BC USG wrongly accused Mariia Butina of being a serial honey pot, people are interested in whether she's overcharged. I've written 3 posts comparing her charging w/Manaforts. https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/08/30/spy-versus-spy-the-two-alleged-agents-of-foreign-powers-sitting-in-the-alexandria-jail-part-one-paulie/ … https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/09/03/spy-versus-spy-the-two-alleged-agents-of-foreign-powers-sitting-in-the-alexandria-jail-part-two-mariia/ … https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/09/08/is-a-tie-with-vladimir-putin-what-makes-mariia-butina-more-of-a-spy-than-paul-manafort/ …
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Short story: FBI wasn't sure whether they were going to charge Butina w/FARA violation (what Manafort faces in DC this month) or 18 USC 951 (spying). They saw stuff in a search that made them decide to charge her w/section 951.
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But DOJ maintains that they can charge conduct that would otherwise be FARA under section 951, meaning they can treat influence operations like Butina's as spying.
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Another perhaps more interesting questions is whether the stuff Manafort is suspected of having done during the election amounts to section 951. Anyway, now that Mueller is putting real teeth into FARA, it will make boundary bt FARA and 951 more interesting.
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Replying to @emptywheel
It'd have been really intriguing if after more thoroughly flushing out Flynn and other FARA violations, they'd gone after Manafort under 951. Prosecutorially risky, but it would've shaken the foundations of the corrupt DC influence peddling community to the core.
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Replying to @anaphoristand
Depending on what he actually did in 2016 I don't rule out that being a threat against him. He was asking for help from Russians.
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Replying to @emptywheel
Yeah, I guess I find it most interesting not as leverage against any one perpetrator in this case but as an outlining how common-ish(?) behaviors in the larger "lobbying" community might be prosecuted as espionage going forward. It's a nice wrench to throw in the revolving door.
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The real wrench will be if any outcome of the Manafort trial ends up in him having his profits seized (or the same for Patten). That'll get the influence peddlers' attention.
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Replying to @emptywheel
For sure. Do those godawful suits have resale value?
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