On Friday, the government filed sentencing guidelines for Russian agent Maria Butina. Despite speculation that Butina’s connections with the NRA and Republican politicians might net her no more than a suspended sentence and a deportation back to Russia—where she can expect something of a hero’s welcome—the government instead asked for an 18-month sentence on a single count of conspiracy. They describe her as “not a spy in the traditional sense of trying to gain access to classified information to send back to her home country” but insist that Butina’s actions were “for the benefit of the Russian Federation, and those actions had the potential to damage the national security of the United States.”
The sentencing document details both Butina’s actions, how they compare to others sentenced for the same crime, and why the government is seeking a sentence solidly in the middle of the potential range. But appended to the sentencing guidelines is an addendum authored by the former head of the FBI Counterintelligence Division. And that addendum doesn’t just explain why Butina’s actions are significant, they provide a window into something that has so far gone almost without mention in the post-Mueller report period—the counterintelligence investigation of Russian actions.
Andrew Weiss, Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, picked up on the addendum to Butina’s sentencing and has done an evaluation to show how these pages reveal the significance of what’s still lurking out there when it comes to Russia, the Trump campaign, 2016, and beyond.
View the complete April 23 article by Mark Sumner on the Daily Kos website here.