Walker met with woman now charged in Russian plot

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; the criminal complaint 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.

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.

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. Walker is not named in Butina’s criminal complaint.