maria butina had previously pled not guilty. so wanting to change her plea implies she now intends to plead guilty. then abc news was first to report tonight that in conjunction with her guilty plea to a conspiracy charge, maria butina will also agree to cooperate, to cooperate with federal, state, and local authorities in ongoing investigations. cnn soon added the fact, or the report that butina has already started meeting with prosecutors as part of this deal. if this abc and cnn reporting is correct, that means that on wednesday afternoon, the judge will be hearing maria butina's guilty plea, and we presumably will have some public-facing indication of the kind of cooperation deal she is making in conjunction with that plea. i should tell you, "the daily beast" has just matched that reporting from abc news and cnn, and in their report, they're adding some sort of incredible details that they say are quotes from the plea agreement. and again, nbc news has not confirmed this reporting, but here is two examples of what "the dail

maria butina had previously plead not guilty. so wanting to change her plea implies she now intends to plead guilty. then abc news was first to report tonight that in conjunction with her guilty plea to a conspiracy charge, maria butina will also agree to cooperate, to cooperate with federal, state and local authorities in ongoing investigations. cnn soon added the fact or the report that butina has already started meeting with prosecutors as part of this deal. if this abc and cnn reporting is correct, that means that on wednesday afternoon, the judge will be hearing maria butina's guilty plea, and we presumably will have some public-facing indication of the kind of cooperation deal she is making in conjunction with that plea. i should tell you the daily beast has just matched that reporting from abc news and cnn, and in their report, they're adding some sort of incredible details that they say are quotes from the plea agreement. and again, nbc news has not confirmed this reporting, but here is two examples of what the daily beas

maria butina said she conspired to act as an illegal foreign agent. she is cooperating and sharing information on who directed her to infiltrate one of the most important organizations in republican politics, the national rifle association. jessica schneider joins us from outside the white house in

butina. i am satisfied that ms. butina is -- excuse me. i'm satisfied that ms. butina is fully competent and capable of making a decision today, that she understands the nature and charges of the plea, that the plea is guilty knowing and voluntarily, that she is acting of her own free will pleading guilty and there is an actual factual basis containing each of the essential elements of the offense for her plea. besides from the large awkward blurt of the word "guilty," that was a by the book, but still absolutely shocking court proceeding today in federal court in washington. i mean, with this, today, marina butina becomes the first russian national convicted for seeking to influence u.s. politics around the time of the election in 2016. she had not -- excuse me, she had previously plead not guilty after she was arrested in july. she was charged with operating as an agent of the russian government in this country. she initially plead not guilty. what is perhaps most remarkable about this u-turn in her case now, though, not that she has change her mind and change

maria butina, yes. the judge, do you understand it? butina, yes. have you gone over it with your lawyers? yes. have you had enough time to discuss it with your lawyers? yes. is that what you agreed to? the defendant: yes. do you have any confusion or questions about this agreement that you would like to ask me or that you would like to ask your lawyers about? the defendant: no. the judge: are you entering this plea voluntarily and of your own free will because you are guilty? the defendant: yes. the judge: is there anything you do not understand about this plea in this case? no. are you now ready to say whether you want to plead guilty or go to trial on the charges in this case? the defendant, yes. the judge, what do you want to do? the defendant, guilty. that's what she said. she just shouted out guilty. the judge. finally, are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? defendant: yes. the judge: you may have a seat, ms. butina. i am satisfied that ms. butina is fully competent of making a z decision today. the plea knowing and voluntary, she is

like butina, chapman was an attractive woman but neil says he sees a difference. >> butina was more creating relationships for what we might call back channel communications. chapman, on the other hand, was actually accessing people who were higher up in the food chain, in the political food chain, and quite possibly creating some of those connections that would lead to more serious espionage. >> intelligence experts say there are other big differences between those spies caught in that 2010 operation and maria butina. they point out those spies were swapped for spies who had been working for the west. there's no indication that maria butina is going to be swapped for anyone. and those spies were hailed as heroes when they got back to russia. eric o'neill says maria butina may not be hailed as a hero when she is sent back because she likely will have been interrogated by u.s. intelligence and vladimir putin may well treat her as a traitor. >> let's see what happens tomorrow in that federal courtroom. brian todd reporting. thank you very much. we'll have much more on all the breaking news rig

