The case of Russian citizen Maria Butina has clearly demonstrated that the US foreign agent law needs to be reformed, her attorney Robert Driscoll told reporters after her sentencing.
“I think this case is an unfortunate result,” he said. “I think that our government and our educational institutions have better take a closer look at the government’s theory in this case. I think it would apply very broadly to very large numbers of people.”
Driscoll said the prosecution’s definition of the foreign agent term was too broad in this case.
“The government’s theory that you act as an agent whenever you do anything for a foreign official – I think that is an extremely broad interpretation that can apply not only to people like Maria but to other people,” he continued. “I think this is something should be look at.”
“I think that everyone who is foreign national in this country should be extremely concerned by the government’s position in this case and what they did here,” the US attorney added.
Driscoll reiterated that Butina case was in no way related to the investigation of Russia’s alleged interference into the 2016 US presidential election, conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
“She has nothing to do with the Mueller investigation. The Mueller team was aware of Maria, they were aware of this case, they interviewed her as part of her cooperation and, obviously, she did not appear anywhere in the Mueller report,” he said.
“I find it curious that it was mentioned that what she did was during the time of Russian election interference, as alleged by the judge, when, in fact, had she been involved in any of that, I would imagine Special Counsellor Mueller would have mentioned it somewhere on his 400 pages if she had anything to do with that. But he did not,” the US lawyer added.