The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Maria Butina's Arrest: Are Russian Spies Even Trying Anymore? | Daveed Diggs & Rafael Casal

Episode Date: July 20, 2018

Sean Spicer continues to struggle with simple pronunciation, feds arrest alleged Russian spy Maria Butina, and Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal chat about "Blindspotting." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The smartest way to hire. Have you ever been watching the news and thought to yourself, wow, the Supreme Court sure does suck. We made a podcast about that. We sure did. There is a supermajority of conservative maniacs on the Supreme Court right now, really doing some damage. I'm Michael.

I'm Rianan. And I'm Peter. Our podcast, five to four is about all of this. Every week we dissect and analyze a different ruling that has made our country a little worse, a little more cruel. And you would not believe how many of them there are. Check out five to four. That's the number five, dash the number four, wherever you listen to podcast. July 19, 2018. From Comedy Central's World News headquarters in New York, this is the Daily Show with

Trevor Noah, Ears Edition. Welcome to the Danish show everybody. Thank you so much for shooting in. Thank you, thank you so much. Take a seat. Take a seat. My guest tonight, writers and actors, David Diggs and Rafael Casava here, everybody. Yeah, we're going to be talking about blind spotting, the new movie that takes on race and gentrification in the Bay Area. It's a really fascinating film. Stay tuned for that, but first, let's catch up on today's headlines.

Wush. Sean Spicer, you remember him? Yeah? The porky pig of the White House Press room? the guy who could never, he's a, topipipipipipipipipipipipipipipipip, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to to to, to to, to to to, to, to, to, to, to, to to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to.......... to. to. to. to. to to. to to to to to to to to to to to the t t to t t t to to t too. too. too. too. to to to to to to to to to to up. Well, he's currently on a book tour, and it turns out he still got it. It was an honor to serve this country and this administration, but there's not a day that I go by that I don't miss standing at that podium. I'm not accountable for every single thing that anybody else has said. He has increased the sanctions with respect to Crimea. If the people don't the the the think the out and that you like or encourage those in office to change the law. But we don't resort

to violence. And I think that there's had a level of intensity and scrutiny that North Korea was truly going to denuclearize the peninsula. He wasn't Garanum this meeting. And that's that's the important part. The United States and President Crump, by the way... Oh, Sean. Oh, man. I'm not gonna lie, man. I miss him so much. All right. Moving on to international news.

You guys remember how Trump started a trade war with the rest of the world? I want to say it was some time after he started stealing immigrant children, but before he pledged allegiance to Russia? Well, the the the the the th. th. th. th. Oh, th. Oh, th. Oh, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, that, that's that's that's that's that's tho, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that's tho, tho, tho, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, tho, thuuuuushed.. Oh, oh, thuuuu. Oh, the, th. Oh, th. Oh, th. Oh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, that's thi's that's that's that's that's that's that's the, the.s, that's that's thea.s, that's that's that's tho-s, tho-s, thoomo. Oh, tho, ththe rest of the world. I want to say it was some time after he started stealing immigrant children, but before he pledged allegiance to Russia, well the point is, it looks like the world is moving on without him. The president's escalating trade battles are leading some countries to negotiate their own bilateral deals, leaving the United States out in the cold. Just yesterday, our allies, Japan and the European Union, signed a landmark trade deal, creating an open trade zone. The deal is set to eliminate roughly $1.1 billion in tariffs paid by EU companies that

export to Japan. That's right. Japan and the European Union have eliminated tariffs with each other, which means we're going to see a lot more exchange between Europe and Japan. And I for one can't wait to see what this partnership is going to bring. It's just going to be like, ah, Godzilla! Roa! October Fast!

Whah! But this is bad news for Trump. Like, he put up so many trade barriers that Europe and Japan just started doing their own thing without America, which might hurt the U.S. economy. On the bright side, though, America has now united Germany, Italy, and Japan. What could go wrong? Speaking of which, speaking of which, President Trump, just this afternoon, announced that he would be inviting Vladimir Putin to the White House for another summit. Yeah, which is insane.

I've never seen anyone call a rematch for a press conference. I've never seen that. And like, this time, I'm going to tell him to his favorite. All right, let's move on to today's top story. Every day we learn more and more about Russia's efforts to undermine America's democracy. They hacked the Democrats' emails, they flooded social media with propaganda, and they even paid Fergie to destroy the national anthem. Or at least I hope they did, otherwise I don't know what that was.

