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deminks

(11,011 posts) Mon Jul 16, 2018, 06:22 PM Jul 2018

Scott Walker met with woman now charged in Russian plot during his presidential bid

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/16/scott-walker-during-presidential-bid-met-woman-now-arrested-russian-plot/789978002/

MADISON – A Siberian woman charged as part of an alleged Russian plot to interfere with U.S. politics was at Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign launch and said she did not see him as being hostile toward Russia.

The woman, Maria Butina, attempted to establish lines of communication with American politicians that could be used to influence U.S. policies Russia, according to court documents filed Monday.

Butina was arrested Sunday and the criminal complaint against her was unsealed Monday in Washington, D.C.

Walker, who is seeking a third term this year, made a brief bid for the GOP nomination for president in 2015. Butina, 29, attended the launch of his campaign in Waukesha, according to a report this May from Mother Jones magazine that included a photo of an online post by Butina from the event.

Earlier, in April 2015, Butina posted photos of her talking with Walker and other politicians in Tennessee, according to Mother Jones. In a blog post attributed to her at the time, Butina said Walker greeted her in Russian and she did not detect any hostility from him toward Russia, according to an April 2018 report from Rolling Stone.

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Snotty Walker, Butina and Alexander Torshin.