in conjunction with this case but he's been widely reported to be a republican activist named paul erickson who is described either as her boyfriend or her fake boyfriend just for spying purposes depending on whether you ask the defense or the prosecution. we still haven't seen any charges against mr. erickson and that's interesting given the way described as essentially her co-conspirator in the indictment. we heard reference in that hearing a couple days ago and the judge confirms in this footnote that paul erickson may himself "be the subject of a federal investigation." now, this is intriguing, right? you got this new federal indictment in the butina case, essentially a collusion indictment. you've got a russian citizen indicted and in jail a u.s. person described as a co-conspirator in her scheme who is according to discussions in court apparently he is the subject of a federal investigation of had his own. and according to what's happened in court in the butina case thus far his purported girlfriend apparently offered to help investigators in their investigation of the guy who was sup

it was an e-mail she sent to paul erickson. this was an infiltration plan. >> exactly. that was very savvy insight. the way -- the goal here was to change the republican party's attitude towards russia. traditionally hostile -- >> but it was sort of the john mccain view of russia is what they assumed all republicans were. >> and the way to do it was through the nra. who has more influence with republican members of congress especially than the nra. they spend more money, they're the most powerful special interest group. so the idea was butina sets up this russian gun rights organization to forge this alliance with nra members as a way of influencing the republican party. >> let's go back to paul erickson. >> yes. >> she's been now romantically linked with him. i guess they lived together in south dakota perhaps or shared some sort of -- >> right. apparently not totally willingly on her part but she felt this was part of her obligation and duty. >> she wrote this e-mail to him at the time to sort of like ask him am i wording this correctly? it was sort of to get his -- i

and anyone who was in paul erickson's rolodex, including dana rohrbacher and wayne lapierre and scottr is right now shaking in his boots waiting for mueller to come knocking. >> so why wasn't this a mueller indictment, matt? why wasn't it tied in directly? >> i think that it was probably not part of mueller's initial charges. if you look at the indictment, this is someone the fbi has been surveilling for some time going back to 2016, maybe to 2015. long before the investigation into the trump campaign ever began. and if you look at what the activities it lays out, they are accusing her not of trying to influence the election, but of trying to cultivate influence in the united states, of trying to infiltrate the nra, trying to infiltrate the republican party on behalf of the russian intelligence services. in a filing the justice department made public today they illustrate, i think, pretty clearly her connections to the russian intelligence service, not just the oligarch she was first reported to have worked for, but reference what appears to have been an job offer to the successor of

she began a romantic relationship with paul erickson, a south dakota based gop operative who was 27 yearswas simply a grad student at american university adding his client did not flee after the fbi raided her apartment on april 20th of the week after she sat through 8 hours of testimony before the senate select intelligence committee on russian election. top democrat on the intelligence committee said they were blocked from issuing subpoenas. >> we for example have paul erickson on our list to be brought in, someone who engaged in correspondence, we were not permitted by the gop to do that work. >> one congressman came to her defense. dana rohrbacher hosted nra members in moscow and arranged a meeting with her russian mentor, a vladimir putin ally sanctions by the government earlier this year, quote, it is ridiculous and stupid, she's the assistant of some guy who is head of the bank and a member of parliament, that is showing how bogus this whole thing is. her next court hearing is next tuesday. >> jennifer griffin, thank you very much. new york times headline asks what she was doing at

she began to romantic relationship with paul erickson, a south dakota g.o.p. operative who was 27 years her senior. she complained to her moscow handle her about having to cohabit with them this as part of her cover. >> for example we had paul erickson on our list to be brought in, he was somebody who engaged in correspondence about using the nra is a back channel to the russians. we were not permitted by the g.o.p. end intel committee to do that work. >> her lawyer said she is not a russian agent and was simply a graduate student trying to establish a friendship society. he said she voluntarily appeared for eight hours before the senate intelligence committee. >> harris: thank you very much for that. meanwhile on the heels of the trump-putin summit, the white house is sending around a fact sheet detailing ways in which the administration has protected our elections and stood up to russia. that list includes president trump signing an executive order to strengthen and review our nation's cyber security and critical infrastructure, imposing sanctions against ru

