Cartoon

Totally Controlled

Written by SK Ashby

(Cartoonist - Kevin Siers)

In other news, the state of New York has launched an investigation of the Kushner Co. in response to this Associated Press story. The Kushners allegedly used construction to force tenants out of a building they purchased.

Meanwhile, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already had 2 ethics complaints filed against him. The complaints involve a couple cronies Wheeler appointed to high level positions.

Finally, Mariia Butina, the so-called Russian femme fatale who lobbied the NRA (and others), has been arrested and charged for operating as an unregistered foreign agent.

From the Department of Justice press release:

Mariia Butina, 29, a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested on July 15, 2018, in Washington, D.C., and made her initial appearance this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was ordered held pending a hearing set for July 18, 2018.

According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018.

The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation. The filings also describe certain actions taken by Butina to further this effort during multiple visits from Russia and, later, when she entered and resided in the United States on a student visa. The filings allege that she undertook her activities without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law.