And this week, we found out about one Russian spy who has been trying to mess with US politics for years. The Justice Department announced the arrest of a Russian woman on charges that she conspired to act as an agent of Moscow to influence American politics. In court papers, the FBI says Maria Butina and a Russian official took steps to develop relationships with American politicians in order to establish back-channel lines of communication. 29-year-old Maria Boutina is a former furniture store owner in Siberia. Wow. How did they know that she was a

spy and not a 29-year-old retired furniture store owner? What was the giveaway? Was it all the guns that she was holding in every single picture? You realize there's not one picture of holding a chair, not even one. You sell furniture, there's no chair pictures? I don't know, man. And I'll tell you this, I don't trust anyone who says they sell furniture. I don't care who you are.

And I know it's not right to profile people, but I'll say it now. I got my eye on you. cool, but Ramo, I don't know. And look, it's no surprise that Russia sends spies to the US, right? I mean, a spying Russian is as normal as a white person calling the cops on their shadow. Like, that's just the thing. She's like, one of them's following me. But what I'm surprised about is how close she got to Republican power. The FBI says Boutino cozied up to NRA officials trying to gain influence.

An NRA convention in 2014 and 2015, Lutina met future Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Scott Walker, and Bobby Jindal, along with the NRA CEO, Wayne LaPierre. According to sources briefly met with Donald Trump, Jr. at an NRA convention. And at a campaign event in Las Vegas in July of 2015, she was one of the handful of people who got to ask then candidate Donald Trump a question. Do you want to continue the politics of sanctions

that are damaging of both economy, or you have any other ideas? I don't think you'd need the sanctions. I think that we would get along very, very, very well. Yeah. Very, very, very well. She was so good. She not only got close to all the Republicans, she also got Trump to answer a question. Yeah. That's powerful.

And I think that's maybe what the American press needs to do to actually get answers out of Trump. That's all the American press should do. They should just start speaking in Russian accents. We're like, Mr. President, Jim Acosta, see a Nien. I don't know what it is about you, Jim, but I like you now. Something different, I like you. Now, because Maria Boutina made friends with the NRA and a lot of Republican officials,

that doesn't necessarily mean that she was a spy. But the trail of breadcrumbs she left means means means means means means means means means means means means means that she that she that she thss that she was a spy. But the trail of breadcrumbs she left behind means that she probably was. Here's Butina with an alleged Russian operative in a DC restaurant. She has bragged about her connections to the Kremlin. There's an extensive email trail. Direct Twitter messages between a Russian official and Bhutan. Identified by sources as Alexander Torsion, a former member of Russian Parliament and

one of Putin's closest allies. Torsion messaged her on Twitter, exclaiming, you have upstaged Anna Chapman, referencing the Russian spy who was arrested and deported in a prisoner swap in 2010. Oh, I feel like that last message jinxed her. I mean, how's her boss going to send her that message? Good job, Maria. You remind me of that spy who was arrested and deported. Yeah. For more on the story, we turn to a man who has watched many movies about spies.

Michael Costa, everyone! Michael Costa, everyone! Michael, uh, Uh, Yet another Russian arrested for meddling in America's democracy. And Trevor, as an American, I could not be more outraged. And not because of the spying, because of the laziness. Maria Boutina put less effort into her mission than I put into my first marriage. Aren't you still on your first marriage?

I don't know, that's not the point. The point is, these Russian spies aren't even trying anymore. Well, I don't know if I agree, Michael. I mean, it looked very much like she was trying to me. Why? Because she dressed up like a Russian knockoff of the Matrix? I mean, what kind of spy poses in a magazine as a spy? She used her real real accent, her real face. at least slap on a wig or a beard. I think a beard might make her stand out more. She even used her real name. I mean, you don't see James Bond going around telling everybody his name.

Actually, that's kind of his trademark. I know because he's a fictitional character. The point is Russian spies used to respect us enough to try, secret codes written in lemon juice, hidden messages in flower pots, poison umbrellas, but Millennial Maria over here is conducting her spy business on Twitter, off to my next spy mission tweet, hashtag Kremlin, hashtag undercover, hashtag undercover hashtag blessed wow Michael I I'm not gonna like I didn't realize you were so passionate about Spycroft well I'm a bit of an expert you see my brother is in the CIA and

right now he's in Moscow on a secret mission but he's not running around like hey Putin I'm Dan Costa I'm here to sabotage the oligarch. No, he's pretending to be an investment banker by the name of Victor Petrovich. And that's how you spy. Love you, bro. I don't feel appreciated that. Michael Costa, everyone. Give you right back. Finding great candidates to hire can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. You might get a lot of resumes, but not enough candidates with the right skills or experience. But not with Zip Recruiter.

