plot, but what he provided of whether any trump campaign officials wanted to join one. whatever came of the meeting, goldstone said he's living with the consequences of one very bad idea. >> are you guilty of anything? >> i'm guilty really of not standing my ground. and knowing that this was a bad idea, that's what i'm guilty of. i've not really putting my sensible hat on and going, you know this is a bad idea, don't do it. a major trump campaign donor comes under suspicion because of his russian ties. we uncover exclusive new evidence. >> do you think that these donations were part of a russian campaign to influence the election and help president trump? >> absolutely. >> did paul manafort's russian co-defendant use a republican institute as cover?

we have exclusive details from an insider. and in russia, it's dangerous to be gay. >> after the bullet hit me, i tried to hide and they started yelling, where are you running, faggot? >> now fears that could happen here next. our live coverage from houston starts now. welcome to houston, texas. as you know, i mainly report from overseas, but this time i'm here for a story that's both foreign and domestic, and, yes, it involves president trump and russia. in particular, why is it that some of president trump's most devoted supporters seem to like putin's russia? i've been traveling in the states. i went to a gun show. i spoke to folks from the christian right. and what surprised me is that even when they see all of the reporting about russia's attempts to influence our election and they know that every one of our intelligence agencies has concluded that putin did, in fact, send his

trolls and influence peddlers to try to swing votes, their response is, so what? so, here's the question. when and why did some on the american right fall in love with putin's russia? tonight we'll show you that it did not happen by accident. it happened after russia launched a concerted campaign more than a decade ago to gain a foothold in american society. all of which brings us here to houston. tonight we have some exclusive reporting. we have been investigating someone who lives right here, someone you've probably never heard of. he's an oil executive born in russia and who, out of the blue, started making large donations to trump and the republicans in 2016. as an american citizen, his donations were perfectly legal, but sources familiar with the investigation tell us special counsel robert mueller has been looking into him and his donations. and that makes a lot of sense, considering what we found. here is our exclusive investigation which we conducted

in conjunction with the guardian newspaper. in politics, money buys access. and simon kukis got his money's worth. the russian-born american businessman donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to donald trump's 2016 run. that got him and his young russian girlfriend right up close to the future president. in political circles, no one had ever heard of simon kukes before. >> he's an american citizen and he's never given a political contribution. >> robert meyer works at the center for wisconsin politics. >> suddenly he starts giving to trump allies, joint fund raising kmeetz, republican party committees and to the trump campaign itself. >> mcguire and his team tracked donations to both parties. 99.9% of americans give $2700 or less.

that's the maximum you're allowed to donate directly to a candidate. but kukes donated $2,700 to the trump campaign, plus another $273,000 to the trump victory committee. which distributed the money between the campaign, the rnc and state republican parties. >> by giving the kind of money he gave, he is putting himself on the radar for the republican party, for the trump campaign. >> so you give that much money, people notice? >> exactly. when you make calls, your calls are answered. you're not getting an aide. you're not getting a staffer. you're getting someone in the position of power to help you. >> the timing also raises red flags because kukes started majoring his donation s to trump victory exactly two weeks after the now infamous meeting between trump campaign officials and that russian lawyer. >> so, right after the trump tower meeting, the one with don junior, the russian lawyer,

that's when the funds -- the tap is opened? >> absolutely. and that's why it's so suspicious. the big question is was this orchestrated to essentially act as a loop hole to get money legally into the campaign. >> if it was orchestrated or done at the behest of a foreign power, would it be then illegal? >> yes. >> simon or simeon kukes was born in russia to jewish parents in 1946. he worked hard in school and earned a ph.d. in chemistry from this prestigious institute in moscow. but once kukes graduated in the 1970s, he didn't want to stay put in the stagnating soviet union. he wanted something bigger and better. so he did something few highly-trained russian scientists were allow today do in the 1970s. he moved here to houston, texas, and joined the booming local oil industry. he became a naturalized citizen

