erickson later e-mailed the list to another person. reaction to the delegation's presence in america will be conveyed directly to russian president vladimir putin and foreign minister sergei lavrov, he wrote. so we're going to talk with "the daily beast" reporter in just a moment who's 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 especially money in elections. the nra does spend a ton of money every election cycle, and especially every presidential year. but clearly something weird happened with the nra in 2016. for some reason, in 2016, the nra just exploded its previous spending records. the nra in 2016

person 1 is paul erickson. and so knowing that, we can sort of get a pretty distinct and pretty hairy plot line here out of the butina court documents. quote, with paul erickson's assistance and subject to the direction of this russian official aleksandr torshin, butina sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with americans having power and influence over u.s. politics. butina sought to use those unofficial lines of communication for the benefit of the russian federation. now from the original court filings where marina butina was first charged, we have the text of an e-mail that paul erickson sent to an acquaintance just one month before the 2016 election. that e-mail said, quote, have i been involved in securing a very private line of communication between the kremlin and key republican party leaders through, of all conduits, the nra. again, this is a month before the 2016 election. why would republican party leaders knee an all caps very private line of communication to the kremlin? why would r

and the government may bring a conspiracy charge against erickson.his target letter was sent to paul erickson a couple of months ago. the lawyer has now shown it to the reporters. while a target letter is not the same as an indictment, it indicates that the prosecutors are considering bringing charges against him or moving in a way toward charges against him. in his case, for serving as a secret foreign agent on behalf of russia against the united states, like his girlfriend. you know, this is not totally a surprise. in the justice department's court filings for its charges against maria butina, paul erickson turns up multiple times when the government is describing had her alleged crimes and how she went about the scheme to influence the u.s., to influence the u.s. government and republican party and conservative movement in the country on behalf of russia. he is described as person number one in the court filings as best we can tell. quote, during the course of her work as a covert russian agent, she regularly met and communicated with an unnamed r

the couple seen here recording a duet to "beauty and the beast" for erickson's birthday.ina, a fan of the film. ♪ tale as old as time >> is maria butina a russian agent? >> no. she's not. she's a student. she's a russian national. she's a lover of america and of russia, but she is not a russian agent by any means. >> reporter: but prosecutors told a different story. claiming she was leveraging her relationship for access to the republican elite, even coming face-to-face with the future president. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions? >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, okay. >> reporter: all allegedly done at the behest of a russian banker with close ties to the kremlin. according to the proposed plea deal, butina would promise her full cooperation with forriti . erickson hasn't been charged with a crime and butina is due in court on wednesday, ultimately, it's likely she will be deported back to her mother russia. robin. >> all right, kyra, thank you. >>> now to the arrest of that ohio woman who prosecutors say was planning mass murder.

erickson is under scrutiny by investigators. his lawyer declined to comment today.for butina, her plea deal knows as part of the agreement she is likely to be deported to russia. wolf. >> sara murray reporting for us. thank you very much. >>> joining us, james clapper, former director of national intelligence, now a cnn national security analyst. general clapper, thanks for coming in. >> thanks, wolf. >>> how rare is it for an alleged russian spy to flip, to cooperate with federal prosecutors, investigators? how important would that kind of cooperation be? >> well, it is pretty unusual, but i would also point out i don't think -- as ms. butina said, i don't think she is actually an operative of one of the russian intelligence services, but the russian's have many ways of extending their tentacles and attempting to exert influence. i think what is interesting about this is the russians singled out conservative right wing groups, notably the nra, and they certainly understand the death grip that the nra has on many of our politicians. so it makes every bit of sense fr

and i think the focus is going to be on erickson right now.y from russia, through her, to erickson, to conservative causes, trying to wash it through that way? but not only just him, but elsewhere, as well. but i do agree with whatever everyone is saying so far about was she sent here as a spy? basically in the mold of what we have seen on the americans. and if she was, then she wasn't a very good spy in the sense she was very public. she came out and she asked questions of president trump in public settings. that's not something you want to do if you're a good spy. having said that, she was very smart to go to the nra and try to work her way through that. >> the nra, what they gave pro trump -- the nra, about $30 there wi million to help his campaign. >> but clearly on the sides of the republicans and conservatives and good starting off point if you're trying to get plugged into that community. >> laura coates, what stands out to you in this case? >> in all the cases the u.s. attorneys office has prosecuted in washington, d.c., i don't think

