Who is Maria Butina, the Accused Russian Spy?




The Daily Dive show

Summary: We have another Russian agent in our midst. For nearly 5 years a 29 year old Russian political science student was a fixture at many important conservative events. Maria Butina is accused of conspiring to set up a back channel of communication between the Kremlin and the Republican party using the NRA as a conduit. Lauren Meier, reporter for Axios, joins us to discuss who Butina is and how she infiltrated influential political circles. Next, with the rise of money transfer apps such as Venmo, once again, you better check those privacy settings. Venmo’s default privacy setting is set to “public,” which means all your transactions are visible to everyone. Xavier Harding, reporter for Mic, joins us to talk about hiding all those payments to your friends for Uber rides and burgers. Finally, you’ve heard it before, watch what you post online. In this case, be careful posting bad reviews of your doctor online, because they might fight back! Jayne O’Donnell, reporter for USA Today joins us to talk about doctors and hospitals suing patients for posting negative reviews and why it’s almost always an uphill battle.