Page 2 - Future Nra News Today

Moment whos been all over this story. but this is a big deal, right? this is the first russian to plead guilty to a crime that has anything to do with influencing american politics or the 2016 elections. so, this is a big deal. but can we also just consider for a second what might be going on here with the nra, right? national rifle association, the nra. is thought of and has long been thought of as a powerhouse in washington and american politics when it comes to lobbying and influence and espe...

Now. that nra trip in december 2015, that was at the exact same time that trump national security adviser mike flynn was also in moscow, sitting with vladimir putin at a gala dinner the russian government paid him to attend. the daily beast also reports this tonight, quote, according to the plea deal, butina also helped arrange for a group of russians to attend the national prayer breakfast in washington, which was held on february 2nd, 2017. so right after trumps inauguration. butina e-mailed h...

Joining us now is erin banco. she is a reporter with "the daily beast." she has been reporting on about this news for a while now. ms. banco, i really appreciate you being here. thank you for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> were seeing multiple reports now that marina butina has not only agreed to a guilty plea, but has agreed to cooperation. are you guys able to be specific at "the daily beast" in terms of what you understand the scope of her cooperation deal to be, what types of prosecu...

Mcclatchy reporting in january, quote, the fbi is investigating whether a top russian banker with ties to the kremlin illegally funneled money to the nra to help donald trump win the presidency. quote, fbi counterintelligce investigators have focused on the activities of torshin, the deputy governor of russias central bank, who was known for his close relationships with both russian president vladimir putin and the nra. and then, of course, not long thereafter, maria butina got arrested. and cha...

Doesnt disclose anything about its donors. and i know like in the news there is always large round numbers, right? $30 million. sounds like a lot of money. a big round number. what does that mean? for context here, in order to understand why im saying thats a really strange amount of money for them to have spent, that $30 million they spent on trump, that is triple what they spent the last time around in the last presidential election on mitt romney. almost three times what they spent on romney....

Of millions of dollars to elect trump and beat hillary clinton. another report in mother jones magazine shows that evidence, hundreds of pages of federal campaign records appears to show the nra and the trump campaign overtly coordinating their messaging strategy and their ad buying through the same person. reporters showed those records to the former chair of the federal election commission, and the ex-chair told mother jones, quote, i dont think ive ever seen a situation where illegal coordina...

In the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, there was all of a sudden a weird russian twist in u.s. gun politics. i spelled out maria butinas plea agreement in december 2015 in the middle of the presidential campaign right before the iowa caucuses, a former nra president and a future nra president and a whole delegation of nra officials and members all got an all-expenses paid trip to moscow. it was organized by the right to bear arms, purportedly a gun rights group founded by a senior mem...

Boyfriend paul erickson? has she spoken to prosecutors about leaders in the nra? those are all questions we have not answered yet. and so we do not know the full scope of that cooperation agreement. but it is very possible, according to our sourcing, that butina has spoken at length to prosecutors about at least erickson. >> now you and betsy woodruff at daily beast broke the news that erickson had received this target letter in which federal prosecutors informed him that they were considering c...

Network to expand its reach and influence. that digital tv network appears to be imploding as we speak with some of their biggest nra tv stars getting their shows shut down, even just tonight. so, what explains this gigantic seesaw, the biggest spending ever in 2016 by a mile, and then what appears to be financial ruin, certainly financial atrophy just within a couple of years. the nra money in the 2016 campaign just doesnt make much sense given the history of the nra and given the campaign. the...

Him. happy retirement all of the sudden. it cant have anything to do with the fact that the agent you were running in the u.s. is copping a plea and making an agreement with the fib now, can it? now today we apparently got his alleged agreement, maria butina reportedly agreeing to cop a plea and agreeing to cooperate with the fbi and federal prosecutors. so heres my question. maria butina has been in jail since she got arrested. she has been denied bail. we have very little window into whats bee...