Maria Butina allegedly helped her Russian handler meet with a congressional delegation in August 2015. That’s when these lawmakers—one Democrat, one Republican—were in Russia.
Pro-Kremlin GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher met with a Putin ally in Russia in August 2015, The Daily Beast has confirmed, matching an account in Monday’s blockbuster FBI affidavit against accused Russian spy Maria Butina.
Butina was part of “discussions about the RUSSIAN OFFICIAL’s plans to meet with a U.S. Congressman during a Congressional Delegation trip to Moscow in August 2015,” FBI agent Kevin Helson’s affidavit swears. “In that conversation, BUTINA noted she has the RUSSIAN OFFICIAL’s diplomatic passport and can purchase a plane ticket for him from St. Petersburg to Moscow.”
The official is widely believed to be Alexander Torshin, an influential former Russian politician from Vladimir Putin’s party who established trans-continental ties to the National Rifle Association.
Yesterday, the Justice Department charged accused Maria Butina of acting as a Russian agent “for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian federation” and trying to infiltrate the NRA and “create a back-channel line of communication” back to the Kremlin.