until now, 30-year-old butina has maintained her innocence. prosecutors accused butina of ingratiating herself with american political entities who tried to advance russian interests. but her lawyer insisted she was a bright, american university graduate student who simply embraced her roots, even sporting a vladimir putin phone case. >> it's a picture of vladimir putin shirtless on the horse. so you can imagine, you know, she had it as a gag. >> reporter: but butina became a regular at exclusive nra events. posed a question to then candidate donald trump about russian sanctions at a political event. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> ah! putin. >> reporter: she earned a telling response. >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin. okay? and i mean where we have the strength. i don't think you need the sanctions. i think that we would get along very, very well. >> reporter: the justice department charged butina back in july amid a flurry of u.s./russia news. she was arrested days after intelligence officers found she attacked the ameri

until now 30-year-old butina maintained her innocence. prosecutors accused her of ingratiating herself with american political entities to try to advance russian interests, but her lawyer insisted she was a bright american graduate student who embraced her roots. >> it is a picture of vladimir putin shirtless on the horse. so you can imagine, you know, which she had as a gag. >> reporter: but she became a regular at exclusive nra events, snapped pics with gop presidential hopefuls as 2016 heated up and posed a question to then-candidate donald trump about russian sanctions at a political event. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> ah. >> she earned a telling response. >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, okay. and i mean when we have the strength. i don't think you need the sanctions. i think we would get along very, very well. >> reporter: the justice department charged butina back in july amid a flurry of u.s./russia news. she was arrested days after russian intelligence officers were indicted for hacking the democratic par

our butina. she faces 15 years in prison. for what? when i heard that something was happening to her, we were at a public event, but i had nothing to hide, i went and asked all the heads of our special services, who is this? no one knows anything about her at all. the only thing that anyone knows about her is that she worked at the federation council for one of the deputies. that's it. she is facing 15 years in prison for this? i don't know what they are making up there and how they will cook up 15 years for her. >> reporter: and wolf, the federation council is the russian version of the senate, also not really clear where vladimir putin got that number of possible 15 years in prison from. but all of this, wolf, has already turned into a giant spat, at least from the russian side, especially the russian foreign minister has really -- foreign ministry, has made this a major campaign, even changed the picture on their twitter feed to a picture of maria butina. and there are some really strong words coming out of the russian foreign minis

gloria, what do prosecutors hope to learn from maria butina? >> i think according to sara murray's great reporting, what they want to know is how she conspired with russians to give them information about how organizations like the nra operate and how you can infiltrate. i mean she is not like a big spy. she is kind of a tool, a littler spy, spy-light, as you call it, susan. she is somebody they are charging, according to the plea agreement, who agreed and conspired with a russian government official and at least one other person to -- to spy about -- on, for example, the nra and to figure out how to infiltrate certain organizations that are very important to american elections. >> jeffrey, how do you see all of this? >> well, you know, the question is who told her to go infiltrate the american conservative movement, what information did she get, and who did she contact there and was there any connection to the trump campaign. it is worth pointing out that this case is being prosecuted by the department of justice, not the mueller office. so on

, is behaving as if they're worried that butina has a smoking gun. and what i'm referring to, specifically, the russians went to vision her in prison. she had something like six visits. they helped with a very aggressive social media campaign, free butina, that sort of thing. and they were just all the way in her corner until they learned about the guilty plea and she was cooperating with our prosecutors. now, very recently, putin has actually pretended he doesn't even know who she is. that's not the kind of behavior we saw for months, and it certainly doesn't suggest they're innocent. >> and obviously, here, you know, over her -- the time of her efforts, right, they included multiple meetings with a former national security adviser, j.d. gordon, for now president trump who expected to be in the transition, and also a rally she attended where then candidate donald trump, she guess the first question. he calls on her for the first question. let me play it. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> oh. >> so my question -- >> putin. good friend of obama, putin.

. >>> alleged foreign agent maria butina in court to plead guilty, but to what? we have a team out this morning. first our new msnbc reporting, donald trump telling those close to him that he is alarmed by the possibility of impeachment as the seriousness of what's been going down starts to sink in. an ally of the president is telling nbc news, quote, the entire question of whether he committed an impeachable offense hinges on david pecker and alan weisenberg, both cooperating witnesses. who are those guys? david pecker publishes the nation nationalenquirer. they have admitted to buying the silence of women. alan weisselberg, another person believed to be involved in those hush money payments. he has been given immunity by prosecutors. one day after his former personal fixer was sentenced to three years in prison, the president is on a twitter tirade about michael cohen and that money. hans nichols is at the white house for us. it's the first time we've seen the president respond to the sentencing of michael cohen. >> he has broken his silence. his old argument w

