A5
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018
Russian woman admits to being a secret agent
By MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A
Russian woman accused of
being a secret agent admit-
ted today that she conspired
to infi ltrate the American
gun-rights movement to
gather intelligence on con-
servative political groups
as Donald Trump rose to
power.
Maria Butina, 30, agreed
to plead guilty to a conspir-
acy charge as part of a deal
with federal prosecutors.
The case, which is sep-
arate from special counsel
Robert Mueller’s investiga-
tion into Russian meddling
in the 2016 U.S. presidential
election, has offered insight
into how Moscow seeks to
infl uence American policy.
Prosecutors say Butina
and her Russian patron,
Alexander Torsion, used
their contacts in the National
Rifl e Association to pur-
sue Russian back channels
to American conservatives
during that campaign, when
Republican Trump defeated
Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Butina’s case, brought by
federal prosecutors in Wash-
ington, also comes amid a
broader push by the Jus-
tice Department to enforce
U.S. laws governing for-
eign agents, including those
accused of working for
Russia.
As part of her deal,
Butina pleaded guilty to a
single charge of conspiracy
to act as an unregistered for-
eign agent and she agreed to
cooperate with investigators.
She probably will be
deported from the U.S. after
her sentence is completed.
The charge carries a maxi-
Associated Press
Maria Butina, leader of a pro-gun organization in Russia,
speaks to a crowd in 2013 during a rally in support of
legalizing the possession of handguns in Moscow.
mum sentence of fi ve years
in prison, though the defense
noted today that federal sen-
tencing guidelines recom-
mend no time to six months.
Authorities charged that
Butina’s work was directed
by Torshin, a Russian gov-
ernment bank offi cial now
under sanction by the Trea-
sury Department for his ties
to Russian President Vladi-
mir Putin.
Prosecutors also have
said that Butina’s boyfriend,
conservative political oper-
ative Paul Erickson, identi-
fi ed in court papers as “U.S.
Person 1,” helped her estab-
lish ties with the NRA.
In their fi lings, prosecu-
tors have said federal agents
found Butina had contact
information for people sus-
pected of being employed
by Russia’s Federal Security
Services, or FSB, the suc-
cessor intelligence agency to
the KGB. Inside her home,
they found notes referring
to a potential job offer from
the FSB, according to the
documents.
Investigators recovered
several emails and Twit-
ter direct message conver-
sations in which Butina
referred to the need to keep
her work secret and, in one
instance, said it should be
“incognito.”
Prosecutors
said Butina had contact with
Russian intelligence offi -
cials and that the FBI pho-
tographed her dining with a
diplomat suspected of being
a Russian intelligence agent.
Butina’s lawyer, Rob-
ert Driscoll, had previously
decried the charges against
her as “overblown” and said
prosecutors criminalized her
mundane networking oppor-
tunities. He has said his cli-
ent was a student interested
in American politics and
wanted to see a better rela-
tionship between the U.S.
and Russia.
Butina, jailed since her
arrest in July, had mounted
an aggressive defense and
tried to have the charges
against her tossed. But for
several weeks, Butina’s law-
yers and federal prosecu-
tors had indicated in court
papers that they were work-
ing toward a resolution in
the case.
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
Detentions raise
tensions between
China, US, Canada
BEIJING — China confi rmed today that
it has detained two Canadian men, raising the
stakes in a three-way dispute over a Chinese
technology executive facing possible extra-
dition from Canada to the United States.
Entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former
diplomat Michael Kovrig were taken into
custody Monday on suspicion of “engaging
in activities that endanger the national secu-
rity” of China, said foreign ministry spokes-
man Lu Kang.
Lu said Canada was informed but declined
to say whether the men have been provided
with lawyers. The cases are being handled
separately by local bureaus of the national
intelligence agency in Beijing, where Kovrig
was picked up, and the northeastern city of
Dandong, where Spavor lived.
The two cases ratchet up pressure on Can-
ada, which is holding Meng Wenzhou, the
chief fi nancial offi cer of Huawei Technol-
ogies Ltd. She was arrested Dec. 1 at the
request of the United States, which wants her
extradited to face bank fraud charges.
