Maria Butina is the alleged Russian agent and “gun activist” arrested earlier this summer in connection to the 2016 election of Donald Trump. The 29-year-old was arrested a day after 12 other “Russian intelligence officers” were indicted in connection to hacking Democratic officials’ computers during the 2016 election cycle. Butina is alleged to have “infiltrated” the NRA and other American conservative organizations with the blessing of Russia’s top brass in order to help affect the 2016 election outcome. ABC News says that they’ve gotten their hands on “dozens of pages of email correspondence between August 2015 and November 2016” that show Butina’s possible influence in setting up a meeting in Moscow between high-ranking National Rifle Association officials and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Campaign Action
The delegation included NRA board member Pete Brownell, Trump campaign surrogate Sheriff David Clarke, major NRA benefactor Dr. Arnold Goldschlager and his daughter Hilary, NRA fundraiser Joe Gregory, former NRA president David Keene and Outdoor Channel CEO Jim Liberatore. They reportedly met with Butina, her alleged handler Alexander Torshin, the Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2018, and Dmitry Rogozin, then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2014.
Emails suggest Butina was eager to add Lavrov, the powerful Russian foreign minister, to their schedule, and according to one of the members of the delegation, the meeting took place.
Butina’s purported high-level Russian handler is Alexander Torshin. During the 2016 elections, Butina and Torshin are alleged to have attempted to set up a meeting between Putin and Trump. According to reports, this fell through after Jared Kushner nixed the idea, but was picked up by Donald Trump Jr., who is alleged to have had a private dinner with Torshin during the NRA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, a few weeks later.
According to ABC News, Butina’s defense is that she didn’t have the juice to make this happen by herself. Her defense attorney says she was just like-minded “politically” with the NRA, and was just taking advantage of an opportunity. The federal government says that Maria Butina is, in essence, a foreign agent working in the world of arms dealers and as a result, they have added a specialist in such espionage to their team.
