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Must read article on Paul Erickson, the man the Russian NRA Spy lived with & another GOP sleazebag
Paul Erickson is not only cut from the same cloth as many of the more famous GOP traitors, such as Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, he trained at the same academy for treason: the College Republicans.
And a bonus: This guy's so sleazy, he was John Bobbet's lawyer.
Trump, Putin ... and Erickson? Russia probe just another chapter in South Dakotan's unusual life
Getting entangled in the Trump-Russia investigations would be a strange twist of fate for most South Dakotans, but not Paul Erickson.
For him, it might have been predictable.
In a Dec. 3 news story, The New York Times identified Erickson as a potential connection between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. On Jan. 25, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee addressed a letter to Erickson asking him to submit documents and schedule an interview as part of the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
But before any of that happened, Erickson, 56, of Sioux Falls, had already spent much of his adult life in the orbit of the famous and infamous.
The highlights and lowlights of Erickson’s past include performing as a warmup act for Ronald Reagan; making an anti-communist action movie with Jack Abramoff, who went on to disgrace as a corrupt lobbyist; working as a top staffer in a Pat Buchanan presidential campaign; lobbying for an African dictator; and representing penile detachment victim John Wayne Bobbitt.
Through it all, Erickson has used his charm, charisma and connections to build a reputation as "a sort of 'secret master of the political universe' known almost exclusively to the cognoscenti," in the words of conservative commentator Ralph Benko.
Meanwhile, Erickson has also piled up unpaid debts and antagonized some former friends and associates who dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into one or another of his business ventures before finally taking him to court.
Lee Schoenbeck, a Republican former legislator from Watertown, is one of the people who has heard about that side of Erickson.
“He is the single biggest phony I’ve ever met in South Dakota politics,” Schoenbeck said.
Because of those dual aspects of Erickson’s persona, it’s difficult to guess whether his role in the Trump-Russia saga is fact, farce or a mix of both.
According to The New York Times, Erickson sent an email to Trump adviser Rick Dearborn during the 2016 presidential campaign. In that email, Erickson reportedly touted his connections to the National Rifle Association and the Russian government and offered to arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Times said congressional investigators obtained the email as part of ongoing inquiries into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.
Erickson, in recent phone interviews with the Journal, talked at length about his past experiences but declined to say anything on the record about the Trump-Russia investigations, other than to cast doubt on the Times report.
“Not all reports from the East are accurate,” he said.
Erickson had some of his first brushes with notoriety in college. In 1980, while a student at the University of South Dakota in his hometown of Vermillion, Erickson was chosen to coordinate a youth campaign for Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Abdnor, who was challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. George McGovern in that year’s general election.
The South Dakota media reported that Erickson was caught registering dozens of voters without proper authorization as a notary, and that he also used his position as vice president of the students’ association to obtain a confidential list of student addresses and telephone numbers for the Abdnor campaign.
For him, it might have been predictable.
In a Dec. 3 news story, The New York Times identified Erickson as a potential connection between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. On Jan. 25, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee addressed a letter to Erickson asking him to submit documents and schedule an interview as part of the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
But before any of that happened, Erickson, 56, of Sioux Falls, had already spent much of his adult life in the orbit of the famous and infamous.
The highlights and lowlights of Erickson’s past include performing as a warmup act for Ronald Reagan; making an anti-communist action movie with Jack Abramoff, who went on to disgrace as a corrupt lobbyist; working as a top staffer in a Pat Buchanan presidential campaign; lobbying for an African dictator; and representing penile detachment victim John Wayne Bobbitt.
Through it all, Erickson has used his charm, charisma and connections to build a reputation as "a sort of 'secret master of the political universe' known almost exclusively to the cognoscenti," in the words of conservative commentator Ralph Benko.
Meanwhile, Erickson has also piled up unpaid debts and antagonized some former friends and associates who dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into one or another of his business ventures before finally taking him to court.
Lee Schoenbeck, a Republican former legislator from Watertown, is one of the people who has heard about that side of Erickson.
“He is the single biggest phony I’ve ever met in South Dakota politics,” Schoenbeck said.
Because of those dual aspects of Erickson’s persona, it’s difficult to guess whether his role in the Trump-Russia saga is fact, farce or a mix of both.
According to The New York Times, Erickson sent an email to Trump adviser Rick Dearborn during the 2016 presidential campaign. In that email, Erickson reportedly touted his connections to the National Rifle Association and the Russian government and offered to arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Times said congressional investigators obtained the email as part of ongoing inquiries into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.
Erickson, in recent phone interviews with the Journal, talked at length about his past experiences but declined to say anything on the record about the Trump-Russia investigations, other than to cast doubt on the Times report.
“Not all reports from the East are accurate,” he said.
Erickson had some of his first brushes with notoriety in college. In 1980, while a student at the University of South Dakota in his hometown of Vermillion, Erickson was chosen to coordinate a youth campaign for Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Abdnor, who was challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. George McGovern in that year’s general election.
The South Dakota media reported that Erickson was caught registering dozens of voters without proper authorization as a notary, and that he also used his position as vice president of the students’ association to obtain a confidential list of student addresses and telephone numbers for the Abdnor campaign.
There's lots more--it's all sleazy & corrupt.
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
and I'm sure she only slept with him because it was her assignment
is a stone cold Russian agent who will do anything to complete her mission. She should get the worst sentence possible just for having zero self respect and no taste in men.