Maria Butina is already selling people out

| 11:05 pm EDT July 25, 2018
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Now that she’s been indicted and arrested on serious federal criminal charges, all eyes are on Russian political operative Maria Butina to see whether she ends up cutting a plea deal to save herself, which would require selling out numerous people in the Trump-Russia scandal. Now we’re learning that she has already begun selling people out for her own benefit, dating back to before her arrest.

Back in May, before she was arrested, Maria Butina was already deep into negotiating some kind of plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in South Dakota, according to a new report from the Rapid City Journal, a newspaper in the state. The Feds sent Butina a proffer letter which stated that “While your client hopes to receive some benefit by cooperating with the government, she expressly understands that the government is making no promise of any kind at this time.”

It’s not clear if Butina actually signed the proffer and went through with the plea deal. But the upshot here is that Butina was trying to cut a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office in South Dakota, before she ended up getting arrested by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington DC. She was actively seeking to sell out other alleged criminals at least six weeks before she was arrested. If she was that eager to throw people under the bus to save herself back then, she’s surely even more eager now that she’s rotting in jail.

Then again, the Feds may not even need a plea deal with Maria Butina in order to move forward. Shortly after her arrest, the Feds revealed that the FBI had already raided Butina’s home, and that Butina had already secretly testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee back in April. Now we know that she’ll be eager to cut a plea deal if they do offer her one.