A Russian national arrested and indicted for espionage over her infiltration during the 2016 election penetrated the highest levels of government.
Initial reporting indicated Maria Butina tried to gain access to Republican political influencers through the NRA, but today Reuters revealed she landed meetings with two senior officials in the Obama administration. (Hot Air)
The meetings, disclosed by several people familiar with the sessions and a report prepared by a Washington think tank that arranged them, involved Stanley Fischer, then Federal Reserve vice chairman, and Nathan Sheets, then Treasury undersecretary for international affairs.
Butina traveled to the United States in April 2015 with Alexander Torshin, then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor, and they took part in separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets to discuss U.S.-Russian economic relations during Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration.
The two meetings, which have not been previously reported, reveal a wider circle of high-powered connections that Butina sought with American political leaders and special interest groups.
The think tank that coordinated the meetings in April 2015, Center for the National Interest, has urged President Trump to improve relations with Moscow and avoid any European provocations.
The timing of her meeting is also interesting. Russia annexed Crimea one year earlier and already launched a stealth invasion of Eastern Ukraine to bolster a pro-Russian revolt.
Despite ominous, unmistakable signs from the Kremlin, Obama naively still yearned for friendlier ties with Putin.
Given this revelation, it’s easy to understand why the NRA didn’t question Butina’s credentials. If the White House granted her access to high-ranking State Department officials, how could anything seem out of order?
Democrats, increasingly desperate to prove the right compromised the 2016 election once again ignore the real story: that Russian meddling succeeded because the incompetent Obama administration failed to prevent it.
AAN Staff
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