MAY JUNE 2018 | MOTHER JONES 35OLIVIER DOULIERYABACA PRESSAP; FACE TO FACEZUMA; KASTERAP; NOMA BAR
investigation by Spanish authorities for
his alleged “godfather” role in Russian
organized crime and money laundering.
Rohrabacher tells Yahoo News that
Torshin is “sort of the conservatives’
favorite Russian.”February 24, 2017:
“For years, the media
couldn’t have cared
less about Vladimir
Putin or Russia,” nra
leader Wayne LaPierre
says in a speech at the Conservative
Political Action Conference, voicing
a “deep state” conspiracy theory
on Trump’s behalf: “But now, barely
a month into Trump’s presidency,
they’re ‘horrifi ed’ and all a-fret over the
‘Russian-American equation.’ Even more
alarming is that they’ve apparently
found willing co-conspirators among
some in the US intelligence community.”April 28, 2017: Having recently reversed
an Obama-era rule that made it more
dii cult for mentally ill people to buy
guns, Trump addresses the nra annual
convention: “You came through for
me,” he says, “and I am going to come
through for you.”August 15, 2017: After Rohrabacher
meets with WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange
in London, he claims he has evidence to
share with the White House that the
Russians did not hack the Democratic
National Committee. But Trump’s
chief of staf John Kelly rebuf s him.
Rohrabacher later tells the Intercept,
“What is preventing me from talking
to Trump about this is the existence
of a special prosecutor. Not only Kelly,
but others are worried if I say one word
to Trump about Russia, that it would
appear to out-of-control prosecutors
that that is where the collusion is.”October and November 2017: Russia-
linked online trolls spread conspiracy
theories following mass shootings on
the Las Vegas Strip and at a church in
Sutherland Springs, Texas.November 14, 2017: “It appears the
Russians...infi ltrated the nra,” Glenn
Simpson, founder of the oppositionresearch fi rm Fusion
gps, testifi es to the
House Intelligence
Committee. “They
targeted various
conservative
organizations, religious
and otherwise, and they seem to
have made a very concerted ef ort
to get in with the nra.” Referencing
Torshin and Butina, he adds, “The most
absurd [thing] about this is that, you
know, Vladimir Putin is not in favor of
universal gun ownership for Russians.
And so it’s all a big charade, basically.”“THE BOGUS RUSSIA
INVESTIGATION”
January 18, 2018: McClatchy reports
the fbi is investigating whether Torshin
illegally funneled money to the Trump
campaign through the nra. (The fbi
would “neither confi rm nor deny” the
investigation to Mother Jones.)January 29, 2018: Democratic Rep.
Adam Schif , the ranking member of
the House Intelligence Committee, tells
npr that the committee’s probe of the
nra-Russia angle has been stymied by
its Republican majority.February 2, 2018: Sen. Ron Wyden
sends letters to the nra and Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin demanding
any documents showing fi nancial ties
between the nra and Russia: “I am
specifi cally troubled by the possibility
that Russian-backed shell companies or
intermediaries may have circumvented
laws designed to prohibit foreign med-
dling in our elections.” The nra’s general
counsel responds, “The nra and its
related entities do not accept funds from
foreign persons or entities in connection
with United States elections.”February 14, 2018: Following the school
massacre in Parkland, Florida, Kremlin-
linked trolls immediately go into action
on Twitter, stirring both sides of the
gun debate.February 21, 2018: During a televised
“listening session” with Parklandsurvivors at the White House, Trump
endorses nra talking points to end
“gun-free zones” and arm teachers to
“harden” schools.February 22, 2018: Trump hails the
leaders of the nra on Twitter: “Great
People and Great American Patriots.
They love our Country and will do the
right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT
AGAIN!” Echoing Trump, nra spokes-
woman Dana Loesch blames the fbi’s
Russia investigation for the failure to
prevent the Parkland shooting: “Maybe
if you politicized your agency less and
did your job more, we wouldn’t have
these problems.”February 28, 2018: Referring to the
nra, Trump tells lawmakers, “They have
great power over you people. They have
less power over me.”March 2018: In an nra magazine,
LaPierre blasts media bias against
Trump, calling out coverage of “the
bogus Russia investigation.”March 1, 2018: Trump and Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence meet in the Oval Oi ce
with nra Executive Director Chris Cox.
Trump calls the meeting “great.” Cox
later announces, “potus & vpotus sup-
port the Second Amendment, support
strong due process and don’t want gun
control. #nra #maga.”Additional reporting and translations
from Russian by Hannah Levintova.Trump meets
with survivors
of the Parkland
school shooting.EXPLORE THE RUSSIAN CONNECTION
Mother Jones has been digging into the Trump-Russia connection since 2016. Go to motherjones.com/topics
/russia to see projects including our investigative timeline of Trump’s ties to Russia since the 1980s; our
series documenting the Kremlin’s social-media attacks on US politics; and excerpts from Russian Roulette,
the scoop-fi lled new book co-authored by Washington bureau chief David Corn. To sign up for our Russian
Connection newsletter, go to motherjones.com/about/free-trump-email-newsletter-editorial-letter.