person one is paul eriksson. 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 eriksson's position with 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. from the original filings when maria butina was first charged, we have the text of an e-mail paul eriksson sent to an acquaintance one month before the 2016 election. he said, quote, i am been involved in securing a very private line of communication between the kremlin and key republican party leaders through, of all conduits, the n.r.a. again, this is a month before the 2016 election. why would republican party leaders need an, all caps, very private line of communication to the kremlin? why would republican party leaders need that? through the n.r.a. or through anybody else. t

the charging document talks about the role of butina's boyfriend paul eriksson and the advice he gaveg the way in her plan. talk about his cullableability if he's in trouble. >> i don't know if he's in trouble but it will certainly seems like he would be. like he provided a lot of material help to butina along the way like garrett said stumbling probably head first down a treasonous path. he was providing her again according to the charging document, he was providing her with backgrounders on all these american officials who went opt moscow trip telling her how powerful and influential each of them were. that's just one example of the help he provided her. it's interesting that she kind of had him in a romantic relationship. we've seen this before with another russian redhead spy, maria cham pan. >> ana chapman. >> sorry. i should know my russian spies better. but it's interesting. >> there's a lot of names in here. >> they really -- the honey pot has not gone out of fashion in moscow and i think they know how western men see russian women and they continue to dangle them like pieces

that's aside from aleksandr torshin or paul eriksson who you laid out. a number of people who are unnamed in here who had ties to the trump campaign and to the gop who we still don't know about. so i think the story is just beginning. >> tom, i am tempted to say with some certainty, this can't be the best the russians have. but i'm tempted to say just as quickly, it isn't, but it was so cost-effective. this is all it took to rise to the top of the republican party and the n.r.a., what's going on here? >> yeah, setting her loose among republicans in washington was kind of like fishing with dynamite. i think what's really interesting about the butina case, because as you say, she's not their best. this isn't a 007 movie. i think it shows you had, though, that the russians -- and i should add that i don't represent the views of the u.s. government here. but i think it shows the russian government has identified the conservative movement in the united states as the exposed flank of our society. and this is a real change from the cold war days where the old s

prosecutors say she did it with the help of an american, republican operative paul eriksson, with whom she had a romantic relationship. they've 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 republicans 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, secret deal to was actually build a trump tower in moscow. >> and kyra phillips joins us from washington tonight. kyra, vladimir putin was asked if he knows how maria butina is, and the other question tonight, where does she go after this plea deal? >> reporter: well, david, she will l

to this deal, she will mainly focus on telling investigators about the role of her boyfriend, paul erikssond interactions with her russian handlers. so steve hall, good to see you. you tell me first and foremost how rare is this to have this alleged -- this accused russian spy actually cooperating with the u.s. government? >> well, brooke, not to get too much into the technicalities of this but it's my theory that butina is not actually a staff officer of a russian intelligence service, she's someone referred to as a co-optee. what's beginning to emerge is she was in contact with a couple of oligarchs, one by the name of torsion, who is a senior, kremlin-type person and they came up with this idea to say, hey, let's get into the nra, look at the right-hand side of the american political spectrum and see what damage we can do there. so it's not as though they've caught a spy. they've caught a russian citizen acting at the behest of the russian government to do damage here in the united states. >> so spy, co-optee, if she doesn't end up serving prison time, would she really want to go back to

would they want to get information on her boyfriend, paul eriksson, who prosecutors believe was helping her with her plot here in the united states. remember, the basis of prosecutors' claim she came here, tried to ingratiate herself with politically influential individuals and groups including the national rifle association, and tried to exploit those connections in order to further russian interests. all of this while reporting back to her backers in russia. she, like everyone else, has been very unhappy to be incarcerated. her lawyer has made a number of plays to try to remove her from jail and put her under house arrest or at least remove her from solitary confinement. he's been completely unsuccessful in that. we'll see what the judge says when they set a hearing. one thing to keep in mind is if she does plea guilty, she's likely to be sent back to russia when she's released. >> a lot of moving parts. thank you so much. >> we have that. we also have this. president trump making history, but yet again, not the kind of history that any president wants to be making. for the first time

, these are the same prosecutors who accused her of working along with her supposed boyfriend, paul erikssonrvative activist, to really infiltrate political groups, to create unofficial communications with some of those u.s. political officials. and they did it all, prosecutors say, to benefit the russian federation. that's really what's key here, because in this cooperation with prosecutors, it will be interesting to see if they reveal what she has told them about russian efforts to infiltrate political groups. of course, maybe what she's enlightened them on on russian efforts to meddle or affect the election, the 2016 campaign and election in particular. this unfolding inside a courtroom in district court any minute now. we know maria butina will be in there, expected to plead guilty. it will be interesting to see what exactly prosecutors reveal and what butina's defense team will say. after all, this entire time, they said she was innocent, that she was here as an american student. there was no other pretense about it. so we'll see what they reveal inside the courtroom in just a few minut

with investigators, she's providing information about how her boyfriend, republican operative, paul erikssons in the u.s. and telling investigators about her contacts with the russians. the plea agreement was more extensive than previously known. butina worked closely with eriksson on a plot called the diplomacy project. >> traveling from moscow, russia. >> reporter: according to a plea, she sought to build relationships with politically influential americans, including attending national rifle association meetings and organizing a russian delegation to attend the 2017 national prayer breakfast in d.c. according to the plea, she russian billionaire to attend a conferences and arrange other meetings. at one political event she asked donald trump about his views on russia. >> if you will be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics especially in relationships with my country? >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, okay? >> reporter: that same year she invited an nra delegation to moscow to build closer ties and afterwards sent torsion a measure, we will put press

prosecutors say she was also working with her so-called boyfriend, paul eriksson, an american conservative activist, to establish these back channels and these informal communications with u.s. political officials. and this is the key. all to benefit the russian -- all to benefit the country of russia. that's interesting because prosecutors in these talks with maria butina, they may have been trying to get more information as to how exactly russia has been trying to infiltrate these political groups. maybe more information as well on how russia has meddled and interfered with elections, including, of course, the 2016 election. all of that not being exposed in court, uncertain how much prosecutors will disclose about their cooperation talks with maria butina, but kate, all of this unfolding in real time right now inside the d.c. district court. a little bit of color for you, before the formal plea is entered, maria butina actually had a little talk with the judge because it turns out that while she's been in jail, she's been locked up ever since she was arrested and indicted here, maria but