the kremlin veselnitskaya, and then you have butina. is it possible they didn't know what the other was doing? >> it's possible but it's not possible the kremlin and putin didn't know. >> he's the spider but there were all sorts of extended webs that not everybody knew what -- who was operating in which web segment. >> yeah, that's right. >> yes. you mentioned sergei corps kov and i'm glad you reminded everybody about him. he's faded away but remember he was -- he was in charge at the time of russia's largest bank. one of the largest banks of the top three, completely owned by the state, was meeting with jared kushner during the transition. >> well, there's the weird server. >> and if you recall they tried to meet -- >> and there's the weird story about the banks, the server that only seemed to have the bank and trump tower connected. >> there's no one, too, yes. so i think it just underscores that this was comprehensive. putin was playing to win. and i do believe, as we talked before, he was seeking to get revenge from what he believed

butina, a fan of the film. ♪ tale as old as time >> is maria butina a russian agent? >> no. she's not. she's a student. she's a russian national. she's a lover of america and of russia, but she is not a russian agent by any means. >> reporter: but prosecutors told a different story. claiming she was leveraging her relationship for access to the republican elite, even coming face-to-face with the future president. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions? >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin, okay. >> reporter: all allegedly done at the behest of a russian banker with close ties to the kremlin. according to the proposed plea deal, butina would promise her full cooperation with forriti . erickson hasn't been charged with a crime and butina is due in court on wednesday, ultimately, it's likely she will be deported back to her mother russia. robin. >> all right, kyra, thank you. >>> now to the arrest of that ohio woman who prosecutors say was planning mass murder. they say she celebrated killers and online postings even visit visiting columbine high

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maria butina was arrested in july and has been in jail since. in normal cases, she would be sent back to her home country, in this case it would be russia and that would be awkward now she is cooperating. back to you. >> thank you. >>> the president has three weeks to find a new chief of staff. there is no clear frontrunner. a source tells cnn he is quote super pissed how the effort is going. his initial pick nick ayers has ultimately said no to the job. the list of candidates looks like this. it keeps fluctuating. romans. >> a source telling cnn that the president questioned one on the list. david bossie was working with the house during the clinton investigation. bossie was told to go as partisan as possible to survive. and one another candidate? mark meadows. chairman of the freedom caucus and has expertise on how house oversight works. he said he hasn't spoken to the president about the job. >> it sounds if you were offered the job, you would say yes? >> well, you know, listen, there's a lot where you don't answer a question before it is ask

explaining that, they were in negotiations with butina's lawyers regarding "a potential resolution of the matter." >>> now, we had otherwise expected butina to be in court tomorrow in washington for an important status update on the case. it has been delayed because of the supposed ongoing negotiations of the prosecution and the defense lawyers of somehow resolving her case. we don't have any idea what the ultimate resolution might be, if in fact they do resolve it. obviously they have arrested and indicted here and put her in jail and plan to put her on trial. it's possible that the resolution of the case will be a plea deal, where she pleads guilty to something in exchange for lieniance in other ways. it's a very hard thing to imagine, given she is charged as a secret agent of the russian government. but, you never know. >>> some observers have speculated that maria butina might, possibly, have herrer case resolved as part of a spy swap of some kind with the russian government. and the kremlin has taken a keen interest in the case. they have done a lot of publicity around it and adv

we know maria butina will be in there, expected to plead guilty. it will be interesting to see what exactly prosecutors reveal and what butina's defense team will say. after all, this entire time, they said she was innocent, that she was here as an american student. there was no other pretense about it. so we'll see what they reveal inside the courtroom in just a few minutes. jim and poppy. >> thank you, jessica. we will indeed keep us posted. >> ahead, lawmakers finally coming together on capitol hill. right now, a bipartisan push in the senate to stand up to the saudi crown prince. >> meantime in the house, some members are uniting to try to avert a government shutdown. we'll talk to two of them. maria ramirez? hi. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars in tuition assistance, education, and career advising programs... prof: maria ramirez mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! to help more employees achieve their dreams. from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card mom and dad: maria ramirez!!! i e

and the russian foreign ministry now says butina only pleaded guilty to survive, but in court maria butina said her mind was absolutely clear despite russian government claims that said she was tortured and while her lawyer said the solitary confinement was having negative effects on her psychologically, they say her mental state has been improved since she's been allowed to leave her cell at night for activities like church and meeting with a russian orthodox minister. but she will remain in that jail cell until her sentencing which is scheduled for february 12th, and at that point she does face up to five years in police-in and could be deported after her sentence. >> very dramatic stuff indeed. thank you very much, jessica, for that report. there's more breaking news that we're following. bomb threats e-mailed to dozens of institutions and businesses across the united states and canada. let's got to our crime and justice reporter shimon prokupecz. both the fbi and atf, i understand, are now helping in this investigation. >> reporter: yeah, certainly the fbi having a big role here becaus