investigators - butina is providing information about how her boyfriend, republican operative paul erickson aided her activities in the u-s -and telling investigators about her contacts with russians.nat sound:according to her plea - butina's plot to build relationships with politically influential americans and advance russian interests ... included attending national rifle association meetings and organizing a russian delegation to attend the 2017 national prayer breakfast in d- c.nat sound:she kicked off her plan around march of 2015 - working with erickson, on the quote "diplomacy project." according to the plea, she proposed getting 125 thousand dollars from a russian billionaire to attend conferences and arrange other meetings.at one 2015 political event - she asked donald trump about his views on russia - maria butina:"if you will be elected as the president what will be your foreign politics especially in relationships with my country."president trump:"i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, ok."that same year - she invited an nra delegation to moscow to build closer tie

butina, a russian gun rights activist, says her boyfriend, gop operative paul erickson, introduced her to top officials in the nra. >> in russia, i'm founder and now i'm the board member of the right to bear arms. >> reporter: she also says she even brought powerful former nra leaders to moscow to meet with top russian officials. she told a russian contact with close ties to the kremlin, "we will put pressure on them quietly later." she also met prominent republican politiciapoliticiansn asking donald trump a question in 2016. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions? >> i know putin, and i'll tell you what, we get along with putin. >> reporter: butina told moscow she had laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next u.s. administration. but tonight, she has flipped, pledging to cooperate with the justice department. >> so, now she has flipped, pledging to cooperate. kyra phillips with us from washington. what about the american republican operative who introduced butina to the nra members. is he in legal jeopardy now? >> reporter: he could be

as for paul erickson, he continues to visit her in jail.f, if she does plead guilty, she's likely to be sent back to russia. >> we'll see what happens. obviously, very significant development. thanks very much, sara, for that. >>> coming up, pruresident trum tweets about hush money payments. are they impeachable offenses? >>> and the growing list of those now known to have contacts with russians. how many are there? we're about to move. karate helps... relieve some of the house-buying... stress. at least you don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. call geico. geico... helps with... homeowners insurance? been doing it for years. i'm calling geico right now. good idea! get to know geico. and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying.

prosecutors say she did it with the help of an american, republican operative paul erickson, with whom she had a romantic relationship. they even recorded this video together. ♪ tale as old as time >> reporter: butina says erickson helped her cozy up to conservative leaders and top nra officials. she acknowledges that in 2015, she told a russian official she had "laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next u.s. administration." she'd met prominent republican politicians -- wisconsin governor scott walker, donald trump jr. she even got a chance to ask his father a question about russia. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions? >> i know putin, and i'll tell you what, we get along with putin. i don't think you'd need the sanctions. >> reporter: at the time, candidate trump was actually working on a secret deal to build a trump tower in moscow. >> and kyra phillips joins us from washington tonight. and kyra, vladimir putin was asked today if he knows who maria butina is. and the other question tonight, where does she go after a plea deal with

his attorney put out a statement that said paul erickson is a d good american.one anything to harm our country and never would. >> he's referred to in the statement of offense that was read in court today as u.s. person number one. he was clearly assisting bird flu tina on this project that the government says was a -- >> assisting or being duped? do we not know yet? >> we're going to have to hear butina's full account. she's cooperating with the feds to make a final judgment so he's not out of the woods. there's been reports he's gotten a target letter himself. but i have to say on the nra thing, that what s what got us so worked up. you saw the $30 million that the nra poured into the 2016 election. >> more than they'd ever done before. >> you have this guy torshin and butina who are showing up at nra meetings. >> lifetime members. >> developing relationships, or the shin's background is suspected money launderer, raised all sorts of questions but -- and this is a break on what danny said is i don't think if the feds had the money laundering to the nra they wo

so far erickson hasn't been charged with any crime.gton. >>> an american woman studying in the netherlands has been murdered and her family says her roommate is the suspect. sarah was found stabbed to death in her apartment wednesday. a 23-year-old dutch man is charged with killing the minnesota native. her mom says her daughter complained the suspect had a temper. >>> new details are emerging about a harassment settlement paid by cbs network involving the star of the show "bull." cbs reportedly paid actress eliza dushku more than $9 million to settle claims that she made against michael weatherly. erhe s w york times"tsmaorep h uncomfortable, including a rape joke. then she says she was written off the show after confronting the star about his behavior. cbs confirms the settlement and weatherly says he immediately apologized after she said she was offended by that joke. >>> well, thanks to the latest research, the newest diet fad could be as old as dirt. >> a study out of australia finds eating dirt can do a body good when it comes to

