Prosecutors allege Russian agent maintained 'duplicitous relationship' with political operative


PETE MADDEN and LUCIEN BRUGGEMAN
Good Morning America
July 19, 2018

Prosecutors allege Russian agent maintained 'duplicitous relationship' with political operative originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Federal prosecutors believe that Maria Butina, the Russian gun-rights activist who was recently arrested and charged with acting as a foreign agent, maintained a “duplicitous relationship” with an American political operative for the purposes of gaining access to U.S. political organizations.

Identified in court filings only as “U.S. Person 1,” a 56-year-old political operative, private messages exchanged between them and surveillance conducted by federal law enforcement paint a picture of this person as someone Butina, 29, could rely on. Butina lived, at times, with U.S. Person 1. She asked U.S. Person 1 for help with her homework. As she prepared to move out of her apartment, U.S. Person 1 helped her arrange to rent a U-Haul and purchase moving boxes.

But U.S. Person 1 appears to have done much more than help a expatriate graduate student adjust to life in the United States. He also, prosecutors say, “worked with Butina to arrange introduction to U.S. persons having influence in American politics,” including high-ranking members of the NRA and organizers of the National Prayer Breakfast, “for the purposes of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.”

Based on the prosecutors’ description, “U.S. Person 1” is believed to be Paul Erickson, a longtime GOP operative who is known to have had close ties to Butina. It is unclear whether he is cooperating with authorities in the case against Butina or whether he is under investigation himself, but he could be in serious trouble.

“He's got real exposure here,” one former federal prosecutor told ABC News. “If he knew that he was helping [Butina], he may himself have a foreign agent problem.”

ABC News’ attempts to reach Erickson have been unsuccessful. Butina, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday, and her attorney, Robert Driscoll, called the charges against her “overblown.”

But the descriptions of the person believed to be Erikson’s alleged activities in the court filings have made him a fascinating character in an already twisted tale.


PHOTO: Paul Erickson speaks at the College Republican National Convention on July 25, 2003. (C-SPAN)
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Erickson, 56, has a long and tangled record in Republican politics. In the 1980s, after graduating from Yale, Erickson served as Treasurer of the College Republican National Committee. Erickson then wrote a comedy sketch called “Fritzbusters” in 1984, which parodied Democratic presidential candidate Walter “Fritz” Mondale, the New York Times reported at the time.

After earning his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1988, Erickson embarked on a series of unconventional professional endeavors, including co-executive producing an anti-communism film starring Dolph Lundgren with Jack Abramoff called “Red Scorpion.” The Rapid City Journal, a South Dakota newspaper, has reported that Erickson then travelled to Nicaragua in 1990 to “observe U.S.-backed Contra rebels putting down their arms after Soviet-supported President Daniel Ortega agreed to abide by the results of a popular election.”

Erickson found his way back to Republican politics in the U.S. in 1992, joining conservative icon Pat Buchannan’s presidential campaign as a national political director.

In the mid-1990s, Erickson and Abramoff joined forces again, opening up a lobbying firm whose clientele included Zairean strongman dictator Mobutu, the Washington Post reported at the time.

“I’ve enjoyed 33 years of wildly diverse business ventures all around the world in industries ranging from hotels to housing to entertainment to energy,” Erickson told the Rapid City Journal.

In 2007, Erickson was sued for $190,000 by conservative activist Brent Bozell, who claimed in the lawsuit that Erickson had failed to repay an investment, court documents showed. Bozell won a breach of contract judgment in 2008, though it’s unclear whether Erickson ever completed the payment.

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