2016 Meddling: Maria Butina is the first Russian to be convicted of trying to influence American politics in the run-up to the 2016 election. She has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, writes Natasha Bertrand, and could help shed light on “whether there was any coordination between President Donald Trump’s campaign, Russia, and the NRA during the election.”
Pushback: Some Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the White House, opposing a Trump-administration plan that would allow certain groups of Vietnamese immigrants to be deported. The White House said it is only targeting Vietnamese immigrants convicted of crimes, but House Democrats argued that many young refugees were resettled with insufficient support, moved through the criminal-justice system, and are now “positively contributing to their communities.”
At Last: The pop icon Janet Jackson received a long-overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today, along with Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, Radiohead, and others, writes Spencer Kornhaber. Jackson, whose career was derailed by the former CBS chief Les Moonves after an infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, is also a recent recipient of Billboard’s Icon Award. Scope out other musical greats on The Atlantic’s list of 2018’s top albums.
Communication Errors: The Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s recent testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee renewed concerns over lawmakers’ ability to work with, and meaningfully regulate, key tech players. Committee Republicans seemed to emerge from the hearing unconvinced that Google’s algorithmic search products are truly nonpartisan—and a showy enjoinder by the California Democrat Ted Lieu helped no one except Google, writes Ian Bogost.
—Haley Weiss and Shan Wang
Snapshot
Last month, a branch of the University of Wisconsin announced plans to stop offering six liberal-arts majors, such as geosciences and history, citing an overstretched budget and low student enrollment. “I feel like the liberal arts are sort of being asked to line up behind job preparation,” one history professor told Adam Harris. At the core of the Wisconsin battle is a question of national significance: Will the liberal arts survive, and what are students losing out on in an education system without such courses? (Illustration by Arsh Raziuddin)Evening Read“There was once a path to a stable and prosperous life in America that has since closed off,” writes Marco Rubio. The Florida senator makes known his dissatisfaction over the current state of American economic policy-making, and he advocates for a few of his own proposals:
We should reform student loans, too. We can increase transparency for borrowers by abandoning the current interest-based model, which hides the true cost of the loan and reduces incentives for colleges to bring down their tuition costs. If students instead pay a single, upfront loan-financing fee, which could be spread out through the lifetime of the loan, they could see on the front end exactly what they would be getting into, while avoiding the trap of ever-growing interest payments that delay graduates’ financial ability to start a family and build a life after school.
I’ll readily admit that those entrenched in the higher-education system and those who are unwilling to adapt stand to lose from reforms such as these. That’s partly the point. We simply cannot afford to waste our money and young peoples’ future work lives on the four-year-degree-industrial complex.
What Do You Know … About Global Affairs?1. A recent Trump-administration reinterpretation of an old policy has made certain protected groups of refugees from this war newly vulnerable to deportation.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.
2. A nonbinding United Nations pact on this issue, signed this week by 164 countries and given a strong stamp of approval from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is nevertheless roiling European politics.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.
3. A major sticking point in the negotiations for Britain to leave the European Union has been over drawing a hard border on this island.
Scroll down for the answer, or find it here.
Answers: Vietnam War / migration / Ireland
Urban DevelopmentsOur partner site CityLab explores the cities of the future and investigates the biggest ideas and issues facing city dwellers around the world. Gracie McKenzie shares today’s top stories:
“Sometimes when I read the papers of my fellow urban planners,” Alain Bertaud says, “I get the sense that they think cities are Disneyland or Club Med. Cities are labor markets. People go to cities to find a good job.” What that means for how they’re designed.
Fire trucks are too damn big: According to a new Department of Transportation report, smaller, nimbler emergency vehicles with a few key design tweaks could make a dent in traffic fatalities.
The architect Vicky Chan has taught urban design and planning to thousands of kids. Even if they don’t go into the field, he argues that it’s good for them—and their communities.
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The first Russian to be convicted of trying to infiltrate and influence American policy makers in the run-up to the 2016 election walked into a courtroom on Thursday with her head held high, gazing defiantly at the audience that had gathered to watch her plead guilty.
Wearing a green prison uniform over a billowy long-sleeved shirt with two large holes in each elbow, Maria Butina affirmed to a judge in the Washington, D.C., district court that between 2015 and 2018 she acted with another American, under the direction of a Russian official, as a foreign agent to “establish unofficial lines of communication” with influential politicians—back channels she sought to establish, primarily, by hobnobbing with Republicans at conventions hosted by the National Rifle Association.
