The feds launched a “sexist smear” campaign against accused Russian spy Maria Butina by suggesting she traded sex for jobs and political power, her lawyers said Friday.
Butina, who allegedly weaseled her way into the NRA and other political groups to influence US politics, was wrongly portrayed by prosecutors as “some type of Kremlin-trained seductress, or spy novel honeypot character, trading sex for access and power,” according to court papers cited by the Washington Post.
Prosecutors spun the false “Red Sparrow”-style story based on a playful 3-year-old text message exchange between Butina and a longtime male friend, according to the legal documents filed by her lawyer, Robert Driscoll.
The friend, who worked in public relations for the Russia-based nonprofit Right to Bear Arms, texted Butina after taking her car in for an annual inspection, according to the report.
“I don’t know what you owe me for this insurance they put me through the ringer,” he texted.
Butina responded: “Sex. Thank you so much. I have nothing else at all. Not a nickel to my name.”
The friend shot back that he’d pass on taking her to bed — and the exchange became part of a long-running joke, according to the documents.
Butina’s lawyers also argued Friday that she should be released from a pretrial detention center, where she has been housed since her arrest last month.
Prosecutors have claimed that the 29-year-old Butina’s romantic relationship with a 56-year-old American political operative was “duplicitous” and that she offered sex to another man “in exchange for a position within a special interest organization.”
Butina allegedly posed as a graduate student while working to advance Russian interests by playing up to powerful officials at the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast.
