Mother Jones - May 01, 2018

34 MOTHER JONES |^ MAY  JUNE 2018

MANISH SWARUPAP; KIICHIRO SATOAP; SILENCERCOYOUTUBE; ALEXANDER TORSHIN; DENNIS VAN TINESTAR MAXZUMA

concealed-carry permits. “I shoot all

the time,” Don Jr. tells the Telegraph.

“Every weekend.”

February 13, 2016: Torshin tweets, “Maria

Butina is currently in the usa. She writes

to me that D. Trump (an nra member)

really is for cooperation with Russia.”

February 2016: Butina and Erickson

form a South Dakota-based company

called Bridges llc. Erickson later tells

McClatchy that they created the fi rm

so Butina could get fi nancial assistance

for her graduate studies at American

University in Washington, DC, where

she would enroll that fall—“an unusual

way to use an llc,” as the reporters

dryly note.

February 23, 2016: After winning the

Nevada primary, Trump gives a victory

speech hailing his sons’ gun rights bona

fi des: “[Don Jr.] loves the rifl e stuf ...This

is serious nra, both of them, both of

them. We love the Second Amendment,

folks. Nobody loves it more than us, so

just remember that.”

March 3, 2016: In a primary debate,

Trump is reminded that in his 2000

book, The America We Deserve, he sup-

ported a ban on assault weapons. His

response: “I don’t support it anymore.”

May 2016: In an email to Trump

campaign aide Rick Dearborn with

the subject line “Kremlin Connection,”

Erickson says Russia is “quietly but

actively seeking a dialogue with the

U.S.” and proposes using the upcoming

nra convention to set up “fi rst con-

tact” with the Trump team. According

to a New York Times report, Erickson

writes that he’s in a position to “slowly

begin cultivating a back-channel to

President Putin’s Kremlin.” The email

doesn’t name Torshin but appears to

mention him as “Putin’s emissary” who

planned to attend a dinner hosted by

conservative Christian activist Rick

Clay. Meanwhile, Clay sends an email to

Dearborn with the subject line “Russian

backdoor overture and dinner invite,”

seeking a meeting between Trump

and Torshin. Dearborn forwards Clay’s

email to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared

Kushner, who reportedly nixes

the proposal.

May 19, 2016:

Torshin meets

Don Jr. at a pri-

vate dinner the night

before his father speaks

at the nra convention in

Louisville, Kentucky. Don

Jr.’s lawyer later says the exchange “was

all gun-related small talk.”

May 20, 2016: The nra endorses Trump

at its convention. Trump tells the crowd,

“The only way to save our Second

Amendment is to vote for a person that

you all know named Donald Trump.”

Torshin poses for photos wearing an

nra “Ring of Freedom” ID badge.

June 15, 2016: House Majority Leader

Kevin McCarthy tells fellow gop leaders

in a private conversation, “There’s two

people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher

and Trump. Swear to God.” House

Speaker Paul Ryan immediately shuts

down the conversation and tells those

present to stay quiet. When a recording

of the conversation later becomes

public, McCarthy says he was just joking.

August 2016: Hours after Trump

appears to threaten Hillary Clinton

during a campaign rally by invoking

“Second Amendment people” who might

“do something” to stop her, Politico

reports that the nra has bought a $3

million spot attacking Clinton, its most

expensive pro-Trump campaign ad yet.

October 2016: A wave of nra-sponsored

TV political ads targets voters in Penn-

sylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina. In four

months, the group airs more than 10,000

ads criticizing Clinton or extolling Trump.

Trump goes on to win all three states.

Early November 2016: Pro-gun

messages feature prominently in “junk

news” spread by Russian trolls and

others on Twitter, particularly in key

battleground states.

November 8, 2016:

Donald Trump is

elected president—

boosted by $30 million

in spending by the nra.

November 12, 2016: Butina

hosts a costume party in DC for her

28 th birthday, attended by Erickson

and Trump campaign aides. Erickson

dresses as Russian mystic Rasputin,

and Butina dresses as the czarina

Alexandra. Two guests tell the Daily

Beast that Butina bragged about being

part of the Trump campaign’s commu-

nications with Russia.

“CONSERVATIVES’ FAVORITE

RUSSIAN”

January 20, 2017: Butina and Erickson

make an appearance at the Freedom

Ball, one of the three oi cial inaugural

balls Trump attends.

January 31, 2017: Torshin, Erickson,

Rohrabacher, and former Kremlin staf er

Andrey Kolyadin attend a private event

on Capitol Hill hosted by George O’Neill

Jr., a longtime conservative activist.

February 2, 2017: Torshin and Butina

accompany a delegation of more than a

dozen Russian oi cials and academics

to the National Prayer Breakfast, where

Trump is speaking. Kolyadin posts a

photo with then-Secretary of State

Rex Tillerson, commenting that he

“treats Russia pretty well, by the

way.” Kolyadin later brags about

his “direct access to leadership,”

noting, “We sat very close to

each other and just smiled.”

Torshin is scheduled to meet

with Trump, but the

meeting is canceled

when a national

security aide

points out that

Torshin report-

edly is under

Donald Trump

says his son

Don Jr. “loves

the rifl e stu .”

CLOAK AND DATA

Alexander

Torshin