her boyfriend paul erickson. they wanted to know his plot in washington and a separate fraud investigation into him in south dakota. maria butina was arrested in july and has been in jail since. in normal cases, she would be sent back to her home country, in this case it would be russia and that would be awkward now she is p cooperacooperating. back to you. >> thank you. >>> the president has three weeks to find a new chief of staff. a source tells cnn he is quote super pissed how the effort is going. his only initial pick nick ayers has ultimately said no to the job. the list of candidates looks like this. it keeps fluctuating. >> a source telling cnn that the president questioned one on the list. david bossie was working with the house during the clinton investigation. and one another candidate? mark meadows. chairman of the freedom caucus and has expertise on how house oversight works. he said he hasn't spoken to the president about the job. >> it sounds if you were offered the job, you would say yes? >> well,

these two pieces were done by our artist paul erickson, who we met earlier. one he drew -- he laid his federal down to this dead german before he realized that the german was dead. he didn't know it was a german. he laid his bed roll down to go to sleep that night and woke up the next morning and realized he was laying right next to a german that had been killed. so he sketched this german. you can see various points that he pointed out, shot in the chin, what these various items are, some cards and a pipe. just his way to remember his service. one of the quotes that we have , again, hem aitken was very well written, talked about getting into action for the fifth marines. he says "the war we gave as we came out was spontaneous. we went at it hammer and tongs. we used buck strike and slash, no sticking because of pressure. there were no trees tor brush to hamper our charge and we sure charged. the afterglow was interesting. most of us sat down and cried. lannen was gone and so many of our best friends. we saw them fall. however, we got our revenge. at last, i

she arranged for a group of russians to attend the national prayer breakfast, telling erickson they hoped to establish a back channel of communication. now, according to the plea deal, she befriended a wealthy, well-connected conservative writer who helped pay butina's bills. identified as george o'neil jr. he hosted friendship dinners. meeting individuals, learn their thoughts and inclinations toward russia and adjust her pitch accordingly. joining me now, nbc news national security and justice reporter julia ainsley. what exactly did butina agree to and what's the significance here? >> just a little over an hour ago, we were inside where butina came out. she was in her prison wear. she's been spending time in solitary, waiting. she's very stoic as she quickly said yes, yes, yes, as she agreed to plead guilty to all of this. one of the things the judge asked her is whether or not she was doing this knowing that this won't necessarily help her from being deported. the judge can of course take into account her cooperation with the prosecutors here. she could still face deportation back to

and i think the other important thing that we need to note in this case is paul erickson has been deemedthey had a man on the inside, according to the federal documents. i've spoken to his lawyer today and he says that paul is a good american and would never have done anything to harm america. but according to the federal court filings, this guy was complicit and knew who she was working for and helped her do it, helped her identify targets within the nra, helped bring these nra folks to moscow, helped them meet with top russian officials in moscow. so this was clearly well known in the highest ranking people in the russian government. so this was not some sort of, you know, covert side operation. like this had some sort of official blessing. >> all right, tim, evelyn, thank you guys both very much. >>> another big story today, trump rebuked for his support of saudi arabia despite the murder of a "washington post" journalist and the horrific war in yemen. late today the senate passed a bipartisan resolution to pull back support for the saudi-led war in yemen. also saying that crown princ

she befriended a republican campaigner, paul erickson, involved in the early 1990s and pat buchanan'st bucha nan's run for in the early 1990s and pat buchanan's run for president and they developed a relationship. prosecutors said he helped her get in contact with people. there was an occasion in 2015 when she asked a question at a press conference whether or not donald trump would consider lifting sanctions against russia if he was to become president. eventually prosecutors decided to charge her and she did this injuly decided to charge her and she did this in july and decided to charge her and she did this injuly and has been in custody ever since and she pled guilty, not guilty initially to acting as a foreign agent and is now pleading guilty on the basis she will cooperate and tell them more about paul erickson and the man inside russia. the man thought to be directing her operations. so remind viewers how all of this does or does not tie into allegations of collusion between the russian government and the top campaign and the miller investigation. it is interesting because this

