Today in #resistance, lefties getting punked
(The Week) Just one day after U.S. prosecutors unsealed criminal charges against Mariia Butina, an alleged Russian agent, eagle-eyed readers noticed a 2017 Oval Office visitor who looks mysteriously like the Russian national.
In a photo published last year by The New York Times, Russian officials and Russian media are gathered in the Oval Office with President Trump. Skulking in the background of the photo is a woman who some people say is Butina, who was accused Monday of conspiracy against the United States. Back when Trump was a presidential nominee, the Justice Department said, Butina tried to broker secret meetings between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, allegedly at the behest of Russian officials.
Not everyone is convinced that the photo constitutes smoking-gun evidence that Butina managed to infiltrate high-level meetings with Trump; some skeptics, like Talking Points Memo‘s Josh Marshall, say the image isn’t definitive. Others, like pollster Matt McDermott, noted that the only reason this photo is available to the public in the first place is because it was released by Russian state media.
Until the photo is confirmed one way or the other, take a look for yourself below.
It’s totally unconfirmed, but they still ran with it.
Okay, to jump into the Twitter sleuthing here. I'm not certain this is Buttina in this photo. Very similar looking and may well be her. But looks distinct from other pics I've seen. pic.twitter.com/w3tSx2ZKCn
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 17, 2018
Daily Kos ran with it, as did so many others, especially on Twitter. They were all just so wanting for this to be real
Well look at that….that’s Maria Butina, A RUSSIAN SPY, in the Oval Office. Odd ???? pic.twitter.com/KJ8WFsBzM3
— Sophie Katherine G. (@ClassicSophie) July 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/jfmccauley/status/1019215032872263680
but, just a short time later at The Week
Update 9:25 a.m. ET: After this article was published, several journalists confirmed that Butina is indeed not pictured in a widely circulated photo of President Trump meeting with Russians in the Oval Office. The woman in question is an NSC staffer. Our headline has been updated, and our original article appears below.
Maybe you shouldn’t have ran with it before confirmation. You know, because Journalism. And, despite being confirmed as a big hoax, there are still leftards running with it.