in 1982 and rose through the corporate ranks all the way to the executive suite. but then in 1996, kukes traded in the american dream and went back to russia. he was hired as the president of a struggling russian oil company called tnk and promised he would turn it around. >> the company fall on some western standards. >> on a personal level he was very civilized, westernized, polite. >> he worked for the same oil company. >> he was unlike some russian oligarchs who i saw in action and being very rude, you know, throwing ashtrays at people. >> but russia in the early 1990s was no place for clean-cut westernized managers. >> there's the wild, wild west and there's the wild, wild east. >> lawyer bruce marks saw that firsthand. he represented a canadian oil

company which sued tnk and kukes after tnk tried to engineer a hostile takeover of its russian subsidiary. >> when i say hostile takeover, i actually mean a hostile takeover with machine guns, with kalashnikovs. >> so much for winner rules and standards. >> simon was there with the guys with the machine guns. and canadian workers, a number of whom i have spoken to said they were given the opportunity to stay there and to report to kukes under his control or that they could leave. >> marks's lawsuit dragged out for 13 years and was eventually dismissed. but in the process, he got his hands on an incredible piece of evidence. >> we got a document that was stamped secret from the cia. literally it came in an envelope in the mail. it was astounding because the document said that kukes admitted to u.s. government official that he had paid bribes. >> but why was kukes under

surveillance in the first place? >> he's a u.s. citizen of foreign descent who is wielding a tremendous amount of influence, who has a lot of money. >> and that, says lyndsay moran, would be enough to put him on the government's radar. she used it work for the agency. does the cia keep records on all dual sit snenz >> they don't have the resources or the time to monitor everyone. he would have had to do something to rise to their level of interest, or to be connected to someone. >> he definitely had connections to russian government without a doubt. but i guess -- >> he now lives in washington, d.c., a member of a group of activists who are vocal critics of putin's russia. the owner of tnk were oligarchs, powerful ones. >> they are extremely closely connected. i would call them the inner

circle of putin. >> putin was consolidating his power, making his inner circle even tighter. loyal oligarchs got rich, enemies had their assets seized n. 2003 mikhail, ceo of russia's biggest oil company, was arrested on charges of fraud and kukes was picked to take over. >> that tells me he was in favor in the kremlin. they're not going to get rid of him and replace him with one of his cronies. they're going to replace him with someone who is acceptable to the kremlin. >> the new boss did the media rounds to explain away korakovskis' departure. >> he was going to retire anyway so he could do another activity. education, whatever ambition he had. >> ten years of hard labor wasn't one of his ambitions. but that's what he got. kukes served as ceo for a few months before moving on to

another job. he settled into the comfortable life of a russian oil executive. but then just as the american campaign season was heating up, kukes suddenly returned to houston and started sending those fat checks to the trump victory committee. >> he was very stingy. and he was never giving the nation his own free will to political parties. then all of a sudden he starts to give these big donations which is very surprising to my friends who know him. >> so what was it about the trump campaign that caused kukes to change the habits of a lifetime? well, we found a possible answer in an e-mail exchange in which kukes appears to be reporting back to a high-ranking russian official. if you could take a look at them and tell us what you think. we showed moran some printouts. what's your impression? >> those are very interesting and very suspicious. >> why suspicious?

>> the way of communicating, there is a veiled subtext behind the words. it's clear that neither party wants to come straight out in e-mail and say what they're talking about. >> the e-mails were obtained through the dossier center, an investigative project financed by none other than mikhail after he was released from prison in 2013, the former oligarch moved to london and became putin's enemy number one. we can't independently verify the uh then advertisist of t -- authenticity of the e-mails, but they belong to kukes. in one dated july 16, 2016, he addresses the russian official pavlovsky. "i have been involved in the trump campaign and part of the group strategy development. let me know how you are doing and whether you want to meet.

