“She would have been a legitimate target for FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] surveillance,” Asha Rangappa explained. “Anyone talking to her at that time would be captured on that as well.”
Republicans and others who were in contact with Maria Butina have reason to worry, a former FBI agent has warned after the 29-year-old Russian national pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring against the United States under the direction of Moscow.
Asha Rangappa, who is also a lawyer and a senior lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, spoke on CNN to discuss the alleged spy’s cooperation with investigators. The former agent explained that Russia’s election influence efforts have been carried out on “a number of different fronts,” and said that Butina’s actions were part of a much larger campaign. She also pointed out that the young Russian was operating “fairly overtly” to “court, recruit, assess people who may be able to then influence policy towards Russia.”
“If the government has evidence that she was acting at the direction and control of Russia, that makes her an agent of a foreign power, which means she would have been a legitimate target for FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] surveillance,” Rangappa explained.