after it ended the judge in butina's appointed a new public defender to join butina's defense team as kount counsel. i don't know what that means. she already has lawyers. i don't know why, but the judge just gave her an extra defense lawyer to help out her existing team of lawyers. and i don't know what that means. and we don't know exactly what's happening with the maria butina case. but it does seem like it's coming to an end. prosecutors and her defense team had indicated to the court a few weeks ago that they might be coming to some sort of resolution. today's proceedings make it seem like that is starting to happen, and this comes of course at a time when the daily beast has just reported that adjacent to the maria butina case, her american maybe boyfriend, a republican activist named paul erickson, he himself has received a target letter from federal prosecutors notifying him that prosecutors are also considering charging him with being an agent of a foreign power. that was reported in the daily beast yesterday. so all of these things seem to be sort of wrapping, right, or comi

butina also attended the nra's 2015 annual meeting - meeting wisconsin governor scott walker. soon after - he announced his bid for president - with butina in the audience.at the 2016 nra meeting - butina and erickson tried to lay the groundwork for a meeting between donald trump and russian president vladimir putin.their efforts fell short.erickson's role in aiding butina has been a focus of the investigation has not been charged with any crimes. still ahead... she is a celebrity chef, tv-host, and the wife of two -time nba m-v-p. today we tagged alont with ayesha curry... as she put smiles on the faces of some very lucky bay area kids. but first...grab a tissue.it's a holiday story sure to warm your heart.the incredible surprise..that will help a hardworking mom when she needs it most. ♪ whoa! the mercedes-benz winter event is back and you won't want to stop for anything else. [ barks ] ho! lease the c 300 sport sedan for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. (ken) a chicago nurse got the surprise of a lifetime...when she lear

today the judge in the butina case convened a phone conference with prosecutors and with butina's defense team. almost all of it was conducted under seal at the request of butina's lawyers. but before they locked the doors and kicked the public and the reporters out, we did learn a few more details that would seem to indicate that the butina case is heading toward some sort of resolution fairly soon. whether it is a plea deal or some other kind of ending, we don't know. but today maria butina's lawyers asked the judge to basically cancel the next public hearing that was scheduled for her case. her lawyers also said that they would -- they will likely abandon an earlier effort they had been pursuing to subpoena documents and records from the university she'd been attending as part of her defense. but then interestingly, after that court hearing wrapped up today -- so some of it happened in public, a whole bunch of it happened under seal. and then it ended. and after it ended today, the judge in maria butina's case, appointed a new federal criminal defender to join maria butina's defense te

maria butina was arrested in july and has been in jail since. in normal cases, she would be sent back to her home country, but since that is russia, she is now cooperating. >> thank you. >>> the president has three weeks to find a new chief of staff. a source tells cnn he is quote super pissed how the effort is going. nick ayers said no to the job. the list of candidates looks like this. it keeps fluctuating. >> a source telling cnn that david bossie was working with the house during the clinton investigation. and one another candidate? mark meadows. he has expertise in how house oversight works. he said he hasn't spoken to the president about the job. >> it sounds if you were offered the job, you would say yes? >> well, you know, listen, there's a lot where you don't answer a question before it is asked. because it is an honor, i'm inclined to have a discussion with the president. >> here is cnn's kaitlan collins with more from the white house. >> reporter: dave and christine, president trump is very much scrambling to replace john kelly as chi

. >>> we're following breaking news in the case of accused russian spy maria butina. i want to get to sara murray for details. this is -- i don't know that i've heard of this before. what is going on? >> so this is a filing that we clearly were not supposed to see. it seems like something the prosecutors are trying to file under seal, because it disappeared pretty quickly after it was blasted through the court system. it's prosecutors saying we want to move maria butina around, we want her to be available for interviews with attorneys in virginia and in washington, d.c., between december and into january. and says she might be requested to appear before a grand jury in d.c. into those dates. so it's short of when and where they want her to cooperate into an ongoing federal investigation. and, of course, we know that one of the people that they're looking into in connection to maria butina is her boyfriend, paul erickson, a south dakota republican political operative, who has visited her a number of times in jail, and who she is cooperating against. but, again, this is

like is this butina really a master spy? someone who got up at a public event and asked trump a question. if you look at the stuff that's come out today, it seems like she kind of bungled into this relationship with the russian government and they were like all right, yes, go see whatever links you can get. she doesn't strike me as the greatest russian spy ever to hit our soil. but that doesn't mean she didn't commit crimes. with a lot of these people i keep thinking of what deep throat said during watergate to woodward. he said these are not very bright guys and things got out of hand. right? i don't think we're necessarily looking at criminal geniuses you you don't have to be a criminal genius to commit crimes. >> are you talking about butina or -- >> that list you put up there. >> yeah. >> trump, i keep coming back to this. at that moment when he's talking about how great he gets along with putin, he was trying to build a building in moscow that would have made him millions and millions of dollars. >> but listen, even if