simeon." >> i read that as an invitation for pavlovsky to meet with kukes to discuss perhaps what are the aims or desires of russia, of the kremlin. >> so he's offering to help? >> i read it that way. i think pavlovsky, we have to look at his background a bit. >> he was at a state owned railway. before that he was in norway. how connected could he be to the kremlin? >> he's as connected as you can get. if you're a russian ambassador overseas and you come home and you take over a major faction of russian industry, you're well connected. >> and kukes seemed eager to show he was building connections of his own. >> dear slava, i was at a dinner with trump. i think his chances are very

good. the most respected mayor, rudy giuliani. >> that made my blood run cold because there is so little said and yet so much conveyed. >> what is conveyed? >> to me what's conveyed is, i was with donald trump. we have a plan in action and it's going to work. this guy is going to win. our guy is going to win. >> why send the photo? >> the photo is basically what we might call bona fides. it's proof that, okay, i really can produce what i'm saying i can produce. here i am with giuliani. >> we talked to giuliani. he told us he doesn't remember meeting simon kukes. we looked at the photo's metta data. it shows it was taken august 13, 2016, when giuliani attended a fund-raiser hosted by new york jets owner woody johnson at his mansion in the hamptons. guests paid up to $25,000 to meet and greet candidate trump. two days earlier, kukes donated

exactly that amount. a few weeks later kukes and his girlfrie girlfriend attended another dinner. maybe he's just bragging to an old friend about his contacts. look, here i am with all these powerful political figures. >> i don't buy that. it's all related to trump. this doesn't read like an e-mail between two friends catching up. to me this reads like an e-mail exchange between a source and a handler or a source and headquarters. >> only hours after donald trump became the 45th president of the united states, kukes received an e-mail from moscow. >> "congratulations. how is your mood? when are we going to see each other?" i mean, that speaks volumes. trump won the election. the efforts worked. the plan worked. again, this does not strike me as two old friends who want to

get together for a few vodka shots. >> it seems more conspiratorial to you? >> it seems much more conspiratorial to me. the whole tone of the e-mail sz conspiratorial. >> do you think that these donations were part of a russian campaign to influence the election and help president trump? >> absolutely. after reading this e-mail exchange, i have nary a doubt. >> we wanted to ask simon kukes about his background and this mysterious e-mail exchange. why was he offering political briefings to a russian official? why did he send those photos? was he just bragging? look at how close i got to a presidential candidate. or was there more to? unfortunately, kukes wouldn't talk to us but he did send us an e-mail. he said he thought the donations would help him make contacts in houston. given all this press, i am very sorry i made the contributions. an rnc official confirms kukes

did attend the trump fund-raisers and vetted by the secret service. a spokesperson for the trump campaign told us simon kukes never had a role there. the person he was exchanged e-mails with, he didn't respond at all. so, how significant is what we uncovered? waiting to help us figure that out is david corn from mother jones. we'll be right back. man: tom's my best friend, but ever since he bought a new house... tom: it's a $10 cover? oh, okay. didn't see that on the website. he's been acting more and more like his dad. come on, guys! jump in! the water's fine! tom pritchard. how we doin'? hi, there. tom pritchard. can we get a round of jalapeño poppers for me and the boys, please? i've been saving a lot of money with progressive lately, so... progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. when heartburn hits...t your home and auto fight back fast with tums smoothies. it starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue...

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welcome back. watching this story with us from washington is david corn, the d.c. bureau chief for mother jones. david is the coauthor along with michael isikoff of a buick

russian roulette, the inside story of putin's war on america and the election of donald trump. the book connected a lot of dots and predicted a lot of what we've seen in the mueller indictments. david, thank you so much for being with us. >> good to be with you. congratulations on a great spot you just did. >> well, i'm very happy to hear you say that because i'm curious to hear your thoughts. what do you think about what we uncovered about simon kukes? >> well, you know, that's just another piece in a mosaic that continues to grow, and it fits in with a pattern. it fits in with a pattern of big money, a lot of money rolling into trump's coffers during the campaign and after the campaign into the inaugural fund. you talked about the amount of money that kukes gave. in january of 2017, a few months later, now we're talking about the inauguration, trump's inaugural fund. trump is getting $250,000 from a

guy named andrew intrader who is the cousin of victor vexelberg. he's an american, but the cousin of the american victor, a tremendous russian oligarch, at the same time the inaugural fund is getting money from american russians who have business ties, a guy named votnik, his company. another fellow named alexander, they each gave a million dollars. we're seeing a lot of russian money, russian laden money pouring in often from people who never before were involved in giving big dollar donations to any political candidate. it certainly raises a lot of questions. >> so you're saying -- so you're saying this is part of a pattern. and if these e-mails we uncovered are authentic, how significant is it that kukes is reporting back to a high-ranking russian official during the campaign as these donations are being hold out? >> well, it could be highly