Butina, who has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, could shed light on yet another avenue through which Russia tried to influence American politics in 2016: namely, via an old-fashioned, on-the-ground operation, conducted not by experienced spies but by disarming political operatives. She could reveal whether there was any coordination between President Donald Trump’s campaign, Russia, and the NRA during the election. Butina is young—just 30 years old—but effective: In the short time she spent operating in Washington, D.C., she interacted with Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and a Trump-campaign adviser named J.D. Gordon. She also helped organize a Russian delegation to the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. (which Trump attended), tasked with establishing “a back channel of communication” to the administration, according to prosecutors.
The nature of the federal investigation being carried out in Washington, D.C., which is separate from the ongoing special-counsel probe into Russia’s election interference and a potential conspiracy between President Trump’s campaign and Russia, is not entirely clear. At Thursday’s hearing, several key questions about her relationship with the Russian government and activities to influence powerful politicians were left unanswered. Was her alleged handler, the high-level Russian banker Alexander Torshin, acting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s orders, or was he freelancing? Did she and Torshin use their connections to the NRA to funnel money from Russia to Trump’s campaign? And were there any Americans, aside from her Republican-operative boyfriend Paul Erickson, involved in the efforts to set up a so-called back channel to Russia?
It would be a striking coincidence if Butina’s efforts to make inroads with Republican policy makers during the election were completely divorced from the broader interference campaign under way by Moscow at precisely the same time. That is why Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating that interference, is “likely” to question Butina now that she has agreed to cooperate with the government, said Barbara McQuade, the former United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
“In particular, they would want to know about her asking Trump a question about sanctions at an event in 2015,” McQuade said, referring to Butina’s attendance at a public event in Las Vegas where she asked Trump from the audience what he thought about Russia and sanctions. “Was his calling on her as random as it appeared, or was it coordinated to give Trump an opportunity to start talking about Russian sanctions?” The Special Counsel’s Office did not return a request for comment about whether they would question Butina.
Russian nationals and Kremlin officials were eager to see lifted punishing sanctions imposed by Barack Obama’s administration in response to Russian corruption, human-rights abuses, and the annexation of Crimea. According to Mueller’s office, Trump’s former national-security adviser Michael Flynn promised the former Russian ambassador during the transition period that the Trump White House would revisit the sanctions policy.
One of the biggest unknowns is whether Butina has information that could incriminate the NRA, whose unprecedented, $30 million push to elect Trump is reportedly being examined by Mueller for evidence of illicit Russian involvement. The high-level Russian banker who allegedly served as Butina’s handler, Alexander Torshin, is an NRA “life member” who repeatedly asked the Trump campaign for meetings with the candidate—requests he made through Butina’s boyfriend, Paul Erickson. Erickson is of interest to federal prosecutors, who reportedly sent him a letter in September warning that they may charge him with acting as a secret foreign agent. Butina may be useful in that respect as well; she and Erickson met five years ago in Moscow and began dating shortly thereafter. They co-founded a limited-liability company in 2016 in South Dakota, whose business purpose is unknown.
“Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump,” Erickson wrote to Trump campaign adviser Rick Dearborn in May 2016. “He wants to extend an invitation to Mr. Trump to visit him in the Kremlin before the election.” Erickson added that the Kremlin wanted to make “first contact” with Trump via Torshin at the May 2016 NRA convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The meeting never happened; Torshin ended up chatting with Donald Trump Jr., instead, at a private dinner on the sidelines of the convention.
The NRA was Butina’s initial “in” to American politics. As the founder of the first gun-rights advocacy group in Russia, where the government severely limits and discourages individual gun ownership, Butina’s enthusiasm for the Second Amendment was exciting, if not unusual. In 2015, just before the 2016 presidential race kicked off, Butina attended an NRA convention where she was introduced to “influential members” of the Republican party, according to prosecutors. She then invited “powerful members” of the NRA to Moscow in December 2015 “to advance her agenda,” prosecutors wrote. Erickson provided useful background about the members, and Torshin arranged for them to meet with “high-level Russian government officials,” according to the government. After they left, Butina told Torshin: “We should let them express their gratitude now, we will put pressure on them quietly later.”
In court on Thursday, Butina said she was pleading guilty because she was, in fact, guilty—not because she had been coerced or promised a lighter sentence. She is the eighth person to plead guilty in the investigations of Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, many of which have spawned out of Mueller’s original probe. The president’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for campaign finance violations, lying to Congress about a Trump Tower Moscow deal, and other financial crimes. Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the former Russian ambassador, and his set to be sentenced next week. They have both been cooperating in Mueller’s investigation.
