NRA-Loving Pro-Trump Russian Agent Maria Butina Sentenced to the Max

Sentence Handed Down Minutes Before Gun Group’s Convention Starts

Russian national, foreign agent, and lifetime NRA member Maria Butina has just been given the maximum sentence asked by prosecutors.

Buttina, who worked for the Kremlin as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She will be given credit for time served, and will be deported back to Russia after her time in jail.

She “used her NRA activism to illegally infiltrate conservative political circles,” according to NBC News.

Butina admitted to working with her Republican operative boyfriend Paul Erickson — identified in court papers as “U.S. Person 1” — at the behest of a Russian official in order “to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics … for the benefit of the Russian Federation,” according to court papers.

The Russian operative also considered sex as part of her arsenal to gain influence.

“For example, on at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than U.S. Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization,” prosecutors wrote in opposing her bail last year.

Coincidentally, Butina was sentenced just minutes before the failing gun lobbying group’s annual convention is set to begin. Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be speaking at the convention, again.