significant. i liked how the cia expert said it seemed like there was something going on in these communication ands there was something veiled going on. i mean, this is exactly the type of stuff that you have a special counsel to investigate. you know, you call people in, you try to find other e-mails if these e-mails exist. there might be other e-mails out there in the same chain or that go later or earlier, and these are things that you can bear down on depending how far robert mueller wants to go in chasing the russian money trail into the trump campaign. and there's a whole lot of other russian money trail over the years into trump's businesses. and we just don't yet have a strong indication whether mull certificate including both those money trails in his ongoing investigation. >> so we thought we knew everything mueller was looking at. now there is this story, these names that you mentioned, simon

kukes about more money going in. do you think there's going to be even more names that are still going to come out? >> listen, robert mueller continues to surprise us. it's one of my least favorite cliches, but the tip of the iceberg, you only see 1/10 of the iceberg. the investigation could be going in different areas and there are issues with donald trump and his organization's finances, his personal finances, business finances, and they do overlap to some degree with questions about russia. >> when i talk to trump supporters, they say that this isn't true, that there's nothing there, it's a witch-hunt. and then others who acknowledge that, yes, some of this might be true, don't seem to care. why do you think that is? >> well, i think we live in a highly tribalized moment of politics where people who want to support trump disento what he says. and if he says it's a witch-hunt, they believe it's a witch-hunt. and that's not everybody. that's, you know, certain

percentage of the public. i think there are americans out there who, when mueller brings out indictments, they support his investigation and they're curious to see what details he has. >> david, we have a lot to get to tonight. thank you so much for taking time to speak to us. you took a big risk writing a book on the russia connections early on, but so far everything that seems to be coming out was already said in your book. so congratulations on that. we appreciate your insights. thanks a lot. >> thanks so much. >> next up, russian a temtttemp undermine u.s. democracy have been going on a lot longer the past few years. under communism the ussr marketed itself as a russian workers pair dies, it was on the far left. under putin it seems to have changed track targeting people and institutions from the right. we have people inside. think mueller investigation. that's next.

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need this bed. and welcome back. some call russia's meddling in the 2016 election the greatest covert influence operation by any intelligence agency ever. but when did it start? and how expansive was it? well, it turns out moscow had a lot of hooks in the water for a very long time. some of the key players named by the mueller investigation have relationships that go back more than a decade. and tonight we have brand-new

reporting that shows that some of those relationships were forged, of all places, in the moscow office of an organization that was launched by none other than president ronald reagan. at the height of the cold war, president reagan launched a crusade to confront the soviet union, not with more nuclear weapons, but with ideals. >> if the rest of this century is to witness the gradual growth of freedom and democratic ideals, we must take actions to assist the campaign for democracy. >> one action was founding the international republican institute, or iri, the following year. its mission? to spread the light of democracy around the globe. by 1993, the u.s. victory in the war of ideals was sealed when the iri opened an office in moscow. but it's hard to imagine that

the gipper would be proud of some of its employees. take sam paton. he ran the moscow office from 2001 to 2004. he just pled guilty to charges of illegally lobbying in the u.s. for pro-russian politicians in ukraine. his business partner, one constantine kalemnik who worked for the iri. he took over the moscow office when paton left in 2004. rarely caught on camera, colleagues named him the invisible man. documents filed by mueller's office have linked him to russian intelligence. now kalemnik is better known as paul manafort's alleged partner in crime. the two of them are accused just like paton, of promoting russian interests in ukraine. what happened inside that office? how did employees who were hired to promote democratic values end up working for the wrong side?

