TPM has the beginnings of a nice chart on people connected to accused Russian spy Mariia Butina.
But, akin to what Police Chief Brody said in JAWS…….
We’re gonna need a bigger……boat…...chart…..
…...because there’s good reason to believe that both Michael Flynn and K.T. McFarland should be added. Apparently, the same man who had an ongoing sexual relationship with Butina (Paul Erickson), also lobbied HARD to have Michael Flynn and K.T. McFarland on the Trump transition team, and then later K.T. for Adviser to the National Security Team.
And these are just SOME of the Russian-compromised players in this particular slice of RussiaGate. Well, Flynn had the good sense to drop out early, and flip to Mueller’s team, and I know way too much about him……...
But I had forgotten about K.T. McFarland
“Maria Butina is currently in the USA. She writes me that D. Trump (an NRA member) is truly in favor of cooperation with Russia,” Torshin tweeted in Russian in February 2016.
The following month, she emailed an American contact that Torshin had received approval from Putin’s administration for their efforts, according to court filings. On the night of Trump’s election victory, the filings say, she messaged Torshin, “I’m going to sleep. It’s 3 a.m. here. I am ready for further orders.”
Erickson lobbied for a role in Trump’s transition team and complained after the election when he ran into a problem with his security clearance, according to people familiar with the situation.
Even without official credentials, he pressed Trump donors and former campaign officials, pushing for top positions for people he thought especially qualified. One person recalled his lobbying to get K.T. McFarland named as an adviser to Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.
And much like "Tinker to Evers to Chance" it was “Putin to Torshin to Butina to Erickson to Flynn/McFarland”…….to getting Putin’s Russia plans accomplished in the U.S.
Well,
Flynn dropped the ball
McFarland missed the tag
Erickson had the wrong uniform on
And Butina is now sitting in dugout-jail, without bail, awaiting trial.
But The Big Bambino Trump can still win one for the Gipper.
If this can all be surmised, I think it would look something like this:
Ex-KGB veteran, now President of Russia, Vladimir Putin hatched a multi-armed, multifaceted. multi-year scheme to bribe, extort, and/or compromise DOZENS of American politicians (including the president) and other high-powered people (including the NRA), in order to get his country’s policies enacted by the U.S.
And Trump is STILL trying to make it WORK
Those policies include:
1. The U.S. Supporting (or at least ignoring) his annexation of Crimea
2. Weakening NATO (to allow re-grabbing Eastern-block countries)
3. Weakening the EU (to weaken NATO)
4. Discrediting the U.S. Press/Media
5. Civil unrest and chaos (White Supremacists rallies)
6. Weakening or canceling of Russian sanctions
7. ???