Second American in Maria Butina indictment could be key to Trump-Russia-GOP scandal

| 9:35 pm EDT July 22, 2018
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The federal indictment of Russian political operative Maria Butina names a whole lot of American names without actually naming them. For instance she had dinner during the 2016 election cycle with an unnamed Republican Congressman, widely believed to be Dana Rohrabacher. She was also living with someone identified as “Person 1” – who is widely believed to be GOP operative Paul Erickson. But it’s “Person 2” who may be the key to the whole thing.

There are a few key references to “Person 2” in the Maria Butina indictment. It’s clear that this person is a politically connected American, and that this person spent a long stretch of time acting as a conduit for setting up Butina with various American political figures. At one point during the election cycle, Butina told this person that the Kremlin was on board with these meetings. But the best clue about the identity of Person 2 may have come after the election.

Butina and her Kremlin handler, Russian politician Alexander Torshin, attended the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast just two weeks after Donald Trump was inaugurated. Four days after the breakfast, Butina thanked an unnamed breakfast organizer and asked for a followup meeting. Then just two days after that, Butina sent Person 2 a thank you email, saying that Putin had received “the message.” Based on the timing, it appears that Person 2 may be someone who met with Butina at the National Prayer Breakfast, or helped set her up with the leaders of the National Prayer Breakfast.

That doesn’t narrow it down by a whole lot, as the National Prayer Breakfast is generally chock full of Republican politicians and political operatives. But “Person 2” appears to have been Maria Butina’s American counterpart in the Trump-Russia scandal, both during and after the election. Keep in mind that the Feds already know the identity of this individual, and the name is presumably being kept a secret due to other ongoing legal processes involving that individual.