Despite the escalating frictions resulting
from the detentions, trade talks between Bei-
jing and the Trump administration remain
ongoing. The two sides have taken pains this
week to emphasize that their trade talks are
entirely separate from the U.S. case against
Meng and any retaliatory moves by Beijing.
Virgin Galactic
rocket ship reaches
space in test fl ight
MOJAVE, Calif. — Virgin Galactic’s
tourism spaceship climbed more than 50
miles high above California’s Mojave Des-
ert today, reaching for the fi rst time what the
company considers the boundary of space.
The rocket ship reached an altitude of 51
miles before beginning its gliding descent,
said mission offi cial Enrico Palermo. The
craft landed on a runway minutes later.
Today’s fl ight takes Virgin Galactic a big
step closer to turning the dream of commer-
cial space tourism into reality. The company
aims to take paying customers on the six-pas-
senger rocket, which is about the size of an
executive jet. Virgin Galactic found Richard
Branson has said he wants to be one of the
fi rst on board.
Virgin Galactic considers 50 miles the
boundary of space because it is used by
the U.S. Air Force and other U.S. agencies.
That’s different than a long-held view that
the boundary is at 62 miles. Virgin Galac-
tic CEO George Whitesides noted that recent
research favors the lower altitude.
Virgin Galactic’s development of its
spaceship took far longer than expected and
endured a setback when the fi rst experimen-
tal craft broke apart during a 2014 test fl ight,
killing the co-pilot.
More than 600 people have committed
up to $250,000 for rides that include several
minutes of weightlessness and a view of the
Earth far below.
Pelosi compromises
for support to
return as speaker
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6 PM
NEW YORK — The Boy Scouts of
America says it is exploring “all options” to
address serious fi nancial challenges, but is
declining to confi rm or deny a report that it
may seek bankruptcy protection in the face
of declining membership and sex-abuse
litigation.
“I want to assure you that our daily
mission will continue and that there are
no imminent actions or immediate deci-
sions expected,” Chief Scout Executive
Mike Surbaugh said in a statement issued
Wednesday evening.
Surbaugh was responding to a Wall Street
Journal report that the BSA, founded in 1910,
had hired a law fi rm to assist in a possible
Chapter 11 bankruptcy fi ling. He described
the report as “news speculation,” but he
acknowledged that the group is “working
with experts to explore all options available”
as well as the pressures arising from multi-
ple lawsuits related to past instances of sex-
ual abuse.
“We have a social and moral responsibil-
ity to fairly compensate victims who suffered
abuse during their time in Scouting, and we
also have an obligation to carry out our mis-
sion to serve youth, families and local com-
munities through our programs,” Surbaugh
said.
Other institutions facing multifaceted sex-
ual abuse scandals have sought bankruptcy
protection recently. USA Gymnastics took
the step last week as it attempts to settle doz-
ens of lawsuits related to abuse by now-im-
prisoned gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
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SCHEDULE
T HURSDAY E VENING
L
Boy Scouts exploring
‘all options’ to address
fi scal problems
WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Pelosi
shrugged off suggestions today that she
weakened herself by agreeing to limit her
tenure as next House speaker to a four-year
maximum, a deal that clears the way for her
to be elected to the post for the new Congress.
“That’s a long time,” she said at a news
conference a day after she and seven insur-
gents who’d been pushing for younger lead-
ership announced their pact.
For weeks, the 78-year-old California
Democrat had resisted opponents’ demands
that she step aside or restrict how long she’d
serve, saying limits would make her a lame
duck and sap her bargaining clout. But on
Wednesday she relented and struck a deal
that all but guarantees she’ll be elected when
the House votes on its new speaker on Jan. 3.
Democrats widely agreed that the pledge
meant Pelosi had clinched a comeback to the
post she held from 2007 until January 2011,
the last time her party ran the House and the
fi rst time the speaker was a woman.
Wednesday’s accord gives Pelosi a clear
path to becoming the most powerful Demo-
crat in government and a leading role in con-
fronting President Donald Trump during the
upcoming 2020 presidential and congressio-
THE DAILY
ASTORIAN
A
nal campaigns. It moves a 78-year-old white
woman to the cusp of steering next year’s
diverse crop of House Democrats, with
its large number of female, minority and
younger members.
Evening listings
THURSDAY
D ECEMBER 13
A - Charter Astoria/ Seaside - L - Charter Long Beach
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