she began a romantic relationship with paul erickson, a south dakota-based g.o.p. operative.utina's lawyer said the 29-year-old was simply a grad student at american university, adding his client did not flee after the fbi raided her apartment on april 25th, week after she testified behind closed doors in front of the senate select intelligence committee investigating russian election meddling. the top democrat on the house select intelligence committees has republicans on his committee blocked them from issuing subpoenas to erickson and butin butina. >> we, for example, have paul erickson on our list to be brought in. he was somebody who engaged in correspondence about using the nra as a back channel to the russians. we were not permitted by the g.o.p. in the intel committee to do that work. >> butina's next court hearing is next tuesday. bret. >> bret: jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. thanks. let's talk about the summit, the president's comments, plus the latest with the russia investigation. andrew mccarthy is a former u.s. attorney, and a fox news contributor. thank

citizen, political operative named paul erickson, specifically designed to penetrate the u.s.ent decision making apparatus. we've gone from if friday was a kind of a tom clancy novel, this is an episode of the americans in real life. she has a couple years where she consorts with all kinds of high ranking political officials, congressmen, scott walker and others. and through interestingly the nra. she is herself a big -- she seems like a center democratic fo democraticfold for a gun lovers magazine. but it is flat out connection between the russian government, not some unnamed russians, and u.s. operatives with connections to the trump campaign. it just misses that last piece that mueller is mining we expect between those people, paul erickson and the like, and the actual trump campaign. >> and she got real close to the actual trump campaign and donald trump himself. let's watch. >> and trump jr. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging both economies? >> i know putin. and we get along with putin. putin has no respect for president obama. big prob

authorities did not explicitly name paul erickson in the indictment surrounding butina, nor he has beenith a crime in relation to the butina case. he did not respond to cnn's request for comment. sarah murray, cnn, washington. >>> the white house says another meeting between president trump and vladimir putin is, quoting now, all to the good. but not everyone is ready to roll out the red carpet for the russian president in washington. what a new meeting could mean coming up. >>> but first, check out some philly artisans putting their own flavor into marketing and revamping an american favorite, ice cream. it's in this week's "start small, think big." >> people have come here from all over the world to taste things like pizza ice cream or even the vanilla bean. i am one of the owners of little baby's ice cream. we started on a single tricycle in 2011, scooping strange ice cream flavors outside of random arts and culture events all over the city of philadelphia. we were all coming from various backgrounds in music and art worlds. ice cream initially just seemed like an excite blank canvas

she hosted a gun conference and charmed nra board member and his associate political operative paul erickson014 she was on her way to indianapolis for the nra's 2014 annual meeting. there she snapped a pic with executive director and began blazing a path in what authorities alleged was a covert russian operation. her relationship with erickson quickly turned romantic. whether he was duped by his young lover or wittingly lured into a spy operation to influence politics ahead of the 2016 election is unclear. erickson is nearly twice butina's age. >> you see a candidate you like show up and work for them. drop everything. >> reporter: after growing up in south dakota and graduating from yale he sought to make a name for himself in g.o.p. politics. he worked as a spokesman for john wayne bobt, the virginia man whose wife cut off his penis in the 1990s. he is currently under investigation for fraud by the u.s. attorney's office in south dakota. >> my story is simple. my father is a hunter. i was born in siberia for such places like siberia this is a question of survival. everyone has a gun. >> re

she had this very close relationship with this guy, paul erickson, conservative activist in south dakotay got my attention was the alexander torshin connection. alexander torshin, who you mentioned, was a deputy governor of the russian central bank. he was a close ally of putin. most importantly, he was under investigation by the spanish national police for money laundering. in fact he had these ties to this organized crime money laundering gang in spain. the spanish national police had him on wiretaps -- >> he was going to be arrested. >> they were going to arrest him. he was referred to by the organized gang leader as el padrino, the godfather. they were all set to arrest him when he was going to fly in for a pirt day party. he got tipped off and didn't go. all this time he's flying in and out of the united states with butina meeting with nra leaders and republican activists. >> so in the criminal complaint against her when they decided because they thought she was going to flee, i want to read this e-mail. it's a bit -- some rough english but it's in her words. it's an e-mail they put

multiple news reports say he is paul erickson who is a conservative political activist with a long history in republican politics. he was described in court by the defense lawyer as maria buina's boyfriend. that said, prosecutors have alleged in their court filings that it might not actually be true love. that they have documentation that indicates that at least from butina's perspective, their personal relationship, their living together was not a sincere love affair. it was something she was doing somewhat resentfully as part of her covert influence operation for the russian government. according to the "washington post" reporting, on u.s. person one, check this out. ericson lobbied for a role in trump's transition team and complained after the election when he ran into a problem with his security clearance. since we know he was sleeping with a russian spy, i'm kind of happy about the security clearance process in that case. just as an aside. even without official credentials though, erickson pressed trump donors and former campaign officials pushing for top positions for other people. o