erickson can help but this team lives and dies only ask al spirits ask else actually mainstreet jokes but to everyone involved with football here it means so much more. what does the phrase the house cals mean to you means no matter what challenges apart in front of you you have to pay for it and hope that the dollars or more towards all that you go through there are already and the mark that you that's carry you there so it's more of like that's not how we want to. work with ask those who come here and don't expect that to get a fair. because some sense anonymous that when you get to the ask alice tell this things it was expected the way we play with the trade believe obama was born so me they ask tells me i'm filipino by. the feeding and never say die attitude. you don't need for these are by their their party first there are go through there and they're survivors we may not be getting the biggest sponsors who may not be getting the full support of the sneed of national team but we'll be there might be there surviving even as we have shown the right. this this this is something that

erickson would runa want lots of tests.a test of its new software before the upgrade. —— ericsson. 02 would run a test within a closed test environment. how do you think it would not? it is very difficult to say. today when ericsson said that it was indeed their equipment that it was indeed their equipment that led to the outage, it seems that led to the outage, it seems that it was equipment that manages data traffic. it was a software upgrade. they have now reverted to the old version of the software they we re the old version of the software they were using and that seems to have solved the problem for now. it seems to bea solved the problem for now. it seems to be a glitch in the software. the softwa re to be a glitch in the software. the software has millions of lines of code. i guess ericsson tested it, but in real—life conditions for some reason it did not work. what you describe there is the back—up system plan, where something goes wrong and there is an outage you default back to the last working system. what you t

the documents show butina worked with her boyfriend, conservative political operative, paul erickson. a testing of public character. >> reporter: and a former russian central banker, alexander torsion. butina sought to use unofficial lines of communication for the benefit of the russian federation, according to the draft filing. butina is already telling investigators about erickson's role in her plot and offering intel about her contacts amid reports that butina was nearing a deal with federal prosecutors. today russian president vladimir putin weighed in on her case. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: this poor girl is sitting here, our butina. she faces 15 years in prison. for what? when i heard that something was happening to her, i went and asked all the heads of our intel services, who is this? no one knows anything about her at all. >> reporter: a russian native, butina founded a gun rights group back home and used it to build ties with the nra. >> my story is simple. i was born in siberia. >> reporter: she became a regular at nra events and set out to meet politic

out of a basket like this. [ laughter ] another soldier we have in this particular section is carl ericksone's our artillery man. he was a lieutenant, came from boston massachusetts. he was in the 42nd division, which was known as and still is known as the rainbow division. he was the second commander and ultimately served some time as a company commander, battery commander i should say, as a 155 artillery. he wrote his mother and he was also a wonderful artist. we have a piece of his artwork here which was an original art. we tried to service both before and while he was there through his artwork. and he became well known within the battery in particular and throughout the regiment, the 150th shield artillery as quite an artist. he's also sharing a case with our engineer, lyle mcquillan came from portland maine and this is unfortunate one of our soldiers that we don't have an image of. we tried real hard to get an image of him, but we have some wonderful materials, he was in the 14th engineers which is actually assigned station with the british fourth army. a couple of neat pieces here. we

she also defended and then, paul erickson, who is a republican operative, pretty well connected and theyrs say is that, after that, maria butina started to develop a plan to make connections with influential people in american politics in order to further rush hour's national interest. she used to pull erickson‘s help to do that and she made a number of meetings and she made a number of meetings and arrangements to do just that. —— russia. she actually asked a question of president trump at a press c0 nfe re nce question of president trump at a press conference back in 2015, asking him whether or not he would lift sanctions against russia if he became president. now, up until now, she has pleaded not guilty to the charges she has faced, which is working as a foreign agent and conspiracy charges, but now she has changed that plea to guilty. she will be sentenced at a later date and she has agreed to co—operate with investigators. this is not part of robert mueller‘s investigation into russian collusion, a alleged russian collusion with the drum campaign but it is part of this mosaic that

