Maria Butina & Her “Russian Collusion” Strikes Again
For those Democrats who had hoped this story would gain traction and harm Republican candidates and Congressional members, a little fact digging leaves them with a nightmare of yet another failed Obama Administration scandal.
A recent article revealed Congressional Representative Randy Weber (R-14) met with Maria Butina, who was just indicted by a grand jury for violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The implication is clear. Weber met with a Russian spy.
I have spent a great deal of time with Weber, and I can say with confidence, I was stunned at these allegations. After all the policy discussions, personal time, and lengthy political discussions we’ve shared, this is not the Randy Weber I call a friend. Weber is all Red, White and Blue.
Weber’s D.C. office confirmed to me that indeed, he did meet with Alexander Torshin. While the officials note that they cannot confirm whether Butina attended that meeting, but that she may have been there.
At the time of the 2015 meeting, Congressman Weber was on the Europe and Eurasia subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Meeting with international counterparts from countries in his subcommittee’s jurisdiction was a normal part of his duties. Torshin requested the short meeting that lasted 15-20 minutes. He wanted to discuss U.S.-Russia relations, international economic issues, and his perspective on Russia’s financial situation and how it affects Russian politics. At the time, Torshin was the State Secretary and Deputy Governor of Russia’s Central Bank.
Not only did Butina meet with specific members of Congressional committees and sub-committee members, but she also met with officials from the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve in 2015.
The timing of this couldn’t be better for Rep. Weber’s Democrat challenger in the November elections. It’s all part of the Russian hoax – a gift that keeps on giving (even when the gift is spoiled rotten before you ever open it).
Let’s look at the facts, something that Reuters should have already done before disseminating this piece through clickbait “news” sites.
In the full Memorandum for Pre-Trial Detention of Maria Butina, it is clear that the FBI knew about and ignored all of the activities she was involved in during the years that Peter Strzok was head of the Counter-Intelligence department. Yes, this is the same Peter Strzok who has recently been under fire for his biased text messages with his mistress against President Donald Trump.
John Solomon told Lou Dobb’s last week,
“I’ll tell you a little story I’ve never told before. In March of 2015, I observed her at several events and really cozying up to conservatives and making what I thought was a weak-handed case that she was this courageous gun rights activist going up against Putin and there would one day be a Second Amendment in Russia. There’s never going to be a Second Amendment in Russia. I became very perplexed by her behavior and her efforts of going up to presidential candidates and congressional candidates. So, I started to do some reporting, and I called FBI and US intelligence sources, and very quickly I learned, “Yeah, we know that she’s somebody here as an agent of influence. She’s connected to this guy Torshin, and we know what she’s trying to do.” And I thought that’s really interesting. Are they going to tell the people she’s meeting with, and it doesn’t appear they ever did? I thought the role of FBI counter-intelligence was to prevent contacts from occurring that are not in the interest of the United States. It sounds like they sat around and watched this for three or four years until it was convenient to create a headline.”
Could the lack of action by the leadership of the FBI in 2015 and 2016 be part of their plan to ensnare conservative Congressional officials? Or, was this a case of total ineptness by the department heads to stop the influence of Russian spies on American sovereign soil? After all, the facts reveal that the “hacking” attempts were done under the Obama Administration.
Either way, the FBI knew Torshin, and they knew Butina and failed to act, while leaving our elected Representatives vulnerable to what the Democrats have deemed, “The evilest country on the globe,” Russia.
It appears that this is just another attempt to sully the good reputations of conservative members of Congress that winds right back to the Democrats and Deep State corruption.