Paul Erickson charged with 11 felonies including money laundering, wire fraud. Ostensibly unrelated to the Butina probe but I mean, come on. https://t.co/IpyVYqMCP1
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 7, 2019
Another two-bit grifter who’d still be safely under the radar if only Trump hadn’t been inserted into the White House by a foreign power:
… Paul Erickson became the subject of public interest after his girlfriend, Maria Butina, was charged last year and pleaded guilty to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate American conservative political circles as an undeclared agent for the Kremlin…
As part of that plea, Butina admitted to working with an American political operative to forge connections with officials at the National Rifle Association, conservative leaders and 2016 presidential candidates, including Donald Trump.
The political operative has been identified by government officials as Erickson, a longtime GOP political adviser from South Dakota, who managed the 1992 presidential campaign of Pat Buchanan. Erickson’s lawyer, William Hurd, has said he is a “good American” who “has never done anything to hurt our country and never would.”…
One of the money transfers listed in the indictment as an instance of money laundering is a $20,472 payment Erickson made in June 2017 to American University — the school Butina attended…
Didn’t have a chance to post this earlier, but it would seem relevant. From the NYTimes, “N.R.A. Seeks Distance From Russia as Investigations Heat Up”:
When a delegation of high-profile donors, boosters and board members from the National Rifle Association traveled to Russia in 2015, they visited a gun factory in Moscow, took in a ballet and met with members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
But now the N.R.A. is seeking to distance itself from the trip, after revelations that a Russian woman who helped arrange it, Maria Butina, was conspiring to infiltrate the organization.
The trip has been a subject of scrutiny in at least four inquiries into the N.R.A.’s ties to Russia; questions about the N.R.A. have also surfaced in the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. Newly empowered congressional Democrats are now stepping up efforts to uncover how much money the N.R.A. received from Russia, and whether the group served as a conduit for Russian funds into the 2016 Trump campaign…
Late Night RussiaFvckery-Adjacent Open Thread: All-American Con Artist IndictedPost + Comments (33)