>raiders down 7 with 5 minutes left in the game...alex erickson takes the kickoff and... uh oh!...the left sideline for a 77-yard return.....>that set up... joe mixon... the local kid out of oakley... on the pitch... scampers in from 15 yards out... 30-16 bengals... mixon rushed for 129 yards and a couple of tds.....>ensuing raiders drive... carr... pressured and sacked for the 5th time today... injuries on the raiders offensive line have really taken their toll.....> jon gruden... can only look on... arms folded... raiders lose 30-16... the bengals snap their 5-game losing streak despite playing with their backup quarterback the sharks came into tonight game against the blackhawks winning five of their last six games.....>they are currently in fifth place in the western conference.....>the sharks are starting to look like the team that many predicted to get to the stanley cup finals this season...>in the second period...barclay goodrow turns on the red light for the go-ahead goal, giving san jose a 4-3 lead....>a couple minutes later...logan couture scores a goal of his own to ext

perhaps...whatever he's doing it's working...a scoreless second period...martin jones turns away joel ericksone of jones' 26 saves on the night for his first shutout of the season...20th of his career... little bit later...lucas rah-deel feeds it to logan couture...he scores...sharks on the board first and they went on a little bit of a tear...less than a minute later...tomas hurdle with the long pass to joe pavelski who scores on the breakaway... 2-nothing sharksbut wait a minute...sharks fans always want to see more from logan couture and tonight he delivered...3rd period, sharks on a power play his second of the night and san jose wins this one 4-nothing. n-f-l pro bowl selections were announced today...niners fullback kyle yooz-check made the roster as a starter...tight end george kittle was named a reserve.as for the raiders...two years ago they led the league with seven pro-bowl nods...this year, they were shut out. and as for next year, well, the team still doesn't even know where it'll be playing... the silver and black will debut their new las vegas stadium in two-thousand-twenty but

the other point she is cooperating on and this one is awkward is her boyfriend, paul erickson, the guy named over and over as u.s. person one as an american who sort of helped her advance her plot and provided her information on politically inf influential here in the united states. he continued to visit her while she was incarcerated, but the lawyer made a point of introducing himself to the prosecutor saying they may need to talk soon. >> wow. that is drama playing out there. sarah murray, thank you so much for that report. how do you see this factoring into the mueller investigation? when you read what's available, you try to read between the lines, but it's not a complete link in this picture. >> right. there is a lot of reading between the lines in the mueller investigation. it's ongoing and we are waiting and waiting for finality here. there are a couple of things we know. we know russia interfered with the presidential election. we know that. we know it from our intelligence communities. we knew they used social media and we know they hacked. now we know they had personnel. i ha

>raiders down 7 with 5 minutes left in the game...alex erickson takes the kickoff and... uh oh!...he left sideline for a 77-yard return.....>that set up... joe mixon... the local kid out of oakley... on the pitch... scampers in from 15 yards out... 30-16 bengals... mixon rushed for 129 yards and a couple of tds.....>ensuing raiders drive... carr... pressured and sacked for the 5th time today... injuries on the raiders offensive line have really taken their toll.....> jon gruden... can only look on... arms folded... raiders lose 30-16... the bengals snap their 5-game losing streak despite playing with their backup quarterback (justine) a late fall storm still bringing showers to the bay area at this hour. how long this storm will stick around... that's coming up deal talk. when you're powering up for a video game binge try my new chilli cheese or triple cheese and bacon curly fries for just $3. jack. so just so you know, i was like this close to totally destroying your planet until i heard about those fries. that's uh, so thoughtful. try my new $3 sauced and loaded fries. my new $3

prosecutors who said she worked here in the united states with american conservative activist paul ericksonablish these unofficial back channels to u.s. political figures all for the benefit of the russian federation. that's really what's key here, is that now prosecutors have been talking to her. perhaps she has been able to shed some light as to how exactly russia has tried to infiltrate political organizations and of course affect the 2016 election, meddling and interfering with the election itself. she was actually at the political event way back in 2015 asking then candidate donald trump a question about how exactly he'd interact with russia if elected president. so all of this significant. expected to plead guilty this morning at a hearing at 10:30 this morning. and of course this really caps off what has been a remarkable week in the russia investigation. we saw the sentencing of michael cohen yesterday in new york to three years. also tomorrow we're expecting a filing from prosecutors. they will be replying with a sentencing memo suggesting what kind of sentence michael flynn could

perhaps...whatever he's doing it's working...a scoreless second period...martin jones turns away joel erickson26 saves on the night for his first shutout of the season...20th of his career... little bit later...lucas rah-deel feeds it to logan couture...he scores...sharks on the board first and they went on a little bit of a tear...less than a minute later...tomas hurdle with the long pass to joe pavelski who scores on the breakaway... 2-nothing sharksbut wait a minute...sharks fans always want to see more from logan couture and tonight he delivered...3rd period, sharks on a power play his second of the night and san jose wins this one 4-nothing. n-f-l pro bowl selections were announced today...niners fullback kyle yooz-check made the roster as a starter...tight end george kittle was named a reserve.as for the raiders...two years ago they led the league with seven pro-bowl nods...this year, they were shut out. and as for next year, well, the team still doesn't even know where it'll be playing... the silver and black will debut their new las vegas stadium in two-thousand-twenty but are in searc

