Maria Butina Pleads Guilty to Participating in a Russian Conspiracy Against the United States
Maria Butina is pictured in 2012 with Alexander Torshin, then a member of the Russian upper house of parliament.Pavel Ptitsin/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy against the United States in federal court Thursday, pledging to cooperate with…
NRA Ties to Russian Operatives Draw Growing Scrutiny From Congress
Alexander Torshin in Houston in May 2013Unknown Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. As questions mounted last spring about two Russian operatives with ties to the National Rifle Association who tried to cultivate the Trump presidential campaign, the NRA made a rare public disclosure: The gun group said it had received about $2,500…
Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina May Be Ready to Cooperate
AP Photo Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Accused Russian spy and gun rights activist Maria Butina wants to plead guilty in the case against her involving a Kremlin influence effort aimed at the 2016 election, according to a Monday morning court filing from her lawyers and the US government. The…
Documents Point to Illegal Campaign Coordination Between Trump and the NRA
NRA annual convention in Dallas, May 2018Sue Ogrocki/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. The National Rifle Association spent $30 million to help elect Donald Trump—more than any other independent conservative group. Most of that sum went toward television advertising, but a political message loses its power if it fails to…
DOJ Announced Plans to Ban Bump Stocks, but Gun Reform Groups Aren’t Celebrating Yet
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) announces legislation to ban bump stocks at a press conference at the United States Capitol following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.Alex Edelman/ZUMA Wire Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives will soon ban bump stocks, appliances that enable semi-automatic weapons…
If Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina Sings, Here’s What She Might Tell the Feds
Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS/Zumapress Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Accused Russian spy and gun rights activist Maria Butina is getting closer to cutting a deal with the US government. That’s what both her lawyers and the Justice Department explained in a court filing on Wednesday, where they wrote that they “remain optimistic”…