Looks as though the long arm of Robert Mueller may extend to Paris.  Seems French police arrested a sitting Russian senator for tax evasion in violation of his diplomatic immunity.  Suleiman Kerimov was grabbed by French authorities, to the great displeasure of Russian officials.

There may be more to the story.

According to Itar-Tass:

Meanwhile, the press service of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) did not provide a clear-cut answer when asked by Izvestia whether Kerimov’s arrest could be linked to the so-called "Russiagate investigation" in the US led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It said that the FBI could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the probe and could not comment on the issue.

According to the US media, Kerimov had contacts with Russian citizen Rinat Akhmetshin whose activities were aimed at upholding Moscow’s interests. According to The New York Times, Akhmetshin, who received US citizenship in 2009, has close ties with the Russian government and "is associated with a former deputy head of the Russian intelligence service, the FSB." For his part, Akhmetshin has rejected these allegations.

Meanwhile, RBC’s source in the Russian Federation Council said that the senator’s arrest could become "a new stumbling block in relations between Russia and the West. "Of course, this indicates that any high-ranking member of the Russian elite can be caught in the crossfire. That can been seen as an element of [Western] pressure in the run-up to the presidential election," Yevgeny Minchenko, head of Minchenko Consulting Communication Group, said in an interview with the paper[.]

If this theory is correct, it means American intelligence is tampering with Russian elections.  It also means they are trying to strong-arm the Russians into giving Mueller dirt to bring down Donald Trump.  While we all know there is a conspiracy in the Deep State to find grounds to impeach the president, it appears that the Deep State is actually working overseas and using national security assets and friendly foreign agents.

The selective moral outrage at Russia for "tampering" with U.S. elections is beyond hypocritical; the Obama administration tampered with numerous elections.  Obama spent U.S. tax dollars to promote the election of Raila Odinga in Kenya and to likewise enshrine abortion in the Kenyan constitution in violation of the Hyde Amendment.  He meddled in the Israeli elections to oust Benjamin Netanyahu.  He helped push Hosni Mubarak out of Egypt and Moammar Gaddafi out of Libya.  He meddled in Macedonia and in Albania.  In fact, a number of senators are demanding an investigation into Obama-era election tampering. 

It should also be pointed out that seizing a foreign legislator can be interpreted as an act of war.  It certainly will not serve American or European interests to start a series of retaliatory arrests.  The Russians can play that game, too.  This is a dangerous act of brinkmanship.

This is a story that will probably not have legs here in the American media, but it certainly something we should worry about, as it shows just what lengths the Deep State is willing to go to in order to keep power and remove the duly elected president.

Read more from Tim at The Aviary: www.tbirdnow.