South Dakota political man of mystery and Trump pardonee Paul Erickson podcasted last April that his ex-girlfriend, convicted Russian agent Maria Butina, wasn’t a spy and was just trying to help America:
Erickson—who himself was convicted in a fraud scheme unrelated to the influence operation and sentenced to seven years in prison—claims in new interviews that Butina was never acting as a spy and complained about her treatment in the United States justice system.
“The ultimate insult of her travails in the United States was that not only was she not a spy until she was treated harshly by the justice system, she was once a potentially future ally to America in global relations in a post-Putin world,” Erickson said in an interview with Paul Glader and Mary Cuddehe, guest cohosts of the podcast Infamous, which released an episode about him on Thursday [Shannon Vavra, “GOP Felon Dishes About Ex-Lover, Russian ‘Spy’ Maria Butina,” Daily Beast, 2023.04.30].
Erickson said his relationship with Butina fell apart because they couldn’t risk communicating during their legal travails:
According to Erickson, the relationship crumbled after his arrest.
“When my arrest happened, then was this strategic, we just said, right, this is farewell for now, until we didn’t know when, if ever. Because we couldn’t,” Erickson said in an interview with the podcast hosts in January of 2021. “Every communication, everything would have been monitored or used against her or against me.”
Despite his recounting of the dramatic break-up, the Republican appears to be sticking to his declaration that Butina wasn’t a “Red Sparrow,” claiming instead that “she was a reformer, an enemy of the state, Top 10 dissident” [Vavra, 2023.04.30].
Butina, now a Russian TV talker and member of parliament, says, no, she and the man she says almost married went to Splitsville because Paul treated her like he treats everyone else and took her money:
“It still hurts,” Butina told Infamous host Paul Glader. “You love a person, you’re about to get married to a person who knows your parents and is so nice [and he] turns out to be a monster.”
…In her interview, Butina accused Erickson of spending thousands of dollars from her Russian bank account on himself while she was in prison—money she said was sent to her account by her parents to help pay for her legal fees.
…“He actually used my card because all his credit cards were blocked because of his FBI case. So they blocked everything,” she said. “I am his girlfriend. I am in jail. I’m in solitary confinement facing 15 years. And with no questions asked. He didn’t ask me, my parents, he just takes this money,” she went on.
…“By taking and spending money for himself that were actually for my lawyers, for my defense, it’s not very nice. So do I see it as a betrayal? Absolutely do. And that’s the most painful betrayal in my life,” she said [Noor Ibrahim, “Infamous ‘Spy’ Maria Butina Tears into “Monster’ Republican Ex-Boyfriend,” Daily Beast, 2023.10.11].
Butina even softly turns on Trump, saying his pardon of Erickson left Erickson free to continue his incorrigible felonious ways:
“Well, eventually my sister contacted my lawyer and she delivered this piece of paper to the lawyer… and I saw all the payments,” she said, later adding that: “I made the decision after your podcast came out to tell the truth, because honestly, I don’t think he’s gonna stop. I don’t think he got his lesson, I think by being pardoned” [Ibrahim, 2023.10.11].
Butina learned the lesson that South Dakota voters need to learn: Republicans like Paul Erickson say they love you, but they really just want to put your cash in their pockets.
In this little love story, it is hard to figure out who conned who, but I have figured it out. The best spies are those who seem too flaky to be a spy. Corrupting the NRA and the Republican Party so that they would do Russia’s bidding seemed so far out there that it never could happen…until it did. Today the Republican Party is a fully owned subsidiary of Russia. Butina did her job well.
She certainly had Paul Erickson in her hands, figuratively and literally. She fooled Dusty Johnson. Money, of course, more than sex, is what she used to lubricate this Russian takeover of the Republican Party. If you think that money her parents were giving her didn’t come from the Russian oligarchs, you are more naive than I thought.
George Santos, trump, erickson, leo are but a few of the grifters of the republican party. They not only want to get in your wallets, but also your pants. Poor Red Sparrow, thought she was getting the golden goose, but just got goosed. Now add the NOem clan and you can see what a fiasco the republican party really is, crooks and liars all.
Butina should be in the prison at Guantanamo.
If Buttina Sling was ever an adversary of Putin, I doubt she’d be alive today, let alone a member of gubmint.
She wasn’t a ” spy”, in the most orthodox definition, but a Russian “operative” sent to the US to influence American public opinion about the Putin regime. Erickson is one of many Republican doofus con men who enrich themselves by influencing Republican Party public opinion and who tap into a vast storehouse of wealth acquired by eccentric Far Right Millionaires. There seems to be a virtual legion of these nut cases willing to fund the Republican Right Wing. Buttina was surprisingly effective as a media personality and message carrier. Her scam that she was promoting “gun ownership in Russia” is absurd on its’ face. That Congressman Johnson could drive with her across South Dakota to present her dog and pony show to Young Republicans and not detect the obvious phoniness of her presentation is stunning.
I would say Butina was a spy, but I won’t argue with “operative.” She was collecting information for Russia about the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, the issues the right responded to, the buttons to push to get a positive response and to sway people. She was a spy (or operative) with soft skills that allowed her to establish connections to both the influencers of and the grassroots Republican base. Erickson gave her entree into the mid-level Republican apparatchiks who weren’t quite smart enough to see through her game.
I’ll accept Donald’s interpretation of the events that transpired. Erickson had more influence in the Republican Party than I had thought. Indeed, “the mid level Republican apparachicks” were not very smart. That’s the scary part of the story.
Arlo, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Marion Rounds and Tiny Johnson still have a lot to answer for regarding their heartthrob, Maria Butina.
Just wave a pair of boobs,and a few hundred dollar bills, and you bought the SD republican representation in DC. Shameful! Erickson is not the only con man in the picture. And, yes, Butina was an operative,feeding money to our so called “DC delegation” guised as NRA support. It was all Putin money. If you can’t see it,it’s because you don’t want to. I wonder how much Putin Money sits in SD Business trusts in S Falls? There is a reason they were operating in SD. Prove me wrong.
https://old.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/w5ew5f/the_perfect_occasion/
Nero fiddled while Rome was burning.or something like that.
Rome isn’t Iowa, Mr. Mike. Nero diddled.