well, we spoke to a source who we can't identify, but who worked very closely with kalemnik there. that person told us that kalemnik often sent them to this building in moscow to pick up envelopes stuffed with cash and airline tickets. the building is the office of oleg deripaska, an oligarch can close ties to putin white houo r u.s. sanctions and manafort's client. they told us as soon as they found out what kalennik was up to in 2005, they fired him. they emphasized the work they continued to do, to advance democracy worldwide. it seems unthinkable that this institute, the brain child of ronald reagan and chaired until just before his death by john mccain, was used, all it be unwittingly, as a vehicle for russian intelligence. but according to our source, that's exactly what happened. and that didn't just involve pushing the kremlin's interests in ukraine. russian journalists had a new

web site under deripaska's direction they were helping a pro russian dictator in kiergestan in central asia, home to a major u.s. air base, an air base that was vital at the time for supplying u.s. troops in afghanistan. the project report that manafort and kalemnik were working to have that air base a transit hub for the war in afghanistan shutdown. a spokesman for deripaska's company declined to answer our questions about his contacts with kalemnik or manafort dismiss ing it as entirely groundless information. we'll be right back. insurance that won't replace

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i discovered the potential with ozempic®. ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ (vo) ask your healthcare provider if ozempic® is right for you. welcome back to "on assignment." we tend to hear the same names over and over these days, names like paul manafort, constantine kalemnik ask oleg deripaska. here's a name you haven't heard much about. g. klein preston iv. if you're a regular viewer of our show and you have a great memory it might ring a bell because last summer we spotted a curious alliance between putin's russia and conservatives like klein preston. we asked my colleague kelly cobiella to go to nashville to meet him. >> reporter: in trump's america, land of god, guns and country, christian conservatives are falling in love with russia and vladimir putin.

have you met him? >> i've not, no. >> would you like to? >> absolutely. he's fantastic. >> g. klein preston iv, a successful lawyer, family man and christian conservative. russian dolls, russian books, russia everywhere here. >> we're very similar people. >> preston does business in russia and has built some very close ties with power players like the deputy head of russia's central bank, aleksandr torshin, a former senator and putin ally. >> do you consider aleksandr torshin a friend? >> absolutely. senator torsion is a gun enthusiast and he's a big proponent of the right to bear arms. >> do you ever suspect that there's more to torshin than just a great friend and public servant? >> do i suspect that? well, you know, i don't live with him. he's a brilliant man.

i've never heard a bad word about him. >> so, klein preston didn't have any suspicions about torshin, not a hint. he liked him so much he introduced him to the leaders of the nra. and the rest, as they say, is history. since our report, torshin has been placed under u.s. sanction and his assistant maria butina is charged with conspiracy. she didn't want to do another interview on camera with us, but he did tell us he hasn't changed his opinion about torshin or butina. he said they just wanted to develop relationships in the united states. well, that's one thing that's not really in dispute. maria butina was all about developing relationships. maria butina was not exactly a clandestine spy operating in the shadows, but, boy, did she like to play one.

it was a double bluff. according to the government's case against her, butina was an agent of the russian federation. >> maria butina did not fly in out of the sky. >> democrat ron wyden sits on the senate intelligence committee which questioned butina for eight hours. he thinks she wasn't acting alone. >> she and alexander torshin, a very powerful patron, very close to vladimir putin, spent years working to worm their way into our political system. >> they were quite the pair, a passionate young woman from siberia and a veteran russian operator. torshin is a politician, a banker, and according to spanish officials, a money laundering crime boss. in these police surveillance recordings which were recently shared with the fbi, russian

criminals in spain refer to torshin as the godfather. but it was his official work for putin's government that got him sanctioned by the u.s. treasury department. for years torshin sought to cultivate relationships with the american right. he and his protege butina found their in on the gun show circuit. >> got a vortex -- >> that's the biggest hand gun i've ever seen. >> the gun lobbyists extremely well funded, its support could make or break a political campaign. it also has deep ties to all levels of the republican party. for russia, it all made it a very tempting target. and surprisingly, an easy one to hit. turns out attitudes have changed since the cold war ended. you see russia as a threat? >> why would russia -- how would russia be a threat to sne ? >> do you think the russians are

