U.S. backtracks on sex angle in spy case
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors are backtracking on their allegation that a Russian woman accused of working as a secret agent offered to trade sex for access, according to a Justice Department court filing.
Prosecutors had earlier accused Maria Butina, a gun rights activist in U.S. custody on charges alleging she worked as a covert agent and tried to establish back-channel lines of communication to the Kremlin, of offering to exchange sex for a position with a special interest organization.
The salacious allegation, which immediately escalated the public interest in the case, was based on a series of text messages to and from Butina and other information that prosecutors say they had obtained.
But in a new court filing, prosecutors said they misinterpreted the messages. They said “even granting that the government’s understanding of this particular text conversation was mistaken,” there is other evidence to support keeping Butina in custody as the case against her moves forward in Washington.
Butina, 29, was arrested in July and accused of gathering intelligence on American officials and political organizations. Prosecutors say she used her contacts with the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast to develop relationships with U.S. politicians and gather information for Russia. They also say she used her role as a student at American University in Washington as a cover for her activities.
The case is being handled by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and not by special counsel Robert Mueller, who has been leading an investigation into alleged coordination between Russia and Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign as well as alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The filing came ahead of a status hearing in her case scheduled for Monday.
Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, had strongly denied the accusation and said the government had relied on an “innocuous” 3-year-old text message exchange between Butina and a longtime friend, assistant and public relations professional for a gun rights group that she had founded.
The individual, identified in court papers only as DK, had said in the text that he didn’t know what Butina would owe him after he took her car for an insurance renewal and government inspection. She replied, “Sex. Thank you so much. I have nothing else at all. Not a nickel to my name.”
In a court filing last month, Driscoll said that the sex comment was clearly a joke and that Butina is friends with DK’s wife and child and treats him like a brother. He said there is no evidence that the two ever had sex.
“The impact of this inflammatory allegation, which painted Ms. Butina as some type of Kremlin-trained seductress, or spy-novel honeypot character, trading sex for access and power, cannot be overstated,” Driscoll said.
Butina has pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Russia.