what exactly did butina agree to and what's the significance here? >> just a little over an hour ago, we were inside where butina came out. she was in her prison wear. she's been spending time in solitary, waiting. she's very stoic as she quickly said yes, yes, yes, as she agreed to plead guilty to all of this. one of the things the judge asked her is whether or not she was doing this knowing that this won't necessarily help her from being deported. the judge can of course take into account her cooperation with the prosecutors here. she could still face deportation back to russia which could be very dangerous for her, knowing that she's been cooperating with american prosecutors here. but the cooperation is key here. even if this isn't being brought by special counsel mueller. this is coming from the u.s. attorney in d.c. this case could be used by mueller. her agreement, cooperation agreement, said any matters the government deems relevant, they could use her cooperation in those. given all of her ties to the republican party and having the goals th

however, butina has agreed to cooperate. we are going to start with that breaking news on butina. she worked with her republican boyfriend, apaul erickson, u.s. person one at the behest of alexander torsion. the goal? quote, establish unofficial lines of communication with americans having power and influence over u.s. politics for the benefit of the russian federation. joining me now justice reporter julia ainsley. can you explain how this person, player, who we had no idea about before all these investigations, how she fits into this increasingly large web of investigations into russian ties with the trump campaign and apparently republican party politics? >> yeah. let's take a step back. this is the third in three days of hearings where we've seen paul manafort and others. maria butina, the charges aren't brought by robert mueller. she could be a witness like the others that could prove useful to robert mueller. that's because she came over with a similar goal to some of the people robert mueller has been investigating. she wanted to be able to unofficially infiltrate the repub

some observers have speculated that maria butina might, possibly, have her case resolved as part of a spy swap of some kind with the russian government. and the kremlin has taken a keen interest in the case. they have done a lot of publicity around it and advocacy around it. they have been very, very active, both publically advocating and advocating with the u.s. government on her behalf. i don't know what they are offering on her behalf. i don't know if the u.s. government is in the market for any sort of spy swap with the russians at the moment, but it not impossible to imagine that her case may be resolved with something dramatic like that. so, we have been waiting to find out. basically any day now, what is going to happen to this accused russian foreign agent now that federal prosecutors say they are heading toward a resolution of the case. while we have been waiting for that to happen, today, "the daily beast" has reported that another person in her case, an american who is named in her case, has been warned himself by prosecutors that he might get charged in this case, too. he

run for president, with butina in the audience. butina also tried to arrange a motoring between vladimir putin and donald trump but her efforts fell short. >> the russian government recently claimed that butina was being for toured while she was being held in custody so there was an interesting discussion about her mental health today in court, jake. her lawyer has also complained that she's been in solitary confinement, but today in front of the judge her lawyer says she's doing elementally. she's allowed out of her cell sometimes at nights and visits with a russian orthodox minister. >> all right. sara murray, thanks so much. let's talk about this with the panel. kaitlan collins, one key point, in a proposal she wrote after her travels to the u.s. and an nra event she said she laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next u.s. administration this. seems to get at an idea that russia wanted a relationship when the next administration and wanted an improved relationship and the sanctions lifted. >> wh

for maria butina, she just pled guilty. so she's not going on trial. there's not going to be a jury that has to be selected to rule on her guilt or innocence. she pled guilty. so why would you still need the gag order, what's the justification for it? that's what we just got from the prosecutors in her case tonight, and this is interesting. first of all, they say there's a chance that maria butina's plea deal might fall apart, which they would put her on trial. quote, although the government has no reason to expect the defendant will breach the plea agreement, if the event she does she will be subject to prosecution from other crimes. there is a chance however small that the government could proceed to trial on the indictment or some portion thereof. given that possibility, they continue. quote, while the government again has no reason to believe the defendant will attempt to withdraw her plea prior to sentencing -- >> so they're raising these possibilities. maybe her plea agreement is going to fall apart, and there will be a trial. but then here's the

an accused-kremlin operative, maria butina, is cooperating with the feds. new questions are being raised at the same time about her connections to russian intelligence agencies. we could find out how much she really knows when she is in the federal courtroom

of torturing russian spy maria butina. butina is in u.s. custody, moving toward a deal with u.s. prosecutors, expected to change her plea to guilty in this court hearing tomorrow. cnn's senior international correspondent, fred pleitgen, is live in moscow. and fred, you scored this exclusive interview. you tell me, why is russia now saying this about butina when putin just yesterday said he had never heard of her before now? >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly what he said. if you look at the russian foreign ministry, brooke, they for a long time have been sort of championing this cause of maria butina. they even changed their twitter avatar to a picture of maria butina. and today when we got an interview one-on-one with the spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, she absolutely ripped into the united states. here's some of what she had to say. >> we indicated her as a political prisoner from the very first days. because it's not about -- it's not about justice. it's not justice. it's just inquisition. she is intimidated, tortured and treated not like a human being. not like a woman.

