Pro-Kremlin GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher met with a Putin ally in Russia in August 2015, The Daily Beast has confirmed, matching an account in Mondays blockbuster FBI affidavit against accused Russian spy Maria Butina.
Butina was part of discussions about the RUSSIAN OFFICIALs plans to meet with a U.S. Congressman during a Congressional Delegation trip to Moscow in August 2015, FBI agent Kevin Helsons affidavit swears. In that conversation, BUTINA noted she has the RUSSIAN OFFICIALs diplomatic passport and can purchase a plane ticket for him from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
The official is widely believed to be Alexander Torshin, an influential former Russian politician from Vladimir Putins party who established trans-continental ties to the National Rifle Association.
The lawmakers on that Congressional delegation were Rohrabacher and Democrat Gregory Meeks of New York, the leadership of the House foreign affairs subcommittee on Europe. They were in Russia from from August 4 to 6, 2015, the Congressional Record shows and their offices confirmed.