she began a romantic relationship with paul erickson, a south dakota based g.o.p.7 years her senior. butina's lawyers have a 29-year-old was simply a grad student and american university, adding his client did not leaver apartment on april 25th, a week after she sat through eight hours of testimony before the senate select intelligence committee on russian election meddling. the top democrat on the house select intelligence committee says republicans on his committee blocked them from issuing subpoenas to ericsson and butina. >> we had paul erickson on our list to be brought in. he was somebody who engaged in correspondence about using the nra as a back channel to the russians. we were not permitted by the g.o.p. and the intel committee to do that work. >> at least one congressman came to her defense. republican dana rohrabacher, butina hosted nra members in moscow and i arranged a meeting between her and her russian mentor, a putin ally, sanctioned by the u.s. government earlier this year. "it is ridiculous, it's stupid, she is the assistance of some guy who was t

her onetime poifboyfriend, paul erickson, adds to the intrigue.t clear where he falls into the alleged scheme. prosecutors suggest he may have been manipulated by butina who's half his age. joining me exclusively, maria but butina's lawyer, robert drisc driscoll. i want to read one between ther and the russian official she was communicating with immediately after donald trump won the election. she writes, "i'm going to sleep, it's 3:00 a.m. here. i'm ready for further orders." the rulgs russian official says "think about it. isis, understandably, what else we need to look at the american agenda." you say your client isn't a russian spy. why is she asking for further orders? >> i think that like most of the government's case is taken completely out of context. the twitter direct messages, by the way, most russian spies don't speak by twitter messages which are unencrypted. there are thousands of them between them. twitter direct message about picking up toothpaste in america, direct messages of pictures of kids and dogs and everything else. they bo

listd paul erickson on our to be brought in. he was somebody who had engaged with thepondence russians. this was an area where we had concerned not only in the terms of the potential back channel but in terms of making sure russians were not funneling money through the nra. there is more money to be done never but we are not permitted by the gop in the intel committee to do that work. this is to understand and underscore which in hinds said about the special investigation. toy may have not been able go forward where we could not. there would've been no revelation that maria bettina was working as an agent for a foreign power. we have to determine if the mueller investigation can determine if there were others acting with her. we have to be protecting this investigation at this point. [indiscernible] -- >> perhaps in the country but in the congress we want to stay protect our mission to our country. protecting our country is always been our first responsibility, and the constitution as well. the constitution, in our view, is at r

two months later an nra member named paul erickson who at the time was in a relationship with her wrote an email titled "kremlin connection" to a trump advisor. in the email erickson wrote russia was "quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the u.s." he is a longtime republican operative who advised that you can and mitt romney. he served on the board of the american conservative union. she was photographed with many top republican officials including wisconsin governor , scott walker, former presidential candidate rick santorum and nra president wayne lapierre. amy: to talk more about the arrest of mamaria bootina we are joined by greg gordon, washington correspondent for mcclatchy he has written a . number of exposes about the nra's ties to rus his report in january with peter stone was headlined "fbi investigating whether russian money went to nra to help trump." they how does she fit into this story? >> good morning. i share your sadness about the daily news. is one fascinating and concerning part of the investigation underway into russia's influence in the 2016 election. that

she was with her boyfriend, paul erickson, who was there and had different business dealings around.hey traveled together. >> you work with the doj and in the past in the program you've given an awful lot of credit for being number one fair, to nonpolitical. now you argue essentially they are bumbling who have somehow railroaded this poor grad student and charged her with being a russian agent. how are those two compatible? >> they haven't charged her with anything espionage. everything she's done according to the government itself would be legal and file a piece of paper with the attorney general. >> why are they doing all of this over this gun rights activists? >> it's hard to know. they been telling her for 18 months. after 18 months they appear to have one picture of her with the russian cultural center or shows they live in washington. to me, i think it's an overblown case. >> y overblow it. they circled among people involved in u.s. politics. >> you get the doj are passed about your motives of trying to raise the issue. >> i don't think they do things in bad faith. if you ask m

for example, we had paul erickson on our list to be brought in. he was somebody who engaged in correspondence about using the nra as a back channel to the russians. this is an area we had deep concern, not only in the terms of nra back channel but to investigate and ensure the russians were funneling money through the nra. there was more work to be done there. we were not permitted by the gop in the intel committee to do that work and this is to underscore what was just said, the importance of the special counsel's investigation. had they not been able to go forward where we could not, there would have been no revelation that maria bou tina was working as an agent of a foreign power and we'd have to hope that the mueller investigation could determine whether others were liable and acting in concert with her and our responsibility at this point has to be protecting that investigation. >> yes, ma'am? >> do you think the impeachment effort will pick up as a result of the president's comments yesterday? >> perhaps in the country, but, again, in the co