butina faces possible prison time and deportation. nicole killian, cbs news, the white house. >>> the me too movement has now landed on the steps of congress in the form of new legislation making lawmakers liable for misconduct while in office. >> the bill would require members of congress to pay for sexual harassment settlements themselves as opposed to using taxpayer dollars. it would streamline the complaint filing process and make the names of any personally liable members public. the bill now goes to president trump for his signature. >>> also out of washington tonight the senate passing a resolution urging the u.s. withdraw military support for the conflict in yemen. saudi arabia is leading a coalition to fight rebels allied with iran. the resolution condemns the saudi crown prince for the death of journalist jamal khashoggi. >>> coming up a new era of space travel. >> the company launching a bold new mission today and how it could bring space tourism closer to a reality. >> reporter: whoops when, better than in-n-out, the first

this is at this town hall july 2015 when butina was the first one. she came out and asked trump a question about russian sanctions. watch this. >> i believe i would get along very nicely with putin. okay? and i mean where we have the strength. i don't think you'd need the sanctions. i think we would get along very, very well. i really believe that. >> so given all that we know now, right, do you think that's fishy? what do you think of that moment? >> yeah, it's one of the particularly weird moment that, again, sort of seems to point at puzzle pieces we haven't yet seen. there's been no real concrete link between maria butina and the trump campaign and the special counsel's investigation. remember, this was a case that was prosecuted by the justice department's national security division out of main justice in washington which typically handles counter intelligence espionage cases like this, not robert mueller's office. but that seems to be, in part, because the investigation into her went on for so long that the fbi had been watching her since, actu

maria butina is going to plead guilty to conspiring to violate the law. she's not being charged as a spy. she was a russian agent of influence. she came here to essentially infiltrate republican party circles and the national rifle association to try to burnish russia's image, to build ties between republicans and the russian government and to help influence the trump administration, and so there's a couple of interesting -- this is not a robert mueller case. this preceded the mueller investigation, but there may be some cross pollination here. there may be some things of interest to robert mueller. first of all, butina asked donald trump a question during the campaign that led him to say that he wanted to improve relations with putin and potentially lift sanctions on russia. and then secondly, butina's russian handler pitched the trump campaign on a meeting between putin and trump, and jared kushner rebuffed tortin, but he ended up at an nra dinner next next. >> hans nichols let me bring you in here first. president trump late reporting to the white hous

election, but maria butina is the first one who is actually in u.s. custody and who is cooperating with american prosecutors. so it's quite possible she could shed more light on what the russians are up to, especially because she was quite close to aleksandr torshin, who was the deputy governor of the russian central bank and somebody who was close to putin and was somebody who was focused on infiltrating the nra and, through the nra, republican politics. >> i want to play this for you. this is a clip of butina asking then-candidate donald trump a question. it was at a campaign event in 2015. here it is. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> ah, putin. good friend of obama, putin. he liked obama a lot. go ahead. >> if you would be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics especially in the relationships with my country, and do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging both economy, or you have any other ideas? >> okay. obama gets along with nobody. the whole world hates us. i know putin, and i'll tell you what. we get a

election, but maria butina is the first one who is actually in u.s. custody and who is cooperating with american prosecutors. so it's quite possible she could shed more light on what the russians are up to, especially because she was quite close to aleksandr torshin, who was the deputy governor of the russian central bank and somebody who was close to putin and was somebody who was focused on infiltrating the nra and through the nra, republican politics. >> i want to play this for you. this is a clip of butina asking then-candidate donald trump a question. it was at a campaign event in 2015. here it is. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> ah, putin. good friend of obama, putin. he liked obama a lot. go ahead. >> if you would be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics especially in the relationships with my country, and do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging both economy, or you have any other ideas? >> okay. obama gets along with nobody. the whole world hates us. i know putin, and i'll tell you what. we get al

