

 

[boris]

As I understand the bill Trump put support behind is a stripped down version of a bipartisan strip down compromise. Many fear Trump and some conservatives are only willing to pass peanuts for a PR win and to have a talking point to kill the discussion for more broader reforms. Some civil rights groups are against the bill because they say it does little, and they are scared of said implications about how it is going to be framed.

Just imagine:

Obama wanted broad reforms, the GOP said **** no.

Now Trump agrees to peanuts, then gets to walk around and say "I did something for the blacks Obama didn't even do", and a lot of low information people are gonna fall for it.

This bill is not a broad criminal justice reform by any measure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/16/us/prison-reform-bill.html

Yeah, it feels like the GOP's attempt to say they did something and then walk away.

 

[whywesteppin]

CIA deep state shouldn't be getting involved in politics. The Crown Price is innocent. Journalists would be safer if they just carried around more bone saws. Crackhead Acosta is the real criminal, along with his sidekick Crackhead Comey. God help us.

 

[23kidd]

CIA deep state shouldn't be getting involved in politics. The Crown Price is innocent. Journalists would be safer if they just carried around more bone saws. Crackhead Acosta is the real criminal, along with his sidekick Crackhead Comey. God help us.

Rusty? Back up account?

 

[IATT]