The whole thing has not smelled right from the very beginning. How does the whole spy swap thing work? Does it only have to be approved by The President or does Congress have any say over it?

and I already see threads on DU helping the Russians so things all about to get interesting.

All negotiations with Russia must be put under a microscope considering we have a Russian asset occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Set up one of your own assets as an American spy...

Swap him for another asset held in the United States

Make him a hero/victim in America

Have him infiltrate American media and society to influence further Russian causes in the U.S....

John LeCarre' would be proud.

...I knew he wasn't working for a US agency, let alone an Intelligence Agency.
Compromised Much?

Your analysis sure doesn't paint a good picture for Mr. Whelan.

Who's Pawn is He?

This has smelled rotten since the very beginning and I have no doubt that this is a ploy by the Russians to propose a "swap for Butina".

Whatever intel that Mrs Butina May have mist be extraordinarily damaging to, not only American political figures, but Russian political figures as well.

I had thought this sounded fishy from the start, but hadn't known that Whelan wasn't honorably discharged from the military. Everything adds up, he'll give Tiny and Putin a plausible excuse to send Butina back to Russia.

I'm glad the media is checking this out.

I opined yesterday that I believed Whelan could be complicit in the whole thing, now I am certain he is.

... hire a dishonorably discharged person to a high-level “security” position?

Thanks. This gives more info about this questionable arrest than I’ve seen.

that this guy was a sacrifice for Butina. It's all a game. Our State department is silent. Why do they want Butina? They didn't even know who she was, remember? I don't really see anything wrong in what Butina did anyway. To me the criminals are the NRA and tRump. They are the ones that knowingly allowed a foreign nation to buy our election. They are the ones that would sell our country to the highest bidder.

but they have to take Trump, too.

traded and on a plane to Russia before she can testify in court.

Will she be a hero or suffer a fate worse than polonium poisoning?

-90% Jimmy

PS - it's my personal HUNCH that the Trump family has been turning in the identities of spys or people of interest that countries like SA and Turkey and Russia want "eliminated". If anybody would perform such treasonous treachery for money, it would be this bunch of sociopaths!

Putin's bombs, set the fuses, got caught, told the FBI some truths and some lies, and now it time to go home to Mother Russia -- as a hero.

from the Irish consolate and the other countries from which he holds passports. So, not sure how this reflects upon the claims in this article now.

He was sentenced to 60 days restriction, reduction to pay grade
E-4, and, a bad-conduct discharge. The convening authority
approved the sentence as adjudged.

No brig time either which is kind of weird.

By military standards for what he was found guilty of, it's a light sentence:

attempted
larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a
false official statement, wrongfully using another’s social
security number,1 and ten specifications of making and uttering
checks without having sufficient funds in his account