Zip Recruiter finds amazing candidates for you fast. And right now you can try it for free at Zip Recruiter's smart technology identifies top talent for your roles quickly. Immediately after you post your job, Zip Recruiters, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, their to, to, to's, theirutter's, to, to, theirutter's, theirutor's, theirutor's, their, their, to, to, technology identifies top talent for your roles quickly. Immediately after you post your job, Zip Recruiters' powerful matching technology starts showing you qualified people for it, and you can use Zip Recruiter's pre-written invite to apply message to personally reach out to your favorite candidates and encourage them to apply sooner. Ditch the other hiring sites and let Zip Recruiter find what you're looking for, the needle in the haystack.

Four out of five employers who post on Zip Recruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Try it for free at this exclusive web address. Zip Recruiter. Com slash zip. Zip Recruiter. The smartest way to hire. Have you ever been watching the news and thought to yourself, wow, the Supreme Court sure

does suck. We made a podcast about that. We sure did. There is a supermajority of conservative maniacs on the Supreme Court right now, really doing some damage. I'm Michael. I'm Riannan. And I'm Peter.

Our podcast, five to four is about all of this. Every week we dissect and analyze a different ruling that has made our country a little worse, a little more cruel. And you would not believe how many of them there are. Check out five to four. That's the number five, dash the number four, wherever you listen to podcast. Welcome back. Welcome back. My guest to-proced and star in the film blindspotting. David digs, th and th and the the the the the the th and the th and th and the th and th and their th and th and th. th. th. th. th. th. toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, a toe, a toe, a produced, and star in the film Blind Spotting.

David Diggs and his longtime collaborator, acclaimed poet Raphael Casale. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having it. And congratulations, man, on creating an amazing, amazing film. I had read some of the buzz before I watched it, but it's truly a beautiful story that captures everything. When you're writing a story like this, about Oakland, a place that you grew up in, a place that is so close to your heart, like how do you focus on the most important issue in the story?

Yeah, well I think for us, really every decision came back to does it feel like Oakland, for real? I mean, so, you know, it took us nine years to get this thing made, you know, so we started writing this almost a decade ago. It's been through a lot of changes. What we really wanted, one of the big reasons to make the film in the first place was because we had never seen our city represented in the way that we know it to be on the screen before. So we didn't think anyone would ever let us actually make a movie, but if they did did, we did, we did, we did, we did, we did, we the show, we th show, we thin, we thin, we thin, we thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi, thi, thi, to to to to to to to make, to make, to the the to make, the to make, the to make, to make, the to make, the to make, to make, the to make, to make, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, the, the, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to make, to to to to to to to to to to to to to the.e. too. tolde. to to to to the to the the the a show going to show our Oakland, you know? So that was the main decision maker, but, you know,

the film covers a ton of issues that seem very contemporary. But for us, it was always about just trying to tell the honest story of these two men and represent their world accurately. And it really feels honest because you have this world where you've got your character, David, who is three days away from finally ending his probation. You have your character, Raphael, who is what I can only describe as a madman.

And yet, the most charismatic person ever, he's loyal, he's a best friend. You've got these two that are on this journey together. And what I liked about it is a lot lot tho tho tho tho tho tho th th th tho th is a lot th tho th th is a lot tho thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi tho-a tho-a tho-a thi, thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, thea, thea. thea''''ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'ea'e two that are on this journey together. And what I liked about it is a lot of it was in like spoken verse, like you had written it, you know, like you're walking down the street flowing, you're going back and forth. Is that like a Bay Area thing? It is. I mean, we're using heightened language to try to condense really, to ible language and time that's fun. That's fun to listen. That's the great thing about heightened language, right?

It's exciting to take in. And it's been in the theater for so long. Heighten language and verse is the way that we've told stories in the theater. And so we were so excited to take on bringing verse to film to bring verse to film to film, the, the, the, the, the, the, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, they, and, they, they, they. theyyyyyyyyyn, theyn, theyn, theytea, theyyyytea, thia, thia, thia, thia, thia, thia, thia, thia, thi, thi, thi, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, theyy, they, theyyyy, theyyyyti, thi, thia, thia, thia, thia, thiaugh, thia, thia, thia, thia, thia, thia, ththey're not aspiring rappers or anything like that. It's just the whole film is building towards trying to help Colin articulate what he's feeling to the people that need to hear it most most. And we decided to use verse to make that happen. You've also got a situation where your character,