that's alex erickson, 77 yards to the raiders 21-yard line., mixon goes in for his second score of the day, 15 yards, touchdown to put the raiders away, 126 yards on 26 carries for the native, bengals win 20-16, oakland is 3- 11. >> very tough spot today, toughest spot i've ever called plays with with a group of guys that are getting to know each other and cincinnati, i don't care what the record is or what atkins is a problem, dunlap is a problem, we've got a lot of moving pieces and it's not even easy at this stage of the season to get everybody coordinated. >> amari cooper held to four catches, 32 yards and the cowboys were shot out in indy, marlon mack ran for a career- high 139 yards and two touchdowns, colts beat the cowboys to snap dallas' five game win streak, first time they've been shut out since 2003, both teams are 8-6. bears quarterback mitch trubisky in the holiday spirit, trubisky lights up the scoreboard with a strike, chicago back up on top 21-14. aaron rodgers won't be sending the raiders a christmas card now that he has to d

perhaps...whatever he's doing it's working...a scoreless second period...martin jones turns away joel ericksonof jones' 26 saves on the night for his first shutout of the season...20th of his career...little bit later...lucas rah-deel feeds it to logan couture...he scores...sharks on the board first and they went on a little bit of a tear...less than a minute later...tomas hurdle with the long pass to joe pavelski who scores on the breakaway...2-nothing sharks but wait a minute...sharks fans always want to e more from logan couture and tonight he delivered...3rd period, sharks on a power play his second of the night and san jose wins this one 4-nothing. n-f-l pro bowl selections were announced today...niners fullback kyle yooz-check made the roster as a starter...tight end george kittle was named a reserve.as for the raiders...two years ago they led the league with seven pro-bowl nods...this year, they were shut out. and as for next year, well, the team still doesn't even know where it'll be playing... the silver and black will debut their new las vegas stadium in two-thousand-twenty but are i

erickson is suffering from the followed of the huawei arrest. >> everything is going to be trade sensitiveected from this arrest. concerns over the trade tensions picking up. i want to focus on ericsson because we have seen ericsson benefit a bit from other networks, from new zealand and australia banning huawei networks in their country. if this arrest prompts others to do the same, we might see them be able to pick up some market share. whether that gets priced in or not today is going to be the big question. will this all risk sentiment spread through the markets? matt: all right, thanks very much. both of you, thanks for joining us. get all these stocks stories on your bloomberg. the market open is up next. ♪ i am a family man. i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. ♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ >> welcome to blo

she worked with her republican boyfriend, apaul erickson, u.s. person one at the behest of alexander torsion. the goal? quote, establish unofficial lines of communication with americans having power and influence over u.s. politics for the benefit of the russian federation. joining me now justice reporter julia ainsley. can you explain how this person, player, who we had no idea about before all these investigations, how she fits into this increasingly large web of investigations into russian ties with the trump campaign and apparently republican party politics? >> yeah. let's take a step back. this is the third in three days of hearings where we've seen paul manafort and others. maria butina, the charges aren't brought by robert mueller. she could be a witness like the others that could prove useful to robert mueller. that's because she came over with a similar goal to some of the people robert mueller has been investigating. she wanted to be able to unofficially infiltrate the republican party leading up to the 2016 election and she used her po

>> one of the big questions is what's going to happen to her boyfriend, paul erickson. political operative. we know that investigators have been looking at him in south dakota for a fraud investigation. investigators are also looking at him and his ties to polina butina and whether he was sort of helping her in what they believe was this plot. so that's one question. the other question is whether she has information to offer at all on the russians, because the government said that she stayed in touch with her russian handlers while she was here in the u.s., attending american university. so, again, we'll see on wednesday if we can get anymore details on why she might be useful to the government, if they believe she's useful to them. >> good deal. we'll talk again on wednesday, then. sara murray, thank you very much. >>> also in washington, the supreme court today handing a big win to planned parenthood by choosing not to hear a case that could have taken away critical funds from the women's health organization. so here's how the votes came down. chief justice john rober

