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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaria Butina Declared Trump Victory on Facebook Before He Actually Won
https://hillreporter.com/maria-butina-declared-trump-victory-on-facebook-before-he-actually-won-4082It was just earlier this week that a woman by the name of Maria Butina was arrested and accused of being a Russian spy. Her links to the Trump campaign, several campaign officials and the NRA appear to be quite significant. While allegations are certainly not any determinant of guilt, the indictment brought by a federal grand jury appears to be very solid.
If you dig through the Facebook profile of this alleged Russian spy, you will find a lot of interesting posts about gun rights in Russia, President Trump and Russian politics. The most interesting post, however, is one that she made on the night of November 8, 2016 at 11:45PM ET, the evening of the U.S. Presidential Election.
It translates to say: Well thats it. America gets a Republican Donald Trump for the next presidential term. Supporter of gun rights and restoration of relations with Russia. Congratulations to all!
She then went on to say, 100%. Even if he loses everything else. He got the necessary number of votes.
There certainly isnt anything wrong with congratulating a presidential candidate on his victory, even if you are a Russian spy, but the timing of the post is at least a bit odd. The post was made well before anyone was able to say with even a near certainty that Trump would win the election. Although Trumps odds of winning were certainly increasing, Hillary still had hope at this point in time.
Someone even replied to Butinas post about 17 minutes later at 12:02AM ET, with an image showing that Trump was still 16 electoral votes away from clinching the Presidency, saying, Maybe you have special math, but to win you need more than 270 electors. This hour is 254 to 209 and left 75 electors.
While Butinas post came at 11:45PM ET, its worth noting that it wasnt until approximately 1:35AM ET that Trump really began to look like the winner. This was after he had clinched Pennsylvania and held 264 electoral votes. He simply needed to win Wisconsin, Michigan, or Arizona to clinch the Presidency. At 2:30AM he captured Wisconsins 10 votes, clinching the US Presidency.
ck4829
(34,977 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)that republican hide from the American people.
That sucks, too.
dalton99a
(81,073 posts)50 Shades Of Blue
(9,777 posts)SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)katmondoo
(6,454 posts)I started to think the unthinkable, Trump could win.
onlyadream
(2,159 posts)I dont think her posting this means anything.
Midnight Writer
(21,548 posts)DFW
(54,056 posts)There was no other reason to hold up Merrick Garland's Supreme Court nomination for a year.
SweetieD
(1,660 posts)In certain states, especially Wisconsin and Michigan.
mythology
(9,527 posts)To either the original totals or machine recounted counties.
AlexSFCA
(6,137 posts)so dont know what to make of it.
malaise
(267,823 posts)fierywoman
(7,641 posts)Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)I made a post on Wonkette at 9:11pm (which is 11:11pm ET) about how Trump was going to win. This means little. The point about Trump not looking like the winner until 1:35 am ET is factually wrong - it was pretty clear he was going to be the winner around 10:00-10:30 ET - if not sooner.
lapfog_1
(29,166 posts)knew it was going to be a bad night.
BTW... that pit in my stomach hasn't gone away.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)But it came just before he won Florida. Hillary took a slim lead for a minute and he regained it. By the time he did, Hillary was already behind in Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, I believe. That was even before Florida was called. At that point, I knew.
NewJeffCT
(56,827 posts)when FL went to Trump and Ohio was long gone...
mountain grammy
(26,571 posts)and DU was down for the count.
magicarpet
(13,941 posts).... Citizens United say big money talks with a louder voice, poorer people can take a political hike and get lost.
Government by the people and for the people is bull shit. He who has the fattest bank account owns the government.
https://goo.gl/images/Jo79oU
arthritisR_US
(7,269 posts)were not affected by the Russians intrusions
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)Renew Deal
(81,802 posts)B2G
(9,766 posts)She was the only one who knew at that point.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)aikoaiko
(34,127 posts)Not that it was clinched, but people like to act it.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)DangerousRhythm
(2,916 posts)I feel like that night is a big blur for me right now, but I'm pretty sure that by about 9 or 9:30 PM my time, Central, I was already feeling nauseous and faint from what seemed to be an unstoppable reality. I actually had to turn the TV off and walk away from it because I think my blood pressure was going through the roof and I was feeling woozy, like something in the universe had gone drastically wrong. Honestly, it was a feeling of impending doom and I needed to get away from the TV and just sit in silence in my bed to cry because if I would have watched anymore results coming in I definitely would have passed out. The fact that this woman posted at nearly midnight seems like it was a foregone conclusion at that point. I'm sure they have other stuff on her, but this doesn't seem to be anything big. It's nothing most of us didn't know already by that time, unfortunately. 😞
WinstonSmith4740
(3,048 posts)I think we all suspected and were getting sickened by the thought way before the official announcement was made. However, she is speaking with absolute certainty that he already the necessary states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania?) in the bag, and he could lose everything else and it wouldn't matter.
The Hitman
(562 posts)I remember the NYT needle was way over 90% by midnight. Sure, there might have been something nefarious going on, but making this claim at 11:45 isn't horribly suspicious.
Ed Krassenstein
(7 posts)I wrote this article for Hill Reporter. While I do believe that it is a little odd that she declared the victory well before it was confirmed, I personally would say that I believe that she either misunderstood TV commentators or messed up her math. Sure it's possible she knew something we didn't know (I'm sure there was plenty of things she knew that the public didn't about Russian meddling), but I doubt that she knew with certainty that Trump would win prior to the counting of votes.
calimary
(80,700 posts)Glad you're here! Thanks for the clarification. It's not hard to default to automatic-suspicion mode as long as there's anything with the word "trump" involved.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)I appreciate your response about the article you authored.
I particularly like when men speak openly about how fatherhood changes their lives -- something that you have spoken about.
Keep up the good work, and thank you.
krawhitham
(4,634 posts)You knew by 9:30 it was going bad, very bad
ffr
(22,649 posts)after losing PA. I was sooooo depressed. We won Nevada despite the odds, because we ran up the score in early voting. We won our county too, but it didn't matter because we lost FL, MI, & PA.
SUCKS!
The Liberal Lion
(1,414 posts)I'm not sure why we even waste time looking for evidence that something foul happened 11/08/16. We all know, and there should no longer be any doubt on the subject, namely that trump neither won the popular vote nor did he (legally) win the electoral vote. We don't need to question ourselves anymore, we need not think we are being dramatic by entertaining the thought anymore. And for damn sure we need not worry about convincing those who still support that un-American, orange abomination. What is needed now is action. Bob Mueller IS NOT going to save America. The GOP IS NOT going to save America. The midterm elections ARE NOT going to save America. Those who still care about America have little choice left as to what can be done to end this nightmare. We don't need guns to bring this regime down, we don't need illegal methods or means to do so either. What is needed now more than ever is courage, the willingness to sacrifice and the willingness to get it done. They can only keep you under their thumb only for as long as your are willing to be kept.
Marengo
(3,477 posts)The Liberal Lion
(1,414 posts)The type of action I speak of are the only actions that will work at this point IMHO, namely bringing the economy to a grinding halt. From nationwide strikes and refusals to work, to stopping using credit, slowing consumption of non-essential items, to making one's home off grid and self sufficient. Nothing illegal, nothing violent, but things that stop the economy from functioning.
Thrill
(19,178 posts)and that's the real coverup by the Republicans
oberliner
(58,724 posts)This article is idiotic.
On ABC News at 11:35PM there were showing people crying at the HRC HQ and cheering at the Trump HQ. The NY Times "odds of winning" percentage had Trump at >95 percent. It was over.