I mean, this is one of throughout the movie. But what's interesting is when you learn the story, and I won't spoil it for anyone, is like how easy it is for somebody's life to end because of a title. That was like a painful experience that you chose to write. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think, all of the stories in the film are sort of based on things that either happen to us or friends or family members, but in order to keep it authentic, we took people's real life scenarios and then obviously altered them for the film, but it helped us keep it close to home. If you've ever been on probation, if you know somebody on probation or on parole, if you've been through the prison system, being on probation is a series of traps designed to send you back. They're actively trying to send you back to jail. You know, and so once that label gets stuck on you, so many of my friends like, you know,

have a hard time getting jobs, right? Because that label is attached to you. There are all of these other unforeseen consequences. And for the period of time that you're still in this probationary period, there are all these totally insane rules. You know, a family member of mine, I tell this story a lot, was his probation was transferred from San Francisco County to Contra Costa County. It's in the Bay Area, inside baseball, you don't care about any of this, but... Take it in. But his probation was transferred from one county to another. He's in the meeting with his new officer

and she's running down a list of things that you can't do. You know, this very standard meeting running over a checklist. It's going on the checklist, they're done, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, he's getting up walking out the door. She says, oh, oh, you don't have a dog, do you? He goes, yeah, yeah, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I walk my, I have a dog. Oh, okay, it's not like a pit bull or something, is it? Yeah, yeah, it's a pit bull, oh, okay. Well, you don't because you having that animal is a violation of your probation in this county. It wasn't in San Francisco County, but it is here and they will send you back to jail for that.

So it was, it was happenstance that this woman happened to offhandedly mention this to him, right? You know what you're saying? And if, yeah, because if she didn't mention that and he had walked the to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, tho, tho, but, but, tho, but, but, but, but, the, they, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was...... So. So. So. they. the, was, was, was, was, was, was, to. to. to. toe. toe. toe. th toe. toe. toe. the th the toe. the the the the toe. the the the the the the the th he could have violated he would have gone back to prison. And that's really what this film feels like. I've seldom watched a film that's so funny and so heartfelt, but also like there's so much there's an underlying current of suspense because the entire time we're waiting to see if your character has to go back to prison for breaking the smallest rule. And then another major theme that we're dealing with the entire San Francisco and the Bay Area is dealing with this in major ways and like this is a big theme in the story. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Oakland, California, San Francisco, we've been going through this massive turnover and in this influx of new people that are coming in. You know, nothing about that here in New York. You know, but that is affecting this communities so intensely and them sort of similar in different ways and and and and and and and and th. And and thi. And and my thiiiiiii. And thiiii. thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi thi thi a thi a thememe them of them of them. Yeah, them. Yeah, them. Yeah, thi a th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, to to to to to to thi, to to to to to thi, the is thea, to thea, toea, toea, to toea, to thea, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, thea, absolutely, thea, thi affecting this community so, you know, so intensely and them sort of

in similar in different ways. And my character Miles is so, he's had to, we always describe him as a minority among minorities. Right. He's the only white dude around a community of black and brown folks and he's been that way, his whole life. And now the neighborhood is changing and he's had to fight so much for space and his identity and to get everyone in the area to like respect and know him throughout his entire life. And now this influx of people are coming in and not only are they changing his context, but that he's starting to like get mistaken for the, for what he sees is like, well,

they're the colonizers, I'm from here. Right, right. Which is this shit is layered people All right, can I that's That's what makes it amazing It's it's a fantastic story. I could spend hours talking to you about it But I would just tell people go watch the movie because it is that good. You deserve all the hype. Thank you so much for being on the show Oh, I appreciate it I Appreciate it. Opens in New York and LA July 20th and in the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is th is th is th is th is th is th is is tooes is tooes is too. toes is toes is toes is toes is toes is toes is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is. th is. th is. th. th. It is. It is. It is. It is. It's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th and in theaters nationwide July 27th. Davide Diggs, Raphael Casale everybody.

The Daily Show with Trevinoa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Hey guys, this is Tom Segura. And I'm Burk Chrysher. And you're listening to Two Bears One Cave. Or you should be listening to Two Bears One Cave. We are on Spo-Ncane, the. the. the. the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their. their. their. their. Follows. Follows, follow. Follow. Follow. Follow. Follow. Follow. Follow. Follow, follow. F. their. F, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow, follow. their. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, follow. F, their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their their their I'm Bert Kreischer and you're listening to Two Bears One Cave or you should be listening to Two Bears One Cave. We are on Spotify. On Spotify and we are not smart? That's an understatement. But you'll have a lot of fun hopefully I think you might

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