Thread by @timkmak

Scoop: Through FOIA litigation, I've obtained docs showing what Russian agents Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin discussed in the 2015 meetings with Fed, Treasury officials.

Hint: They couldn't stop talking about the NRA

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In an interview with NPR on Thursday, Butina called her meetings with government officials, politicians and the National Rifle Association "civil diplomacy, this unofficial channel of diplomacy" ... ultimately to promote peace.

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One Treasury Department official reflected on how the meeting with Torshin/Butina went:

"The guy was also a gun fanatic and said he was a 'life member of the NRA.' In fact I think he was even in town for personal business tied to the NRA."

npr.org/2019/05/10/721…

From the Fed's notes of mtg with Butina/Torshin:

"They are in the United States to attend the NRA's annual meeting," the meeting's official notes read. Both Russians pointed out, as part of their introduction, that they were "life members" of the NRA

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The internal Treasury/Fed documents show that Alexander Torshin went through layers of checks, and no red flags were raised about taking a meeting with him

But the US govt's picture of Torshin is not so rosy now: I obtained the evidentiary package Treasury used to designate him for sanctions in 2018, and they point to his alleged Russian organized crime ties

npr.org/2019/05/10/721…

"Torshin may have personally given instructions to members of the Taganskaya on money laundering methods using Spanish bank accounts and real estate," the evidentiary package reads.

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Butina told NPR she once asked Torshin about organized crime ties.

"I have no knowledge about this... One time I asked him about it, and he denied it ... a couple of years ago," she said. "I don't believe he has this type of personality"

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Just to put a finer point on it:

From 2011-2016, senior NRA figures like David Keene were hanging out with Alexander Torshin -- a man the U.S. Treasury Department now has reason to believe helped a Russian organized crime group with money laundering.

npr.org/2019/05/10/721…