greater things in russian politics. but no sooner had we learned that today about maria butina in moscow than we learned literally within hours of that news first crossing here. we learned that her american boyfriend long-time republican political operative paul erickson who emerged in her criminal case as a key conduit for her as someone who helped steer her influence campaign with the nra and with republican politicians. today maria butina s american boyfriend paul erickson himself plead guilty in federal court to wire fraud and money laundering charges. now mr. erickson was never charged directly with anything related to his relationship with or his assistance to maria butina when she was operating as the kremlin s foreign agent here in republican politics. but his funding of maria butina s efforts and his facilitation of her efforts inside republican politics, it because kind of get a wink in
the same day maria butina gets offered her jobs in the russian government. and meanwhile the president s being impeached. [ laughter ] and it is clear from the democratic majority in the house whenever you can get him to talk about their overall strategy for the trump impeachment, it s clear that they are trying to, you know, keep it short, keep it simple, get it done fairly quickly. but it s funny. you know, the more witnesses come forward and the more we learn about the scheme for which the president is being impeached, it seems like there is more for the administration to worry about every day. and the more people associated with this administration are learning they may need to worry about whether they themselves are going to be on the hook here. take, for example, recently mysteriously resigned u.s. energy secretary rick perry. about a week ago the associated press had what i think was an underappreciated bombshell, underappreciated big scoop about
sending money to m.b., m.b. appears to be maria butina, the secret agent operating on behalf of the kremlin to influence republican and conservative politics ahead of the 2016 election. sending her money is part of what he plead to today as well. so, this guilty plea for maria butina s boyfriend happened today in federal court in south dakota. i should tell you i showed you one of the documents that was filed with his plea today. alongside the documents that were filed publicly explaining what he s pleading to, prosecutors also filed a plea agreement supplement that we can t see. it s filed under seal, and that means we, the public, are not allowed to read it. now what s in that sealed document? we don t know. obviously there is speculation that his plea agreement may have come with some sort of cooperation deal in which he agrees to provide information to prosecutors about other cases
broadly in the 2016 campaign. the nra remains a little bit of a dangling thread. and the nra has had a lot of drama over the past year that is basically consuming it as an organization right now. but even so paul erickson pleading guilty with this sealed supplement to his plea agreement as to potentially whether or not he is cooperating, that probably does not make the nra a very happy place tonight knowing that that has just happened give his role in facilitating this russian agent to get to the upper echelons of the nra and their republican contacts during the 2016 campaign. and again that guilty plea just happened tonight. the same day maria butina gets offered her jobs in the russian government. and meanwhile the president s being impeached. [ laughter ] and it is clear from the democratic majority in the house whenever you can get him to talk
that commonly but not always happens with a guilty plea. whether or not that applies here in the case of paul erickson, that remains to be seen. the role of the nra both in that russian influence operation involving maria butina and more broadly in the 2016 campaign. the nra remains a little bit of a dangling thread. and the nra has had a lot of its own financial and internal drama over the past year or so that is basically consuming it as an organization right now. but even so paul erickson pleading guilty with this sealed supplement to his plea agreement as to potentially whether or not he is cooperating, that probably does not make the nra a very happy place tonight knowing that that has just happened give his role in facilitating this russian agent to get to the upper echelons of the nra and their republican contacts during the 2016 campaign. and again that guilty plea just happened tonight.