a threat in not as big a threat as the chinese. what about the russian inquiry poppycock. in 2011 maria butina founded the right to bear arms with the stated aim of lobbying for gun rights in russia. but it wasn t russians she was courting. it was americans. in 2013, butina held a concealed carry fashion show in moscow. the stars of america s second amendment movement flew in to spend time with their new best friends. they re more like americans than russians. we value the same kinds of things. at the same event, butina met paul eriksson, an american political consultant with long-standing connections to the republican party. they started a working relationship that turned into a relationship. everything she was doing was
center in virginia. her lawyer, who spoke to us just before a judge ordersed him to stop talking to reporters, said the line of defense is simple. she s innocent. she s a student and a russian national who is involved in politics. there is simply nothing illegal that happened. the u.s. government disagrees. a top intelligence source told us butina was very much the real deal. but folks at the virginia gun show we visited were unimpressed. it doesn t bother you that this woman was allegedly working for the russians no, because we re probably doing the same thing. you know, we re making it sound like the united states doesn t do any of this stuff. the united states does it everywhere. and that may be the real victory for the russians, persuading americans, at least some americans, that meddling in u.s. politics is no big deal. one lesson we learned the hard way is that the russians are really good at finding and exploiting the open wounds in
introduced him to the leaders of the nra. and the rest, as they say, is history. since our report, torshin has been placed under u.s. sanction and his assistant maria butina is charged with conspiracy. she didn t want to do another interview on camera with us, but he did tell us he hasn t changed his opinion about torshin or butina. he said they just wanted to develop relationships in the united states. well, that s one thing that s not really in dispute. maria butina was all about developing relationships. maria butina was not exactly a clandestine spy operating in the shadows, but, boy, did she like to play one. it was a double bluff. according to the government s case against her, butina was an agent of the russian federation.
maria butina did not fly in out of the sky. democrat ron wyden sits on the senate intelligence committee which questioned butina for eight hours. he thinks she wasn t acting alone. she and alexander torshin, a very powerful patron, very close to vladimir putin, spent years working to worm their way into our political system. they were quite the pair, a passionate young woman from siberia and a veteran russian operator. torshin is a politician, a banker, and according to spanish officials, a money laundering crime boss. in these police surveillance recordings which were recently shared with the fbi, russian criminals in spain refer to torshin as the godfather. but it was his official work for putin s government that got him sanctioned by the u.s. treasury department.
for years torshin sought to cultivate relationships with the american right. he and his protege butina found their in on the gun show circuit. got a vortex that s the biggest hand gun i ve ever seen. the gun lobbyists extremely well funded, its support could make or break a political campaign. it also has deep ties to all levels of the republican party. for russia, it all made it a very tempting target. and surprisingly, an easy one to hit. turns out attitudes have changed since the cold war ended. you see russia as a threat? why would russia how would russia be a threat to sne ? a threat in not as big a threat as the chinese. what about the russian inquiry poppycock. in 2011 maria butina founded the right to bear arms with the