a threat in >> not as big a threat as the chinese. >> what about the russian inquiry -- >> poppycock. >> in 2011 maria butina founded the right to bear arms with the stated aim of lobbying for gun rights in russia. but it wasn't russians she was courting. it was americans. in 2013, butina held a concealed carry fashion show in moscow. the stars of america's second amendment movement flew in to spend time with their new best friends. >> they're more like americans than russians. we value the same kinds of things. >> at the same event, butina met paul eriksson, an american political consultant with long-standing connections to the republican party. they started a working relationship that turned into a relationship. >> everything she was doing was

essentially political operative 101, go out and build friendships, get people who are willing to do favors for you. >> soon butina was rubbing shoulders with some of the republican establishment's heavy hitters. future national security advisor john bolton even recorded a patriotic video endorsement. >> we never forget the joyful optimism that marked the beginning of our democratic history. we wish our russian friends that same hope. >> in 2015, butina went to vegas to attend freedom fest, the woodstock for the libertarian movement where candidate donald trump was making an early campaign appearance. from the floor, butina threw him a question about mother russia. >> if you were elected president, what will be your foreign politics especially in relationships with my country? >> i know putin and i'll tell you what, we get along with putin. >> next butina moved to the u.s.

and enrolled as a graduate student at american university in washington, d.c. >> maria butina. >> her lawyer, robert driscoll, says she was just pursuing an education. >> her behavior is that of a normal 20 something-year-old student activist. there is nothing nefarious about it. >> innocent college students, in my view, don't go setting up shell companies thousand of miles away from where they go to college. >> oh, wow. >> butina did. the day after trump's primary, she set up a company all the way in south dakota. her lawyer says it was used to fund her studies and bank records will show there was nothing illegal. >> she's a student in an honest, honorable person. >> senator wyden suspects the company could have been part of a financial network that helped the nra raise the $30 million it spent to help put donald trump

in the white house. >> that is central to the whole debate. did the nra use shell companies like the one maria butina set up in order to achieve this unprecedented level of political spending? >> do you think that actually happened, that the russians threw these shell companies were funneling money to the nra? >> the fact that clearly over a period of years -- and there were trips to russia and political meetings here and discussions with the highest-ranking officials at the nra, i find it hard to just accept the explanation that this was all just innocent activity back and forth between two countries. >> the nra says it only accepted $2,500 in russian money between 2015 and 2018, and denies any of it went toward a political campaign. butina is now in a detention

center in virginia. her lawyer, who spoke to us just before a judge ordersed him to stop talking to reporters, said the line of defense is simple. >> she's innocent. she's a student and a russian national who is involved in politics. there is simply nothing illegal that happened. >> the u.s. government disagrees. a top intelligence source told us butina was very much the real deal. but folks at the virginia gun show we visited were unimpressed. >> it doesn't bother you that this woman was allegedly working for the russians -- >> no, because we're probably doing the same thing. you know, we're making it sound like the united states doesn't do any of this stuff. the united states does it everywhere. >> and that may be the real victory for the russians, persuading americans, at least some americans, that meddling in u.s. politics is no big deal. one lesson we learned the hard way is that the russians are really good at finding and exploiting the open wounds in

our society, zeroing in on the issues that divide us and then driving a wedge right through them. issues like race, immigration, guns, and gay rights which are under constant attack in russia. that's next. >> do you think what is happening in russia could transfer back here? >> i'm scared that will happen here. and in some sense it's kind of happening. ther. -clear skies and 75. -trash can, turn on the tv. -my pleasure. -ice dispenser, find me a dog sitter. -okay. -and make ice. -pizza delivered. -what's happened to my son? -i think that's just what people are like now. i mean, with progressive, you can quote your insurance on just about any device. even on social media. he'll be fine. -[ laughs ] -will he? -i don't know. -will he? a peaceful night sleep without only imagine... frequent heartburn waking him up.

