A little bit more about the arrest of the Russian National, Maria Butina, who is charged with acting as an agent for the Russian Federation within the U.S., because it is a BFD.
A very informative Reddit post laid this out fairly well.
She was arrested Friday but we're just finding out today because the indictment was sealed.
She is charged with trying to advance Russian interests within our shores, via relationships fostered through someone the indictment terms "U.S. Person 1," a U.S. citizen & political operative she met in Moscow in 2013. U.S. Person 1 introduced her to American political contacts, including "GUN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION." I'll leave it up to you to determine who "GUN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION" might be.
She told U.S. Person 1 in March 2015 that "POLITICAL PARTY 1" would likely gain control of the U.S. government after the 2016 elections. Again, you'll have to work out who "POLITICAL PARTY 1" might be.
There is video of her straight up asking Trump himself in 2015 what his foreign policy vis-a-vis Russia would be should he win, specifically whether he would continue sanctions against them. He spits out some predictable anti-Obama blather and states he would likely get along with Putin very well and likely drop sanctions.
U.S. Person 1 sent an email in October of 2016 to an acquaintance covering a variety of topics but stating verbatim "
Unrelated to specific presidential campaigns, I've been involved in secruing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key POLITICAL PARTY 1 leaders through, of all conduits, the [GUN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION]."
Likewise, he included a tweet pointing out the following:
Torshin is who Butina works for.
He's a former Russian Senator but also a high-ranking Russian Mafia member wanted in Spain for money laundering charges. Spanish law enforcement wiretapped him resulting in a tape discussing Don Jr. which has been handed over to Mueller. The Spanish prosecutor: "Don Jr. should be worried."
All of which is to say, again, this is a pretty BFD.