Scott Walker met with woman now charged in Russian plot during his presidential bid

Patrick Marley | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – A Siberian woman charged as part of an alleged Russian plot to interfere with U.S. politics was at Gov. Scott Walker’s presidential campaign launch and said she did not see him as being hostile toward Russia.

The woman, Maria Butina, attempted to make inroads with American politicians to influence U.S. policies toward Russia, according to court documents filed Monday.

Butina was arrested Sunday and the criminal complaint against her was unsealed Monday in Washington.

Walker, who is seeking a third term this year, made a brief bid for the GOP nomination for president in 2015. Butina, 29, attended the launch of his campaign in Waukesha, according to a report this May from Mother Jones magazine that included a photo of an online post by Butina from the event.

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Earlier, in April 2015, Butina posted photos of her talking with Walker and other politicians in Tennessee, according to Mother Jones. In blog and Facebook posts attributed to her, Butina said Walker greeted her in Russian and she did not detect any hostility from him toward Russia, according to an April 2018 report in Rolling Stone.

According to an online translation of her post in Russian, Butina wrote her "acquaintance with Scott Walker will remain in my memory forever."

Photos of their talk were posted on the website of Our American Revival, a political group set up by Walker leading up to his presidential run.

Walker spokesman Brian Reisinger said by email that while Walker was in Tennessee, he "appeared in an atrium area while waiting to deliver his remarks, where event attendees had the chance to say hello. There were thousands of people at the convention and many of them approached the governor and asked to say hello and take a photo with him."

He noted Walker's political operation often posted photos of his interactions with people at such events.

Reisinger did not say if Walker discussed his views on Russia with Butina, as she claimed.

Walker is not named in Butina's criminal complaint. Butina attempted to advance the interests of Russia "by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics," according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Before news of Butina's indictment became public, Walker on Monday declined to weigh in on whether he agreed with President Donald Trump that he did not see why Russia would have interfered with U.S. elections.

“I’ll leave that up to federal folks," Walker said during a stop in Sussex, according to WITI-TV (Channel 6). "That’s not in my jurisdiction."

Butina also has ties to former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who stepped down last year and took a job as a spokesman for Trump’s super PAC, America First Action.

In 2015, Clarke took a trip to Israel and Russia valued at nearly $40,000 that was funded in part by Right to Bear Arms, a gun rights group founded by Butina.

Butina said in 2016 her group hosted Clarke and others with a National Rifle Association delegation because her group wanted to learn from the NRA.

"Sheriff Clarke is an impressive public figure who was very popular with both my fellow citizens and government leaders," Butina told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time. "America is lucky to have him!"