The infamous Russian agent Maria Butina lashed out at her Republican ex-boyfriend who helped her infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other political organizations.
Butina, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, was deported to Russia after serving a fraction of her prison term and now serves in the Duma and works as a media personality. The 34-year-old had unkind words for GOP operative Paul Erickson, according to a podcast transcript obtained by The Daily Beast.
“It still hurts,” Butina told the Infamous podcast. “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.”
The 61-year-old Erickson was never charged with a crime in connection to his relationship with Butina, but he later pleaded guilty to running a years-long investment fraud scheme involving real estate projects in North Dakota and was sentenced to seven years in prison — and was pardoned a year later by former president Donald Trump.
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“He actually used my card because all his credit cards were blocked because of his FBI case, so they blocked everything,” Butina 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,”
Butina claims she discovered his spending after obtaining bank documents for her legal case, which she said Erickson failed to turn over at her request, and while he has defended her in interviews and says their relationship ended due to their respective stints in prison, she remains embittered.
“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?” Butina said. “Absolutely do, and that’s the most painful betrayal in my life.”