but tonight, maria butina has agreed to cooperate with the justice department. in a draft agreement, obtained by abc news, the russian gun rictivist pleads guilty to conspiracy, admitting she "sought to establish unofficial lines of comnication with americans having power and influence over u.s. politics for the benefit of the russian federation." prosecutors say she did it with the help of an american, republican operative paul eriksson, with whom she had a romantic relationship. they've even recorded this video together. ♪ tale as old as time >> reporter: butina says erickson helped her cozy up to conservative leaders and top nra officials. she acknowledges that in 2015, she told a russian official she had "laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next u.s. administration." she'd met prominent republicans politicians -- wisconsin governor scott walker, donald trump jr. she even got a chance to ask his father a question about russia. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions? >> i know putin, and i'll tell you what, w

these are people like butina. butina goes, builds relationships. usually at three levels. state to state. this is with state officials. party to party such as the national rifle association. then people to people with key people. those three levels. she then leverages those to advance russia's foreign policy positions inside the united states. you can see that very detailed in the sentencing memos. >> at 3:00 a.m., we were in this studio coming to grips with the trump victory, she was e-mailing the home office saying i await further instructions. do you think she could believe her good luck that based on so little time and investment here in this country, she's got pictures with senator santorum of pennsylvania, the governor of wisconsin, she's met donny junior already. she's got friends in high places including the nra. >> yeah, somebody who looks like me sure isn't getting to meet all those people, i tell you that. she moved right through every circle she needed to move through. she's got documented evidence. what we should remember, too, is it isn't always directed, so

what about the american republican operative who introduced butina to the nra members. is he in legal jeopardy now? >> reporter: he could be, david, for sure. he's reportedly under investigation, but his lawyers saying tonight, paul erickson has never done anything to hurt our country and never would. david? >> kyra phillips with us again tonight. thank you, kyra. >>> we have learned tonight that an american college student was fatal lly stabbed in the netherlands. the minnesota native studying abroad died in the attack inside her apartment. a 23-year-old dutchman living in the same building was arrested for the killing 60 miles away. authorities tonight have now revealed a motive. >>> next here tonight, the dramatic scene off a crowded tourist beach in hawaii. a military jet crashing into the waters off honolulu. the pilot ejecting just in time. you can see it there. people watching it. the pie lot surviving, but tonight, he's recovering from serious injuries, and abc's martha raddatz has the images. >> reporter: it was just off honolulu's waikiki beach, beach, a 1950s

question about who is paying that lawyer's bill, because initially, the russian government embraced butina and were complaining about the treatment of her, and one wons how they will feel now that she has decidedcooperate. and this would be a fascinating case even if we were not in the middle of a are russian investigation. because this woman came here as a student, as the cover, but she was an agent of influence and she was with working for a russian central banker named aleksandr torshin who is according to the spanish prosecutors a money launderer with are russian ties and you can't make this stuff up. and she was trying to infiltrate the national rifle association, and she had a gun rights group, and that is kind of odd since there are no gun rights groups in russia. but they were attending the nra functi functions, and inserting themselves into the republican party circles, and trying to build influence with the incoming trump administration, and butina decided early on that trump would be elect and she appeared in a trump rally at the q&a event and asked a question that led him to ma

butina was arrested in july for allegedly conspireing to infiltrate political u.s. organizations, including the nra, in an effort to push moscow's agenda. matthew rosenberg of the "the new york times" reports it this way, "the deal which now must be approved by a judge stipulates that ms. butina must cooperate with federal, state and local authorities in exchange for what could be a short prison term or possibly a release after having already spent five months in jail. as a felon, she will most likely be deported after her release, as was made clear in court filings laying out the deal that were obtained by "the new york times." back in july 2015, back before we knew any of what we know today about russian involvement, president trump called on her first when she raised her hand at a political event in las vegas. >> i'm visiting from russia. >> ah. >> so my question -- >> putin. good friend of obama, right? >> if you are elected as president, who will be your foreign politics especially in relationships with my country? and do you want to continue the politics of sa

people like butina. butina goes, builds relationships. usually at three levels. state to state. party to party such as the national rifle association. then people to people with key people. those three levels. she then leverages those to advance russia's foreign policy positions inside the united states. you can see that very detailed in h the sentencing memos. >> at 3:00 a.m., we were in this studio coming to grips with the trump victory, she was e-mailing the home office saying i await further instructions. do you think she could believe her good luck that based on so little time and investment here in this country, she's got pictures with senator santorum of pennsylvania, the governor of wisconsin, she's met donny junior already. she's got friends in high places including the nra. >> yeah, somebody who looks like me sure isn't getting to meet all those people, i tell you that. she moved right through every circle she needed to move through. she's got documented evidence. what we should remember, too, is it isn't always directed, so oftentimes when you're in this position, it

