Top officials at the National Rifle Association knew Russians were using their ties to the gun rights group to try to bolster their status with lawmakers or the winner of the 2016 presidential election, a new report from Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee shows.
Two former top FBI officials deny former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne's claim that the FBI directed him in the summer before the 2016 election to pursue a "romantic relationship with Maria Butina," the Russian woman who was accused of seeking to win influence in powerful Republican circles at the behest of her country's government.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team has expressed interest in the Trump campaign's relationship with the National Rifle Association during the 2016 campaign.
Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday morning to attempting to infiltrate Republican political circles and influence US relations with Russia before and after the 2016 presidential election.
Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina has been offering investigators information on the American she conspired with to infiltrate US political circles and the Russian official who directed her activities, as she prepares to make her guilty plea official on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The National Rifle Association is setting aside years of documents related to its interactions with a Kremlin-linked banker, as the gun-rights group appears to be bracing for a possible investigation, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The National Rifle Association insisted it did not use foreign funds for election-related purposes, even as the group acknowledged it accepts money from foreign donors, new letters from the group show.