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in wars i've covered, american generals often spoke about winning an enemy's hearts and minds. so, is it possible that someone else, someone else with an advance military and great power ambition tz, could have had the same idea? did we ever stop to think the same work on americans? well, maybe they did. maybe they worked very well to win the hearts and minds of president trump's supporters, the people who back and evangelical christians. in recent years, russia reinvented itself as a bash tan of christian conservative values, and many christian conservatives seem to want to understand. do they know what kind of an example it is? here's a scary thought. maybe they do. it's almost 3:00 a.m. inside the central station club in st.

petersberg, one of the few places in russia it's safe to be gay and out. is he was trained as a doctor and forced to leave his hospital job when they learned he was gay. >> how is it dangerous? >> you could be killed on the street. >> unprevoked? >> all not all of these teeth are mine. i've lost a couple of my teeth during the fighting. >> being lesbian, gay, transsexual, or bi in russia is not technically illegal, but police officers have long used any excuse to crack down. in 2013, they got a new weapon. under the guys of protecting children, russia passed the so-called gay propaganda law,

making illegal to promote non-traditional relationships. the wording was vague. the effect was not. the law unleashed a wave of abuse according to the center for independent social research. hate crimes against lgbt people immediately doubled after it was past. >> it was a dog whistle to the groups that gays are not protected in russia. you can do to them whatever you want. >> dmitry, an activist from st. petersburg was, himself, a victim of a vicious attack. >> does the russian government think that being gay is contagious like the measles or a flu? >> yes, basically, that is it. >> the law was a step back into the dark ages, but what's even more disturbing to some is that an american went to moscow to support it. >> you testified in front of the russian parliament. >> it was a sub committee, and i was asked to speak, and i

willingly did, and would do so again. >> brian brown is president of the world congress of families. >> why would on organization of american conservatives be in russia helping russian lawmakers craft decisions for their country? >> there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, and russia is not in any way unique here. i've been to over 40 countries, and i have no qualms about going to the places. >> but brown's organization does have a unique connection to russia. it was conceived in moscow in 1995 by an american, allen carlson, and a russian, ananov, who we rently met up with. >> translator: we came from different countries, different political systems. i was from the communism soviet union, and he was from anti-communism america. >> what this secular russian and the american evangelical christian shared was a belief that homosexuals are a threat to

society. >> translator: it's a physiological deviation and will never be the norm. >> of course we don't support same-sex marriage. that's who we are. >> in russia, homophobia is not considered fringe. november of 2013 at an lgbt gathering, dmitry was attacked and has scars to prove it. >> they came into the meeting and started shooting, and after a bullet hit me, i tried to hide, and they started yelling, you running -- >> the thugs, members of a homophobic gang chased him and beat him with a bat. he was rescued by friends and taken to the hospital. >> they took me into trauma and made an kprx-ray, and there was bullet in my head, and i would not be able to see anymore.

>> fearing for his life, he applied for political asylum in the united states. >> after the attack, i would think i would stay and fight and we'll be able to find those guys, but when i saw how they were dragging their feet in this case, and there was no justice in this country. i realized that it's probably time to leave. >> the former managing director of your organization, larry jacobs, said, quote, the russians might be the christian saviors to the world. >> uh-huh. >> do you agree with that sentiment? >> i don't know if i would put it that strongly, but i am very happy about how strong russians have been in coming back to the orthodox church. supporting the traditional family, and i'm very hopeful that a new dawn is coming to russia. >> is there more to this relationship? >> of course you're aware that russia has, in the past, tried

to influence nongovernmental organizations like yours. >> yeah, russia in the past has done that. >> are you worried they are doing that now? >> i've never once been asked to do anything by any russian going against my conscious or betray my country. >> what do you think that there are americans who are walking in lock step with this russian movement? >> i think they are just putting their views before their country, before the ideals that built this country, and it's really sad that they can do that. >> do you think what's happening in russia could transfer back here? >> i'm very scared that that will happen here, and in some senses, it's kind of happening. >> sadly, that appears to be true. according to reports from the anti-violence project that documents hate crimes, last year was the most dangerous year on record for the lgbt community here in the states. we'll be right back.

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three things, guns, god, and money. that is all from us "on assignment," follow us on twitter @oaengle. we're back after the midterm elections that could determine not only the future of our politics, but also the outcome of the mueller investigation. it should be exciting and important. thank you for watching. good night from us from houston. >> drain the swamp! >> donald trump is a guy who likes to talk about the swamp. paul manifort is the guy who invented the swamp. >> he rewrote the rules in washington. >> considered one of the smartest and most abled people in the republican party. >> before taking his bare knuckle brand of politics overse