Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden released findings on September 27, 2019 from an 18-month investigation into the National Rifle Association’s relationship with Russia and potential violations of U.S. tax and sanctions laws. The report revealed new evidence that the 2015 NRA …
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Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court on December 13, 2018 to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation without registering with the U.S. government, while the original charge of failing to register as a foreign agent was dropped. She became the first Russian …
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The FBI arrested Maria Butina in Washington, D.C. on July 15, 2018, charging her with acting in the United States as an agent of the Russian government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. The arrest came after an 18-month …
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Alexander Torshin, working with Maria Butina, requested that Donald Trump meet with him on the sidelines of the National Rifle Association’s convention in Louisville, Kentucky from May 20-22, 2016. While Torshin never succeeded in meeting with then-candidate Trump himself, he did secure a …
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During the 2016 election cycle, the National Rifle Association spent a record $30-55 million supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign—triple its 2012 spending for Mitt Romney. The unprecedented spending occurred during and after Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin’s systematic …
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Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin arranged and hosted a delegation of National Rifle Association members in Moscow from December 10-15, 2015. The delegation included NRA leaders such as Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and David Keene, a former NRA president. During the trip, the gun rights …
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On July 11, 2015, at the FreedomFest libertarian conference in Las Vegas, Russian intelligence operative Maria Butina publicly questioned presidential candidate Donald Trump about US sanctions on Russia. Trump responded that he knew Putin and believed they would “get along very nicely” …
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Russian operative Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin (member of Russia’s upper house of parliament and later sanctioned Russian official) traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting from April 8-11, 2015. During this trip, Torshin met with …
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In 2011, Maria Butina founded the Russian gun rights organization “Right to Bear Arms” as a front operation and was hired as “special assistant” to Alexander Torshin, a Russian Senator with Kremlin connections. Together they initiated a systematic multi-year intelligence …
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