one is just to ryan's point one of the greatest things coming out of today was the reporting that erickson, that's the republican operative boyfriend, literally writes down on a piece of paper, "how to respond to fsb," that's the intelligence agency in russia, "offer of employment." he actually writes down, should i be -- you know, should i do treason for my country or not. so these are not the smartest people. but just to put it in context, the impact of it. while there are lots of bumbling, lots of characters you can't -- like it's not even you that can't imagine they're next to the president. none of us have ever met people like this in our lives. i mean, this group of people are sort of not your typical people you meet in normal employment. but you know, obviously the impact of putin's success here in the united states is not only undermined our democratic processes and led to these illegalities. just look at the world today. look at france. look at england. look at what is happening with this post-world war ii order which has been undermined significantly by the fact that the u.s. is

including the south dakota fraud investigation into her boyfriend, gop political operative paul ericksonear-old butina maintained her innocence. prosecutors accused her of ingratiating herself with american political entities to try to advance russian interests, but her lawyer insisted she was a bright american graduate student who embraced her roots. >> it is a picture of vladimir putin shirtless on the horse. so you can imagine, you know, which she had as a gag. >> reporter: but she became a regular at exclusive nra events, snapped pics with gop presidential hopefuls as 2016 heated up and posed a question to then-candidate donald trump about russian sanctions at a political event. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> ah. >> she earned a telling response. >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, okay. and i mean when we have the strength. i don't think you need the sanctions. i think we would get along very, very well. >> reporter: the justice department charged butina back in july amid a flurry of u.s./russia news. she was arrested days after russian intelligence officers were

attended the national prayer breakfast and in it she met with officials and put it this way to paul ericksonrvative activist who was her boyfriend and prosecutors said was working with her in the deal. she said that she was -- the people she met with at that prayer breakfast were coming to establish a back channel of communication. all of this spelled out by prosecuto prosecutors, pleading guilty and all of this going to show how she helped or hoped to infiltrate organizations at the direction of russian officials. kate? >> remarkable. thank you so much for laying that out. we will have much more as our coverage will continue, next. opportunity is everywhere. like here. where you can explore the world knowing you can always find your way home. ♪ you don't need to go anywhere dad, this is your home. the best home to be in is your own. home instead offers personalized in-home services for your loved ones. home instead senior care. to us, it's personal. home instead senior care. this is my paris, follow me. ♪ mon paris. the feminine fragrance. yves saint laurent not in this house.? 'cause that'

adjacent to the maria butina case, her american maybe boyfriend, a republican activist named paul erickson, he himself has received a target letter from federal prosecutors notifying him that prosecutors are also considering charging him with being an agent of a foreign power. that was reported in the daily beast yesterday. so all of these things seem to be sort of wrapping, right, or coming to important benchmark moments. manafort is going to have a big day tomorrow. cohen is going to have a big day tomorrow. george papadopoulos is free tomorrow. the butina case seems to be wrapping up right now. in addition to that stuff, as we mentioned on last night's show, the ap has reported that prosecutors in the southern district of new york appear to be moving forward quickly now with something related to the paul manafort case. the paul manafort illegal lobbying in ukraine case, and the way they're moving forward with it, it appears to be the part of the manafort case that may endangerle a big d.c. law firm and two big d.c. pr firms. prosecutors from the southern district of new york now aggress

gaining on the qual way story because it's arrival to while away, along with -- huawei, as far as ericksone it's not factored through. i should roll that back slightly and say generally, we are seeing strength in technology stocks. that has been the story in the united states. tech stocks didn't do too badly, so we see them going higher. we see a number of technology names, and the broader tech space, going higher. a look on the downside, imi is the biggest loser, btg is down 2.8%. a mixed bag moving lower. announcement earlier this morning. that's what we're looking at in terms of individual stocks movers. we had a commentary with regards from their margin, adjusting to see that having an impact on business -- interesting to see that having an impact on business. equity markets searching for direction globally after the biggest price swing since 2010. that follows a mixed session in asia, global shares on track to end the lower. very good to have you with us once again. what a day yesterday was in terms of the market moves. european major industries down by more than 3%, the ftse, the dow

before, jim, one of the things she is cooperating about, awkwardly enough, is her boyfriend, paul ericksonwho may end up facing charges to the conspiracy she was carrying out. she pled guilty and we will wait to see when she will be sentenced. as part of that sentencing she could be sent back to her own country. >> and becoming a cult figure in her home country. very strange. >>> just ahead, is president trump serious about closing the southern border or is it bluster to get his border wall? our experts will weigh in on that. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. the final days of wish list are here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. only at your lincoln dealer. their medicare options... before they're on medicare. come on in. you're turning 65 soon? yep. and you're retiring at 67? that's the plan! well, you've come to the right place. it's also a great time to learn about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. here's why... medica

