Suspected spy socialized with Trump campaign advisor
Mr. Gordon accepted a Butina invite for drinks and they attended a Styx concert for which he had an extra ticket. Ms. Butina, along with Mrs. Whittelesey, came to his widely attended birthday party in October. That was their last meeting. He declined two invitations to Russian-American friendship events.
Mr. Gordon acknowledged in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had met Ms. Butina.
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Said Mr. Gordon, “While I believe the Butina case is overblown like the Trump-Russia witch hunt in general, based on all the evidence that’s come to light, it seems she should have registered with the government for her pro-Russia outreach efforts. Had she done that, there would be no issue with her activities. Even though the charges against her amount to a foreign lobbying violation and have nothing to do with the Trump campaign, she’s unfortunately been swept up in the same legal and information war that’s targeted Trump and Associates for over two years already.”
The emails described to the Post show that Butina met Gordon at a party at the Swiss ambassador’s residence on Sept. 29, 2016. Gordon told the Post that he had been invited to the party by Faith Whittlesey, the prominent Republican and former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland who died earlier this year.
Later that night, Erickson wrote an email to Gordon and Butina, offering to “add an electronic bridge” to the pair’s meeting earlier that evening.
Erickson wrote to Butina that Gordon was “playing a crucial role in the Trump transition effort and would be an excellent addition to any of the U.S./Russia friendship dinners to occasionally hold.”
He continued that Gordon’s view on international security was listened to by all the “right” people in the “immediate future of American politics.”
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The contact was not Erickson’s first attempt to connect Butina and Torshin to the Trump campaign. In May 2016, he emailed Trump adviser Rick Dearborn and urged Dearborn to set up a meeting between Trump and Torshin at an upcoming NRA convention. Erickson described Torshin in the email as “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s emissary” for building warmer ties with the United States.
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Gordon has also said he briefly met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Republican National Convention, in an exchange he has said was innocuous. And he was the Trump campaign’s point person for a Republican platform committee discussion in which he argued against language that would have endorsed having the United States send lethal weapons to Ukraine. The proposed provision, which was not adopted, was perceived as hostile to Russia.
Gordon has said he pushed the platform committee to reject the language, proposed by a Republican delegate, because he had heard Trump talk about his desire to forge better relations with Russia and considered the language to be damaging for that goal.
Because of those contacts, Gordon has said he was asked to testify before all three congressional committees that have investigated Russian interference in the election, as well as investigators working for Mueller.
Gordon said he disclosed his Butina contact in congressional testimony but was not asked about her by Mueller’s team.
