EXCLUSIVE: Maria Butina pleads guilty, agrees to cooperate with U.S. @woodruffbets reports: thebea.st/2EqA8dx
@woodruffbets Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate laws prohibiting covert foreign agents. As part of her deal, she has promised to cooperate with American law enforcement thebea.st/2EqA8dx
@woodruffbets Butina is the first Russian national since the 2016 election to plead guilty to a crime connected to efforts to influence American politics thebea.st/2EqA8dx
@woodruffbets In March 2015, according to the plea deal, Butina worked with an unnamed U.S. person—known to be her boyfriend, longtime Republican gadfly Paul Erickson—to draft a proposal for a diplomatic endeavor thebea.st/2EqA8dx
@woodruffbets Noting that she had attended the conference of an unnamed gun rights group—known to be the NRA—she said she had “laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next U.S. administration,” which she predicted would be Republican thebea.st/2EqA8dx
@woodruffbets She asked for a Russian billionaire to give her $125,000 to fund efforts to attend conferences and befriend political power-brokers. She sent the proposal to several people, including an official on the Russian central bank known to be Alexander Torshin thebea.st/2EqA8dx
@woodruffbets Butina helped arrange a trip to Moscow for NRA leaders in December 2015. She pushed for those Americans to visit with senior Russian politicians, according to the plea deal thebea.st/2EqA8dx
