Feds Charge Russian Student, Linked To NRA, With Conspiracy
Updated at 5:01 p.m. ET
Just hours after President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and held a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart that stunned many political observers in the U.S., federal prosecutors have unsealed a criminal complaint alleging that a Russian graduate student living in the D.C. area conspired to act as an agent of Russia without registering, as required, under U.S. law.
Maria Butina, 29, was ordered detained by a magistrate judge in Washington, D.C., pending a detention hearing Wednesday. Court papers said she entered the U.S. on a student visa in August 2016, ostensibly for graduate work in international relations at American University. Instead, the FBI argued, she secretly worked on behalf of the Russian government.
Butina, through her lawyer, denied that she was acting as a Russian agent when she drafted articles for conservative publications, attended the National Prayer Breakfast and set up meals between Russians and Americans.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson wrote in a sworn statement that one goal of the alleged conspiracy was to "exploit personal connections with U.S. persons having influence in American politics in an effort to advance the interests of the Russian Federation."
Authorities said Butina established contact with an unnamed American political operative in Moscow in 2013 who worked with her to arrange introductions to influential people inside the U.S. and to advance Russian interests. One of the contacts was with an "organization promoting gun rights," which NPR has previously reported is the National Rifle Association.
The American political operative, whom two sources identified as Paul Erickson, sent an email shortly before the 2016 election reporting he'd been involved in "securing a very private line of communication" between the Kremlin and Republicans, using the NRA, the court papers said.
Erickson has not been charged with wrongdoing, but he has told others that his finances are being investigated by federal authorities.
The FBI affidavit said Butina reported her activities to a Russian official via email, Twitter and other means. That Russian official is not named in the court filing but fits the description of Alexander Torshin, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in April.
"I believe that Butina and the Russian official took these steps in order to infiltrate those groups and advance the interests of the Russian Federation," agent Helson wrote.
Robert Driscoll, a lawyer for Butina, denied in a written statement that she had been acting as a Russian agent. Driscoll said she had cooperated with Senate intelligence committee investigators and provided thousands of documents. He said the FBI executed a search warrant on her apartment in April.
"The substance of the charge in the complaint is overblown," Driscoll said.
"While styled as some sort of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act, in actuality it describes a conspiracy to have a 'friendship dinner' at Bistro Bis with a group of Americans and Russians to discuss foreign relations between the two countries."
He added: "There is simply no indication of Butina seeking to influence or undermine any specific policy or law in the United States."
The case is being pursued by the Justice Department's National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington D.C., not the special counsel investigating Russian election interference.
The charge was unsealed on the same day as Trump's much-watched summit with Putin and just days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for undertaking a scheme to hack and then dump into the public domain the email communications of top figures in the Democratic Party.
Both developments by federal prosecutors appear likely to increase pressure on the president, his administration and Republicans in Congress to take a stronger approach to Russian interference in the U.S. political system — something Trump hesitated to do while standing alongside Putin Monday in Helsinki.
U.S. intelligence officials are in agreement that Russia interfered in the 2016 election using a wide array of methods, including but not limited to hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails, breaking into American voting infrastructure and launching a sprawling misinformation campaign.
"I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," Trump said. "Dan Coats [the Director of National Intelligence] came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be."
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