Thursday, July 19, 2018

Scott Walker says his talk with accused Russian spy Maria Butina was brief


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Scott Walker says his talk with accused Russian spy Maria Butina was brief

Patrick Marley and Trent Tetzlaff, Milwaukee Journal SentinelPublished 10:01 a.m. CT July 18, 2018 | Updated 4:13 p.m. CT July 18, 2018

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(Photo: Our American Revival)

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APPLETON - Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday he talked only briefly with a woman now accused of being a Russian spy, saying he had his photo taken with her just as he does with others who say they are supporters.

"As we go to events, we meet people, they introduce themselves, often they ask for a picture," Walker told reporters during a stop in Appleton. "And that's not a meeting. A meeting is where you sit down in a room and have a discussion."

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Walker was referring to his interaction with Maria Butina, who was indicted this week for conspiring to interfere with U.S. politics and advance Russian interests.

On Wednesday, a federal magistrate ordered Butina be held without bond after prosecutors argued she was at "extreme" risk of leaving the country. She faces two felony charges.

Walker posed for a photo with her at a National Rifle Association meeting in Tennessee in 2015. In the photo, Walker stood between Butina and Alexander Torshin, who is not named in court filings but is the "Russian official" who gave Butina orders as part of the conspiracy, according to the New York Times

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At the time of the photo at the NRA event, Walker was preparing to launch his presidential bid. Soon afterward, Butina attended Walker's event announcing his campaign launch. 

Walker said he has not been contacted by authorities and knows of no one from his campaign who has been.  

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

Butina said in online posts in 2015 that Walker said "hello" and "thank you" to her in Russian and that she did not detect any hostility toward Russia from him.

Walker said he did not recall whether he spoke Russian to her but did take one semester of the language in college.

Asked if he remembered talking to her, Walker said, "Well, I do now because it's all over the media. But to me, it's just another person we met."

In a court filing Wednesday, prosecutors alleged Butina was in touch with Russian intelligence operatives and once offered sex to someone in exchange for a position with an unnamed special interest group

An affidavit filed earlier by an FBI agent alleged a "Russian official" — Torshin, according to media reports — requested that Butina write a brief report about a political event she was to attend in 2015.

The next day, Butina wrote a report that "included descriptions of her speaking to a political candidate on the night of the announcement, as well as Butina's previous private meeting with the candidate at the 2015 annual gun rights organization members' meeting."

It is not clear if that portion of the affidavit is referring to Walker.

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Butina, the founder of the gun rights group Right to Bear Arms, frequently posted about guns on social media. She promoted the right to carry weapons in frequent interviews in excellent but heavily accented English. 

Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, told the Washington Post she was "like a novelty" because running a gun rights group in Russia appeared radical.

Photos of Butina and Torshin with Walker were posted on the website of Our American Revival, a political group set up by Walker leading up to his presidential run. At the time, Walker's team frequently loaded photos onto the group's website of the governor posing with people who attended his events.

"I just ask the logical question. If it was something covert, why would we post that picture on a website?" Walker said to reporters. "It just seems ridiculous to think that would be the case.

"The reason we did is because every day we took hundreds of pictures with people who met us at events and then we put them on a website so that people could take them off that website."

The exchange with Butina and Torshin occurred in a VIP area of the NRA event, according to the Washington Post.

Trent Tetzlaff reported from Appleton and Patrick Marley reported from Madison.

Above is from:  https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/18/scott-walker-says-exchange-accused-russian-spy-butina-brief/795134002/

Controversial Bob Walberg returns to Boone County government


Cathy Ward

11 hrs ·

BOONE COUNTY BOARD NEWS - By a 7-4 vote tonight, the county board approved the recommendations of Chair Karl Johnson to appoint former board chair Bob Walberg and former board member Brad Fidder to the Boone County Zoning Board of Appeals. Board members Denny Ellingson, Sherry Giesecke, Marshall Newhouse, Jeff Carlisle, Bernard O'Malley, Carl Larson and Karl voted to approve the appointments. Those opposed were Jessica Muellner, Sherry Branson, Brad Stark and me. Jessica noted it would have been a good time to bring new people to these positions and I noted that of the 5 members of the ZBA, four reside in District 1, (the northeast part of the county) and there is no representation on this board in District 3. Also, although well more than half of the people who live in the county live in and around Belvidere, we have only one person to represent us. Walberg and Fidder replace Brian Van Lar and Mark Rhode who resigned recently. County Board members did not get the names of the proposed appointees until late Wednesday afternoon or evening to suggest any concerns. Your thoughts?

Cathy Ward In my opinion, not only board members, but those we represent should also be informed of who the chair is recommending in time for them to react. Getting names just minutes before the vote is not time enough to react for anyone, citizens or board members. ZBA is an extremely important board. Wind farms, solar farms, progress or change of many kinds are reviewed here.

Jay Fundy When chairman, Bob Walberg invited the dirty train to come through our county which would have destroyed some 6,700 acres of farm land! Today, any solar farm applications has a hard time getting an approval! Seems like clean industry isn't wanted here. What is the future of any growth?

Jay Fundy Would Boone County ever see a company like Ingersoll Machine Tool make application to build here? Probably not. Word is out, the county is anti-growth. So why apply? There is no employment here that's why our young people leave.


For these two appointments there may have been no need to make an application as required by the legal notice of the opening.


Mr. Fidder made no application


Here is Mr. Walberg, note the date of the email/application.