here are the reasons why we should hear from her, here are the reasons why we should hear from paul erickson who is alleged to have been involved in setting up this secret back channel. the republicans were unwilling. they said no. we don't want to have them come in, we don't want to hear what they have to say. they wouldn't explain why but it was very clear that anything that might tarnish the nra, anything that might lead to discoverable evidence that might incriminate the white house or people around the president, they didn't want to hear. the respect to other witnesses who have shown a willingness to come in and have expressed that they will come in what the gop has done when they've learned those witnesses were coming to testify before the committee is they've now affirmatively called those witnesses to say please don't come and talk to the minority, we'd rather they don't know since we don't know. >> congressman adam schiff, thank you very much for all of the information. john? >> interesting discussion. >>> president trump seemed to question whether it was worth defending a key nato

, she was in a relationship with longtime republican insider and pennywise without the makeup, paul ericksonthese days, erickson is a super-connected power player in conservative politics, which is a big step up from his job in the '90s as "media adviser for john wayne bobbitt, the man whose wife, lorena, chopped his penis off with a carving knife." can you imagine being john wayne bobbitt's media advisor? "john, the public's starting to lose interest-- how would you feel-- and hear me out-- we chop off your penis again?" ( laughter ) as part of that gig, erickson sent bobbitt on an international "love hurts" tour that included selling autographed steak knives. ( audience reacts ) i guess it was either that or monogrammed penises. ( laughter ) erickson not only bounced around many different jobs, he also made lots of enemies. he was sued multiple times for fraud, and one source described him as kind of like a taller, more physically unappealing leonardo dicaprio in "catch me if you can." ( laughter ) i believe that version of the movie would have been called, "anyone want to catch me? no? ok

person one, reportedly paul erickson, maria butina's fake boyfriend that prosecutors say she was romantically involved with, just for the sake of spying boyfriend, according to the "washington post," he's the one who recommended k.t. mcfarland for the job in the first place which is a job you might not have ever expected her to get. sally yates was acting attorney general when she tried to warn the white house with urgency about a senior official in the white house being compromised by the russian government. she was driven by the urgency of needing to get that official out of there because of the danger that represented to our country. the white house we know at the time didn't see that it same way. how does it change the story? how does it affect our understanding of the lack of urgency to now know that flynn wasn't alone. that flynn's deception around this was not something that he was alone, and there appears to be a connection which the justice department apparently just broke up. sally yates is the first frern whom we americans got the news about the people in the highest levels of the

we did hear a reference and now judge confirms in this footnote that paul erickson may himself, quote, be the subject of a federal investigation. now, this is intriguing, right? you got this new federal indictment that is essential lay collusion indictment. a russian citizen indicted. a u.s. person describe as a co-conspirator in her scheme. who is, according to discussions in court, apparently, he is the subject of a federal investigation of his own. and according to what has happened in court in the buttina case thus far, his purported girlfriend apparently offered to help investigators in their investigation of the guy who was supposedly her boyfriend. even though prosecutors say he really wasn't. so it is definitely intriguing about this case. potentially very important in terms of understanding this case. if you were intrigued by this information about maria butina and her alleged boyfriend and her being in jail awaiting charges and him being an alleged co-conspirator, this is a collusion case, right? it may want to make you look up more information on these two characters. well,

. >> let me ask you, paul erickson, the man she had a relationship with, is he the u.s.umber one named in the indictment? it seems like he is. >> i'm not going to confirm nor deny that here. >> okay. >> i think you're on the right track. >> can you sigh exactly what her relationship with erickson was, was she using him to gain access to the nra, to republican elite? >> no, i mean, i think that they have a personal romantic relationship. and they have for about five years and they attended lots of events together over time. >> was she using sex as a means to manipulate erickson? there was some indication -- there was one report she complained about being -- >> no. and i think it's very unfortunate, the government kind of dropped those allegations without any evidence the other day in open court. i vehemently asked the government for any support for those allegations about trading sex for things because i frankly find it kind of offensive just because she's an attractive woman that that's the direction people go in. i haven't seen any evidence of that and, you know -- >> i

prosecutors say she had a personal relationship with a man cnn confirms was paul erickson, a republican twice her age. butina reportedly describing him as her boyfriend. prosecutors say she used her own moscow-based gun group, right to bear arms, to build relationships with the national rifle association. >> i'm a representative of russian federation here, and i am a chairman of the right to bear arms. >> reporter: butina once posed with a pistol, wearing stilettos and leather for this risque russian "gq" magazine shoot. and in 2015 at the nra convention, she managed to meet republican presidential candidate scott walker, and that's butina at the 2017 national prayer breakfast, once again in the same room as donald trump. >> this gathering is a testament to the power of faith. >> reporter: butina has pleaded not guilty, and her lawyer insists she's no spy, just someone looking to create a better relationship between the two nations. but prosecutors tell a very different story. they say butina came to this country in 2014, if not earlier, and once offered sex in exchange for a position w