one of the people that they're looking into in connection to maria butina is her boyfriend, paul ericksonn political operative, who has visited her a number of times in jail, and who she is cooperating against. but, again, this is sort of an interesting look into her cooperation when we weren't supposed to see. they had unsealed some of this before, which gave us a look into how long she's been cooperating. she actually started cooperating in september before she struck this plea deal. but, of course, we're not supposed to necessarily know when this is ongoing or when she is supposed to be potentially appearing before a grand jury. so, you know, this was a mistake either by prosecutors or by whoever filed it in the prosecutors, or the court reporter put it out before prosecutors snapped it back. >> this was a moment. >> and then they took it down. >> this seems like very basic court filings. >> yes. i mean things are filed under seal all the time. so presumably if you put something in and you say this is supposed to be under seal, then it is. that's when you sort of look through a case, y

big question marks in her case concerns her lang-time boyfriend, republican operative named paul erickson as u.s. person one. considerable suspension around his case and whatever else we're going to find out in federal court, but again, 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, new advent calendar door pops open. tis the season. stay with us. when we were dating, we used to get excited about things like concert tickets or a new snowboard. matt: whoo! whoo! jen: but that all changed when we bought a house. matt: voilà! jen: matt started turning into his dad. matt: mm. that's some good mulch. ♪ i'm awake. but it was pretty nifty when jen showed me how easy it was to protect our home and auto with progressive. [ wrapper crinkling ] get this butterscotch out of here. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. there's quite a bit of work, 'cause this was all -- this was all stapled. but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. so shark invented duo clean. while deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly de

with the deputy russian scentral banker aleksanr torshin and another man we believe is named paul ericksonussia's bidding in the washington to cultivate influence and to cultivate members of the national rifle association, the republican party and she even attended the national prayer breakfast. now she not charged with spying. she was not a spy, but she is what counter intelligence officials would call her an agent of influence. if she had simply are rej steffered wi -- registered with the federal government much of this would have been wilegal, but she was doing it secrecy and trying to cultivate influence with the trump administration and at one point in 2015 she appeared in the audience a q&a and asked donald trump a question on sanctions of russia and he answer ed th answered that he wanted the to build good relations with putin and he did not feel that sanctions were necessary. so what can she give the government about any relationship between the russians and the national rifle association is what we are looking at right now, andrea. >> and pointing out, clint watts, she asked the f

a word that only came into use with erick erickson in the 1950s and the term identity politics only came into circulation in the 70s, 80s, 90s associated with a certain type of politics developed democracies like that of the united states. as i tried to explain in the book, this is not a recent phenomenon and it's very deeply embedded in the western tradition. i go back all the way to plato for socrates says okay, with there is a desiring part that wants things. there's a calculating rational part, but isn't there another part, a greek word that sometimes translated as bearded menace. this part of the soul demands recognition of one's inherent dignity and addition to food and drink want other people to respect us, to value us at a certain rate and if we don't get that recognition, we get angry. and because of this recognition it is inherently political. it draws us into the public square because we want other people to recognize that. as an old comp.. and the modern world it is developed in different ways because the concept of dignity is shifted. for plato, dignity was due to warriors,

. >> you make these at the stein erickson lodge? we are ready to book. >> we're in park city, utah.you sell the most? >> the glog is probably our biggest. we do a mulled wine off of the hill. coming in in that afternoon. we keep that vintage feel. fun drinks. >> that's love in a cup right there. >> merry christmas. >> thank you so much. >> cheers and merry christmas all. >> go to today.com/food. we're back in a moment. >>> they're playing our song. >> 25th day of december, otherwise known as christmas morning, 2018. we hope you're enjoying a festive day with pple you love. >> sometimes families can make christmas dinner somewhat stressful. we i brought mr. manners on how to deal with theosey cousin and the obnoxious uncle. >>> we are going to cook and w have picked two of our best. al and carson will share some of their favorite recipes. >> it's christmas morning. there should be presents, don't you think? we love each other. it's fun to do this. we decided to do secret santa ch ge. >> okay. >> the producers sected one of our co-anchors for each of us. had to be 25 bucks or less. an