On Monday, Russian pro-gun activist and lifetime NRA member Maria Butina, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and acting as a covert agent of the Russian government. The indictment against Butina, on the same day that Donald Trump so weakly acquiesced to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, came after years in which the Russian agent openly presented herself as a gateway between Republican causes and Russia. During that time she not only supported the candidacy of Trump, but worked with other prominent members of the GOP, promoted Republican visits to Moscow, and secured pro-Russian statements from right-wing politicians up and down the line.
Butina has been a prominent and vocal presence in the link between the National Rifle Association and Russian pro-gun groups. But she has also inserted herself into other lobbying efforts, both for guns and for Russia. That includes open claims that she was a conduit between the Russian government and the campaign of Donald Trump.
Depending on the audience, Butina has presented herself as a Russian central bank staffer, a leading gun rights advocate, a “representative of the Russian Federation,” a Washington, D.C., graduate student, a journalist, and a connection between Team Trump and Russia. She used each role to help her gain more high-level contacts in the nation’s capital.
Butina’s claims to be an agent of the Russian central bank aren’t completely false. She is a lieutenant of Russian oligarch Alexander Torshin, who is the deputy governor of the central bank. Torshin heads up the Russian end of the gun manufacturing lobby, Right to Bear Arms.
The NRA may have been Butina’s biggest source of political connections, but it was far from the only one. She made it clear that she had money, made it clear that she was looking to make connections with Republicans, and made it clear what she wanted: For the Republican Party to become the champion of Russia. And that doesn’t mean just Donald Trump. As the Washington Post makes clear in their timeline of Butina’s actions ...
April 24, 2015: Butina attends the NRA convention in Nashville. There she and Torshin meet Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.), who reportedly greets her in Russian.
Butina was there again for the launch of Scott Walker’s campaign. But, of course, she was also laying other bets.
Butina’s timeline in the United States include meeting a lot of Republican politicians, advisers, and funders and being warmly welcomed to numerous right-wing events. It’s not hard to find a picture of almost anyone in the Republican Party standing next to this Russian spy. However, there are a few occasions that rise beyond the level of “they were at the same event” to a level where “astounding coincidence” doesn’t even come close. For example:
July 11, 2015: Butina asks Trump a question at FreedomFest, a libertarian event held that year in Las Vegas. As president, she asked, would Trump continue the sanctions imposed against Russia in 2014?
For this to happen, Maria Butina has to first be at the event. Then she has to be posing as a journalist. Then she has to attend a speech by Donald Trump. Then, out of a hall full of actual journalists, Trump has to call on Butina … who asks a question on the same topic that would be at the focus of the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia for the next year. That’s a sequence that doesn’t imply coincidence. It signals coordination between the fake journalist in the audience, and the fake billionaire on stage.
Trump’s reply on that day was also illuminating.
Trump: I know Putin, and I’ll tell you what, we get along with Putin, Putin has no respect for President Obama. Big problem. Big problem…. I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin, okay? And I mean where we have the strength. I don’t think you’d need the sanctions.
This was before Trump remembered to deliver the standard response that he didn’t know Putin. And three years before Trump would stand on the world stage to vividly demonstrate just how much respect Putin holds for him.
The timeline of events between Butina and Republicans shows how the Russian spy had an astounding level of access and interaction with the GOP at all levels. Her NRA connection—and her stated willingness to produce campaign funds—opened doors for her everywhere.
There’s notorious ex-sheriff David Clarke traveling with NRA officials to Moscow, at Butin’s request. Butin arranging Torshin’s participation in the National Prayer breakfast. Butina framing up an interview with John Bolton for her pro-gun group. And Butina arranging multiple trips to Russia for American congressmen.
But there was one name that became the focus of both Butina and Torshin as the Republican campaign got underway.
Google’s translation of that Torshin tweet from early 2016: “Maria Butina is now in the United States. Writes to me that D. Trump (member of NRA) is really for cooperation with Russia.”
There’s a reason why the false stories that Russia planted in US social media concerned mostly racial issues. They’ve long understood it as a weakness; a fracture along which the United States can be divided and weakened.
And there’s a reason why Russia worked with the NRA and promoted the idea of more guns equals more freedom. It’s the same reason. Plus the guns have the benefit of killing thousands of Americans immediately so … win win.
Why was Maria Butina so effective in garnering interviews and attention from Republicans? Maybe because she’s a 29-year-old redhead who charmed the GOP with her talk of guns-guns-guns.
Or maybe it’s because the $30 million which the NRA provided to Trump from sources it will not reveal. And the strong possibility that it wasn’t just once. And it wasn’t just Trump.