. >> butina was in a romantic relationship with paul erickson. do you think he was just a dupe?, i think he was. this was very typical, this falls in line with what i was saying earlier about the fail fast and fail cheap. the russian way of doing this is similar to the business emerging strategy. you throw a bunch of stuff against the wall, see what sticks and focus on this. apparently she was having come transaction with this gentleman of the nr ark. what i want to know is what is still out there that we don't know about. >> interesting. authorities having on butina for years. who else could be wrapped up in this. do you think there's a lot more that we don't know, jeffrey? >> i assume that there is. i know individuals that were targeted by her. that's what bothers me, again, fail cheap. she wasn't -- >> they said it was -- >> she would kind of promote herself in a way, she had inroads in the senior political people, it wasn't clear that she did. kind of bragging. but pushing the envelope of where she could get influence of a government. and it was a skater shot. again, let's s

person one again appears to be paul erickson, who sherperred her, advising her on outreach.nother american who we don't have an i.d. for as of now. what is your take on that? >> i think it depends what we mean by collusion. it's the shorthand term a lot of us use to describe, you know, various activities by which u.s. persons would assist the russian government. usually we need it to influence the outcome of the election. it could also mean to influence policy making in the united states. this does make it look like an american citizen. we don't know enough about that person's activities yet to answer the quote. acting to influence u.s. policy or least assist these russian officials in influencing u.s. policy. so to the extent that, you know, i think what we're going to have to look for is in the coming days, this was an investigation they clearly kind of rushed to complete. looked like she was going to move over the weekend. whether domestically or move internationally, we don't know. they may have planned to investigate further, potentially bring charges against her and u.

south dakota political operative paul erickson who confirmed their romantic relationship and other activitiesails that match those of erickson. in previous filings, u.s. officials say he helped butina make inroads with other u.s. political operatives at organizations. the government alleges the relationship was a scam. living with u.s. person one and expressed disdain for having to continue living with erickson. arrested over the weekend, officials say, because she appeared ready to leave town. her lease in washington was up and she intended to move money out of the u.s. she pleaded not guilty on charges of conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent. >> also taking pains to try to distance this case from what's going on with robert mueller's investigation. he insisted this is not a spy case and his client should not be treated as a proxy between the issues being carried out right now. >> i want to go straight to the former cia operative bob bears, what she did here, how significant it was, allegations, sex for political access. romantic relationship with a political operative. apparently that s

. >> the boyfriend, the south dakota boyfriend, paul erickson, i believe is the name, the question isin on it? he did her homework for the grad school. that seems to be the open question? >> yeah, absolutely the open question. i mean obviously he hasn't been charged with anything, not accused of any wrongdoing. but when you look at the evidence that the government has started to submit in court, there are e-mails and the like in which it certainly seems like he had some knowledge that she was working with the russian government and was trying to build ties between the united states and russia certainly in concert with them. there was even a document seized from his apartment that said something about considering an fsb job offer, fsb is the successor agency to the kgb. >> there you go. well, it was quite the profile, well done. >> thank you. >> thank you for being on the show. panel, you guys stick around for one more segment. >>> up ahead, president trump says his economic wins are historic. are they really? and how much can they mitigate the tariff damage in the midwest? that's next

citizen, but the washington post has identified this person as paul erickson a long time operative andooider and according to the complaint this u.s. person number one wrote an e-mail no the third party individual that he was part of setting up secret communications, back channel communications between a major republican party and they don't name the party, but we can assume it is republican party and the major gun rights association, and again assume it is the nra and the kremlin and that is a u.s. citizen know ing that he is participating in the russian operation, and that is stunning. >> jeremy, so much out there from the indictments of the moo mueller team, and the indictment that we learned of yesterday from mariia butina that betsy laid out from the assess omt of the intelligence community and from the wau that this administration and the president have lied about the contacts with russia or lied about the statements that they have made for don jr. and the campaign meetings with the russian lawyer, and so many questions out there. and can you give me a good reason why given all o