Meanwhile, Trump has been lashing out at the Russia investigation more than ever, as his former associates enter into cooperation deals with the government. He has called Cohen a “weak person” who made up “stories” to get a “deal” with Mueller, and insisted on Thursday that he never told Cohen to break the law.
As for Butina, the Russian government has complained about her detention repeatedly since she was charged and taken into custody in July. Moscow has characterized her as a “political prisoner” who was “tortured” and pleaded guilty just “to survive.” “It's medieval inquisition,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told CNN this week. “Because she is intimidated, she was tortured and was not treated like a human being, not like a woman. I think she was treated and is still treated probably as a terrorist or something like that.”
Butina’s lawyer said in court that he believes she is “doing well mentally,” and Butina appeared eager to plead guilty—asked at one point whether her mind was “clear,” Butina departed from her monosyllabic yes-no replies. “Absolutely,” she said.
Em abril, o Intercept contou como as milícias já dominam as denúncias contra o crime no Rio de Janeiro. Agora, dois fatos independentes mostram que os grupos paramilitares chegam ao final de 2018 mais sofisticados e fortalecidos.
O primeiro veio quando o general Richard Nunes, atual secretário de Segurança Pública do Rio, me confirmou que os assassinos de Marielle Franco e Anderson Gomes lançaram mão de uma estratégia frequente em ataques terroristas: as células. A suspeita vem sendo reforçada a cada passo da investigação da morte da vereadora do PSOL e seu motorista pela Delegacia de Homicídios, que completa nove meses nesta sexta. As células agem como grupos independentes, rompendo a cadeia hierárquica vertical, com o objetivo de criar obstáculos à identificação dos mandantes ou financiadores de um atentado.
O segundo veio quando a justiça do Rio autorizou que Jerônimo Guimarães Filho, o Jerominho, e Natalino José Guimarães saíssem da prisão no último dia 18 de outubro. Os dois são os criadores da Liga da Justiça, a maior milícia do Rio de Janeiro.
Foto: Reprodução
Quem aperta o gatilho, nesses casos, não tem contato com o mandante e tampouco sabe a motivação do crime. O matador apenas cumpre uma etapa de um plano que envolve outras células. A tática é considerada sofisticada e seu emprego no caso Marielle e Anderson pode ser efeito do aprendizado com as execuções da juíza Patrícia Acioli e Amarildo de Souza. Ambos mortos por policiais militares, que acabaram identificados, condenados e presos. A participação de policiais e milicianos nos assassinatos da vereadora e de seu motorista já vem sendo confirmada pelas autoridades.
O problema para os investigadores, no caso Marielle, é ligar as células para enfim enxergar a teia em torno do crime. Sobretudo, o envolvimento de políticos como financiadores. Em nove meses, as investigações chegaram a três nomes, mas sem nenhuma prova substancial para garantir a condenação. O mais perto que se chegou foi ao local de onde saiu o Cobalt usado no crime. A região está sob influência de paramilitares chefiados por um “caveira”, os policiais que passam pelo curso do Batalhão de Operações Especiais, o Bope.
Enquanto a Delegacia de Homicídios patina para obter provas no caso Marielle e Anderson, as milícias em atividade no estado se organizam e, atualmente, estão mais semelhantes às narcomilícias, que espalharam o terror na Colômbia pós-cartéis de Cáli e Medellín, do que aos supostos agentes da lei aposentados ou em horário de folga que cobravam por serviços e, em troca, combatiam o tráfico. A associação entre milicianos e traficantes vem ganhando terreno por todo estado, em especial, na zona oeste e Baixada Fluminense. O que se deve à expansão da Liga da Justiça, chefiada atualmente por um ex-traficante: Wellington da Silva Braga, o Ecko. O general Richard Nunes confirma a mudança na forma de atuação das milícias e diz ser falso discurso de combatentes do tráfico em troca de lucro.
O miliciano e e ex-traficante Wellington da Silva Braga, o Ecko.
Foto: Reprodução
O secretário interventor acrescenta ainda que a participação de policiais nesses grupos paramilitares vem diminuindo. Dados da Subsecretaria de Inteligência da Secretaria de Segurança mostram que, de janeiro até setembro, 370 suspeitos de envolvimento em milícias foram presos no Rio, sendo que apenas 39 deles eram policiais militares, civis, ex-policiais, bombeiros, militares e agentes penitenciários. No relatório final da CPI das Milícias, de 2008, por exemplo, dados da Inteligência da Secretaria de Segurança Pública identificavam 521 milicianos, sendo 191 agentes da lei.