we've been identifying russian spies, we've arrested butina. >> maria butina is still in jail in the u.s. and cooperating with federal prosecutors. u.s. officials have suggested in court papers that butina was specifically tasked by her russian handlers with infiltrating conservative political groups in america, such as the nra. putin recently complained publicly about her case, denying any knowledge of butina. >> translator: no one knows anything about her at all. the only thing anyone knows, she worked at the federation council for one of the deputies. that's it. >> reporter: as for paul whelan, bob bare says he thinks it's unlikely he works for the u.s. governme government, we says doesn't usually send spies to moscow. he says he could have simply been working for a private company and was conveniently rounded up. he says it's possible the russians will hold whelan until butina's case is resolved and she returns to russia. but he says putin is under a great deal of pressure inside russia, and may want more for the american than just maria butina. >> a lot of the oligarchs are bein

was maria butina just freelancing on behalf of the deputy bank chief aleksandr torshin? but this shows they were trying to infiltrate kind of at all angles. so they had the hacking operation. they had the disinformation c campaign, and at the same time it appears they had these political operatives, which is really what maria butina. he wasn't a spy. she certainly wasn't a trained spy as far as we know. there were no gru connections that were revealed in court yesterday. you know, trying to kind of hob knob with republicans and policymakers in washington, d.c. i think the question now that mueller will have for her because it's likely that mueller is going to interview her at some point as part of his investigation, is when you went to that las vegas rally where donald trump was speaking and when you asked him about sanctions, was that just a coincidence, or was that planned in some respect? was it his first, you know, opportunity to discuss the sanctions issue in public, and was that staged, and i think that that's going to be a really important kquestion for them to an

the judge said butina made a phone call from jail to a re rter. the judge appointed federal public defender aj claimer toea with butina and help determine if she was coercedney an into making a guilty plea. >> what i said to the judge ws she satisfied with her awyers and made the decision voluntarily. >> in court, the prosecutor read the statentssaying, she predicted political candidate number one would win election as president of the united states. she set up a unofficial channel of communication. prosecutors say butin aing with an american boyfriend, a russian handler and financed by a russian oligarch, built tie with the national rifle association and influential republicans. now she's agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors in this at investn. now, butina will be brought back to court in february but she will not be sentenced at that time. no sentencing date has been set becauseerosecutors want m time to see how much information she gives to investigators before they decide the sentence they will recommend the judge impose in this case. that's

we've got the russian maria butina in court today. it's like robert mueller and the southern district of new york prosecutors are suddenly freed up from whatever, you know, restraints they had been under to wait until after the election and wait until after thanksgiving, and they're suddenly going to court day after day after day, and this drum beat of bad news, the deal with the "national enquirer's" parent company, all this stuff, i think, is just coming at him left and right. at the same time he's about to -- democratic house with subpoena power, which is going to look into a lot of these things in a very public way and a whole lot less discrete way. and he's got a big budget fight looming and no chief of staff. that's a big, big set of issues confronting this president at this time. he's very, very nervous about it. >> two lawyers and a reporter, our big three tonight with our great thanks to peter baker, mia wiley and daniel goldman. appreciate it. >>> coming up, our next guest says when it comes to donald trump and law breaking,

maria butina said she conspired to act as an illegal foreign agent. she is cooperating and sharing information on who directed her to infiltrate one of the most important organizations in republican politics, the national rifle association. jessica schneider joins us from outside the white house in washington, d.c. what are we hearing? >> reporter: a guilty plea and a remarkable portrayal about how maria butina tried to infiltrate organizations at the behest of russian officials. they laid it all out saying this kicked off in 2015 when maria butina drafted a proposal and in that proposal she detailed how she would be a conduit between the russian government and important u.s. political figures. they say at one point, alexander tortian, a bank official gave her $125,000 to attend important political conferences including those led by the national rifle association and said how she worked with a u.s. citizen to organize a friendship dinner where important figures would be there and they would discuss russian-american policy and said as recently as 2017,

abc's kyra phillips again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, maria butina pleading guilty to conspiracy, admitting she was sent here by russia to build back channel connections with prominent american conservatives as part of a covert influence operation. butina, a russian gun rights activist, says her boyfriend, gop operative paul erickson, introduced her to top officials in the nra. >> in russia, i'm founder and now i'm the board member of the right to bear arms. >> reporter: she also says she even brought powerful former nra leaders to moscow to meet with top russian officials. she told a russian contact with close ties to the kremlin, "we will put pressure on them quietly later." she also met prominent republican politicians, posing for a picture with donald trump jr., even asking his father a question about russia in 2015. >> do you want to continue the politics of sanctions? >> i know putin, and i'll tell you what, we get along with putin. >> reporter: butina told moscow she had "laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next u.s. administration." but