Kremlin Blessed Russia's NRA Operation, U.S. Intel Report Says
Source: The Daily Beast
When Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin brought NRA bigwigs to Moscow, it wasnt a rogue mission. It was okayed from the very top, according to a report reviewed by The Beast.
The Kremlin has long denied that it had anything to do with the infiltration of the NRA and the broader American conservative movement. A U.S. intelligence report reviewed by The Daily Beast tells a different story.
Alexander Torshin, the Russian central bank official who spent years aggressively courting NRA leaders, briefed the Kremlin on his efforts and recommended they participate, according to the report. Its existence and contents have not previously been reported.
While there has been speculation that Torshin and his protege, Maria Butina, had the Kremlins blessing to woo the NRAand federal prosecutors have vaguely asserted that she acted on behalf of the Russian federationno one in the White House or the U.S. intelligence community has publicly stated as much. Senior Russian government officials, for their part, have strenuously distanced themselves from Butinas courtship of the NRA, which she did at Torshins direction.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-blessed-russias-nra-operation-us-intel-report-says
ffr
(22,668 posts)So yeah, I'd say the Kremlin blessed NRA operations alright.
UpInArms
(51,280 posts)The F.B.I. and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating meetings between N.R.A. officials and powerful Russian operatives, trying to determine if those contacts had anything to do with the gun group spending $30 million to help elect Donald Trumptriple what it invested on behalf of Mitt Romney in 2012. The use of foreign money in American political campaigns is illegal. One encounter of particular interest to investigators is between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian banker at an N.R.A. dinner.
The Russian wooing of N.R.A. executives goes back to at least 2011, when that same banker and politician, Alexander Torshin, befriended David Keene, who was then president of the gun-rights organization. Torshin soon became a life member, attending the N.R.A.s annual conventions and introducing comrades to other gun-group officials. In 2015, Torshin welcomed an N.R.A. delegation to Moscow that included Keene and Joe Gregory, then head of the Ring of Freedom program, which is reserved for top donors to the N.R.A. Among the other hosts were Dmitry Rogozin, who until last month was the deputy prime minister overseeing Russias defense industry, and Sergei Rudov, head of the Saint Basil the Great Charitable Foundation, one of Russias wealthiest philanthropies.
BumRushDaShow
(128,773 posts)And as we know, some notables were there too.
One compilation focusing on David Clarke during that December 2015 fiasco - http://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com/2017/05/who-is-sheriff-david-clarke-from-of.html
And of course, this same December 2015 trip had produced this infamous pic -