The lawyer for Maria Butina, an alleged Russian agent who was recently indicted by the Justice Department, is being accused of violating court rules by talking to the press about her case.
In a new letter to attorney Robert Driscoll and entered into federal court in Washington on Thursday, prosecutors say they have “concerns” about his “apparent ongoing violations” of local criminal rules that set limits on what both the government and defense counsel can say publicly.
“Despite this clear prohibition, the government has encountered multiple recent instances of you in the press commenting about the merits and evidence of this case,” prosecutors wrote, citing comments Driscoll made in articles published in July and August in Politico, the Washington Post, and RT.
Butina was arrested in Washington on July 15 and charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act by acting as an unregistered Russian agent within the United States. Her work at the direction of a high-level Russian official, believed to be Aleksandr Torshin, began as early as 2015 and continued until at least February 2017.
[Moscow: Maria Butina is being framed]
Prosecutors note that Driscoll’s comments were made despite a warning from the judge, when they alerted U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan at a status hearing last month about comments he had already made to the press.
At the time, Chutkan said she would hold off on issuing a gag order, but told Driscoll: “Do you think it’s in your client’s interest to have her case tried in the press?”
“Your comments in the press since that hearing appear to have been made without any regard to the court’s admonition,” prosecutors said Thursday, adding that they could ask for a gag order if his comments continue.
Prosecutors allege that Butina had attempted to create a “backchannel” of communications between Republicans and Russian officials, by developing relationships with conservatives inside the National Rifle Association, the National Prayer Breakfast, and other religious organizations.
Butina has pleaded not guilty, and is currently being held in an Alexandria, Va., jail — right outside Washington — after federal magistrate judge Deborah Robinson ordered her detained pending trial.
At a press briefing Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow demands the U.S. drop the charges against her.
“We demand that all necessary assistance is provided to Maria Butina and politically motivated charges are dropped,” Zakharova reportedly said. “We hope that the global community will pay attention to the U.S. law enforcement agencies’ actions against the Russian citizen that humiliate human dignity.”
The Russian Embassy in Washington has also accused the U.S. of mistreating Butina in custody.
“It seems as if Washington is trying to force her to cooperate with the investigation by making her living conditions as difficult as possible,” the embassy tweeted last week.
