Michael Flynn and Jill Stein were in Russia in December 2015 -- the same month

[pnwmom]

that the NRA people were in Russia. The Flynn/Stein/Putin Russia Today dinner was on December 10.

Sheriff Clarke, who was in Russia for NRA events, tweeted from Russia on December 10 & 11.

I wonder if the RT dinner (attended by Michael Flynn) and the NRA events (attended by Sheriff Clarke) in Russia were connected.


http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article195231139.html

Torshin’s involvement with the NRA may have begun in 2013 when he attended the group’s convention in Houston. Keene, the ex-NRA leader and an avid hunter, was instrumental in building a relationship with the Russian, according to multiple conservative sources.

Keene also helped lead a high-level NRA delegation to Moscow in December 2015 for a week of lavish meals and meetings with Russian business and political leaders. The week’s festivities included a visit to a Russian gun company and a meeting with a senior Kremlin official and wealthy Russians, according to a member of the delegation, Arnold Goldschlager, a California doctor who has been active in NRA programs to raise large donations.

Others on the trip included Joe Gregory, who runs the NRA’s Ring of Freedom program for elite donors who chip in checks of $1 million and upwards, Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke and Pete Brownell, a chief executive of a gun company and longtime NRA board member.


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696

It was a (red) star-studded affair, the December 2015 dinner celebrating the 10th birthday of Russian TV network RT. At a luxe Moscow hotel, President Vladimir Putin and a host of Russian luminaries toasted a state-backed news channel that U.S. intelligence calls a Kremlin mouthpiece.

And next to Putin at the head table, in the seat of honor, was an American. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who would later become Donald Trump's national security adviser, was already advising Trump's presidential campaign when he was paid $45,000 to speak at the gala.

Link to tweet

?lang=en

Link to tweet

?lang=en

[ismnotwasm]

1. Interesting.

As she joyfully played spoiler for Democracy, I don’t doubt she also committed crimes to do so

[saidsimplesimon]

2. mom

Please, don't give the czar a reason to crow. Jill is a brilliant fool.

[leftstreet]

3. It sounds like it's always been about US sanctions

I don't remember anymore if Think Progress is an approved DU link, but I recall this story

Why has the NRA been cozying up to Russia?
Nov 23, 2016

...snip...

A hidden purpose?

Butina’s interests appear to go beyond just guns. She frequently writes about her opposition to economic sanctions by the west, including those on Russian arms. In a 2015 article for The National Interest, she wrote, “It may take the election of a Republican to the White House in 2016 to improve relations between the Russian Federation and the United States.”

Not long after Butina’s 2014 visit, the NRA put out a little-noticed statement criticizing the Obama administration’s sanctions against Russia. Noting that the crackdown included Russia’s arms manufacturer, they wrote: “While the United States government blames the Ukrainian conflict for this latest move, gun control advocates will no doubt applaud the ban on importation of some of the very types of firearms at the center of recent domestic attempts to ban so-called ‘assault weapons.’” Weeks later, The Right to Bear Arms announced it would soon host another NRA representative in Moscow, “life member” Paul Erickson, for an “open meeting.”

In 2015, Butina traveled around country following Republican presidential candidates. She attended Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) announcement speech in Waukesha, Wisconsin. As an audience member a Trump campaign event in Las Vegas, she asked the candidate about sanctions and his commitment to lift them if elected.

https://thinkprogress.org/nra-and-russian-cousin-18f607d40240/

[pnwmom]

4. Good find! That Butina seems to be in the thick of this. n/t