Assim como no tráfico, os grupos paramilitares também passaram a recrutar jovens de baixa escolaridade e com histórico criminal para atuarem na ponta do esquema, como na cobrança de taxas de segurança.
O ex-policial militar Ricardo Teixeira da Cruz, conhecido como Batman, está entre os nomes citados com prontidão pelos moradores de áreas comandadas por milícias no Rio.
Foto: Rafael Andrade/Folhapress
Quando se pergunta a um morador da zona oeste do Rio os nomes de integrantes da Liga da Justiça, a resposta imediata pode surpreender. Jerominho, Ecko, Leandrinho Quebra Ossos e Batman são citados de pronto, com a ressalva de que o homem morcego está preso. Se você não entendeu nada é sinal de que a sua realidade está mais próxima dos quadrinhos da DC Comics. Para quem vive a rotina de medo nas regiões sob domínio da Liga da Justiça, esse é o nome do maior, mais lucrativo e violento grupo paramilitar em atividade no estado.
Uma década após a CPI das Milícias lançar luz sobre o envolvimento de agentes da lei e políticos nessas organizações criminosas, os irmãos responsáveis pela criação do bando voltaram às ruas. Jerônimo e Natalino ganharam liberdade no fim de outubro, depois de passarem dez anos presos.
Integrantes da Liga da Justiça, inclusive, são suspeitos de envolvimento no plano para assassinar o deputado estadual Marcelo Freixo, do PSOL. Eleito para o Congresso na última eleição, Freixo seria assassinado neste sábado em Campo Grande, um dia após as mortes de Marielle e seu motorista.
O plano para tocaiar Freixo durante uma reunião marcada para acontecer no bairro considerado reduto do grupo paramilitar teria sido tramado na primeira quinzena de novembro, dias depois de os irmãos Jerominho e Natalino Guimarães terem voltado às ruas. Os dois foram condenados após denúncias da CPI das Milícias, presidida por Freixo.
Nesse período, a liga passou por rachas internos, ampliou o domínio territorial e, atualmente, sob o comando de um ex-traficante se assemelha mais a uma narcomilícia. Com o retorno dos antigos chefes uma guerra pelo comando do grupo é iminente, acreditam autoridades.
Ex-inspetores da Polícia Civil, os irmãos Jerônimo Guimarães Filho e Natalino José Guimarães ganharam notoriedade na esteira da CPI das Milícias. A partir da criação da Liga da Justiça, a dupla ganhou dinheiro e poder. Sobretudo, depois de terem sido eleitos vereador e deputado estadual, respectivamente.
Jerominho e Natalino acabaram presos em 2008 e condenados posteriormente por crime de formação de quadrilha armada. À época, as milícias ainda não eram tipificadas no Código Penal como organização criminosa. Mas, no último dia 18 de outubro, após terem sido absolvidos de um processo onde eram acusados de tentativa de homicídio, os dois irmãos foram soltos. Jerominho deixou a carceragem de Bangu 8 e foi buscar Natalino na Penitenciária Federal de Mossoró, no Rio Grande do Norte.
Os assassinatos na região vêm sendo monitorados pela Secretaria de Segurança. No último dia 19, por exemplo, o dono de um depósito de gás na rua Rochedo de Minas, em Campo Grande, maior bairro da zona oeste do Rio, foi morto a tiros ao chegar ao local. A vítima, que não teve o nome divulgado, já havia denunciado a cobrança de taxa de segurança por milicianos da Liga da Justiça.
O caso que absolveu os milicianos tratava de uma tentativa de assassinato contra o motorista de van Rodrigo Silva da Costa, em junho de 2005, também em Campo Grande. De acordo com a denúncia do Ministério Público estadual, Natalino e Jerominho foram os mandantes do crime.
Rodrigo foi baleado quando passava com sua Kombi pela Estrada do Mendanha, perto da avenida Brasil, mas conseguiu sobreviver. Leandro Paixão Viegas, conhecido como Leandrinho Quebra-Ossos, foi acusado de ser o executor do crime, mas acabou absolvido em 2016. Ainda de acordo com a denúncia do MP, o crime teria sido cometido por causa da disputa pelo controle dos transportes alternativos na zona oeste do Rio.
The post Assassinos de Marielle e Anderson usaram tática de grupos terroristas: as células appeared first on The Intercept.
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