Maria Butina has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to act as an unregistered agent for the Russian government in the United States.
She will get credit for the 9 months she's already served, meaning she must now serve an additional 9 months under today's sentence.
There must be interesting reasons she received so many visits from Russian “consular officials” while detained during her trial.
“You have a future ahead of you,” said the judge during Butina's sentencing hearing. “I wish you the best luck."
Also in today's news, President Donald Trump will shortly address the NRA convention in Indianapolis.
Butina's work as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia's military was to develop ties with Trump and the NRA, to influence America and achieve Russian foreign policy goals within the borders of its enemy.
The prosecutor said that Butina was executing a plan to establish contact between the two governments, for the benefit of Russia. The information was “of extreme importance to the Russian Federation,” he said. “She was not simply a grad student.” https://t.co/GnCqlNwLvG
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) April 26, 2019
NOW: Maria Butina has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to act as an agent for the Russian government in the United States (she will get credit for the 9 months she's already served)
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) April 26, 2019
Butina's sentencing memorandum was fairly extraordinary and highlights the on-going threat from Russia that @KenDilanianNBC and I wrote earlier this week https://t.co/41R5Lz4LeT
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) April 26, 2019
As Trump addresses the NRA, I wonder if he’ll talk about the Maria Butina prosecution/sentencing and the Russian connections she was making with the NRA? Will he ask if the NRA received dirty Russian money, and if so, was that money passed on to political candidates?
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) April 26, 2019
BREAKING: Maria Butina sentenced to 18 months in prison. pic.twitter.com/OFjOkRr5Qy
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 26, 2019
