george o'neill
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/us-person-2-russian-spy-case-revealed-be-conservative-columnist-george-oneill">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/us-person-2-russian-spy-case-revealed-be-conservative-columnist-george-oneill</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/rockefeller-heir-was-contact-of-alleged-russian-agent-1532622860" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wall Street Journal </a></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>has identified the contact known only as “US Person 2” in the charges against accused Russian spy Maria Butina as conservative columnist, and heir to the Rockefeller fortune, George O’Neill. </b>The contact listed as “US Person 1” had already been identified as South Dakota conservative Paul Erickson. Between the two men, Butina had access to a broad range of Republican organizations, contributors, and power brokers across the country. And it appears that O’Neill worked with Butina in attempting to set up a back channel between Russia and the Republican Party.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">O’Neill has been an advocate of closer ties between Republicans and Russia, arguing that Russia could be a “good partner” for the United States and painting himself as a member of the “non-interventionist right.” In <a href="https://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=754" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a 2017 article</a>, O’Neill complained about the “Russophobia” and “Neo-McCarthyism” behind media articles on ties between the right and the Kremlin. At the same time, O’Neill was exchanging notes with Butina with the apparent goal of making more ties between the right and Russia.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These ties included such meetings around the National Prayer Breakfast, where according to Bloomberg, O’Neill <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/rockefeller-heir-seen-to-help-butina-link-russians-d-c-elites" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hosted a Russian delegation</a>. That dinner also appears in the charges against Butina, as an event where she acted as a Russian agent to advance Kremlin objectives. With Erickson helping secure Butina’s connections with the NRA, and O’Neill working with her to bring Russians in contact with Republican leadership and strategists, the accused spy had direct access to a broad swath of the GOP. O’Neill described the dinner as one between the Russian delegation and “American intellectuals” and denied that his conservative guests were either “useful idiots” or “Putin stooges.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also maintained that “any clear thinking person” would see the benefits of a close relationship with Russia, though the did admit that Putin’s actions, “can sometimes be problematic." Though if that problematic action includes removing any rights for gays, shooting journalists, or simply killing off his opposition was not clear. In any case, there was someone who did appreciate everything O’Neill did to cement Russia and the right.</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>Butina</strong>: My dearest President has received ‘the message’ about...your constructive and kind attention to the Russians.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Presumably, Butina means Vladmir Putin when she means her “dearest President” though, that isn’t one hundred percent certain.</font></p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Neill certainly went out of his way to make the Russians coming in for his dinner and the National Prayer Breakfast feel at home — and at ease with Republican “intellectuals” who came to his house for the get together.</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
There’s nothing wrong with working for peace. There’s nothing wrong with brokering good relations with other nations, including Russia. But it’s clear that Butina, her immediate boss Alexander Torshin, and his boss Putin were working to turn their GOP connections into a tool through which they could manipulate American opinions and actions. O’Neill assisted in that goal … though it’s unclear at the moment to what extent he was aware of Butina’s larger purpose.Russian invitees to the Jan. 31 dinner were also provided a list of a dozen Americans they could expect to meet there, complete with Russian-language biographical bullet points and color photos of most attendees. It’s unclear who compiled the guest list.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After all, one of the key factors in being a “useful idiot” is that you don’t know you’re an idiot.</font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ref</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/rockefeller-heir-seen-to-help-butina-link-russians-d-c-elites">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/rockefeller-heir-seen-to-help-butina-link-russians-d-c-elites</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A <span style="font-family: PublicoText-Roman-Web, Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px">scion of the Rockefeller clan, George D. O’Neill Jr., was one of the U.S. conservatives who allegedly helped Mariia Butina’s efforts to build a secret line of communication back to the Kremlin, judging by details in recent U.S. filings.</span></font></div><div class="hardwall" data-position="1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><div class="softwall" data-position="1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Neill, a 68-year-old sculptor and a rainmaker for conservatives since Pat Buchanan’s 1992 presidential run, hosted a private dinner in Washington, D.C., for a delegation of Russian dignitaries in town for a National Prayer Breakfast in early February 2017, he has said publicly and to Bloomberg last year. There, just days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Russians met two Republican lawmakers and other conservative luminaries, he has said.</font></p><div class="hardwall" data-position="2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><div class="softwall" data-position="2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The dinner is referenced as well in a trip itinerary, given to Russian delegates traveling to Washington for the breakfast, which was reviewed by Bloomberg. Delegates also received a Russian-language rundown of the Americans they could expect to meet at th<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">e dinner. Amongst those listed in the document reviewed by Bloomberg were O’Neill and his wife; a Russian-speaking congressional aide; and a conservative operative they were told was an adviser to the new Trump administration.</span></font></p><div id="outstream-video-1-PCFXPC6S972801" class="outstream-ad display" data-position="outstream-video" data-ad-status="rendered" style="margin: 30px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" text-align="text-align" center="center"><div class="bb-adsrendered bb-adsad" id="15e5b820584cda050ada963da0a065c1" data-google-query-id="CKCpgKK8wtwCFVQMNwodVYwP-g" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="outstream-video-ad-dummy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The timing and details of that early 2017 gathering matches one of several dinners that U.S. prosecutors refer to in charges they recently unveiled accusing Butina of failing to declare her efforts to advance Russia’s interests in the U.S. Prosecutors identify the host only as U.S. Person 2. O’Neill didn’t respond to requests to verify that he was that person. The Justice Department declined to comment.</font></p><div class="hardwall" data-position="4" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><div class="softwall" data-position="4" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In comments last year, O’Neill told Bloomberg that his pre-prayer breakfast gathering was meant to support constructive dialogue and combat Russophobia.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But at least some of the Russians who came to the dinner had a more corrosive agenda, U.S. national security prosecutors now say, and wittingly or not, O’Neill may have helped Butina pursue her goal of establishing a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“back channel” between the Kremlin and top Republicans. Though not referenced in the Butina filings, there have been other discussions about setting up such back channels -- involving, according to news reports, Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner in late 2016 and Trump supporter Erik Prince in early 2017. Kushner later disclosed the discussion, and Prince has denied wrongdoing.</span></font></p><h3 style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.77em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘VERY Influential’</font></h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alleging that Butina failed to disclose her efforts, the prosecutors have laid out a multiyear timeline culminating with the National Prayer Breakfast, the private dinner -- and emails from Butina suggesting she’d realized some degree of success.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before the prayer breakfast visit, Butina wrote in an email that the delegation of about a dozen Russians would include “VERY influential” people close to the Kremlin coming to establish a back channel of communications. They included a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin, who has been identified as Alexander Torshin. Afterward, according to another email cited by prosecutors, Butina wrote the person believed to be O’Neill to thank him for the “wonderful dinner.” She added: “My dearest President has received ‘the message’ about your group initiatives and your constructive and kind attention to the Russians.”</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The specifics of those initiatives remain unclear. In federal court in Washington this week, prosecutors said additional details of the U.S. case against Butina shouldn’t be made public in order to protect their continuing investigation. Butina’s lawyer has dismissed prosecutors’ claims, saying she’s no Russian agent, just someone who was making friends.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a letter to Bloomberg last year following initial reports about his event, O’Neill said he had hosted “a wonderful dinner” in February 2017 that was part of a series of gatherings “for American intellectuals in preparation for the time when Russians would feel more comfortable to participate in a dialog here.”</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Any clear thinking person with a cursory understanding of history and foreign policy knows the obvious benefits of good relations between America and Russia on many levels,” he wrote at the time. “One does not have to be a ‘useful idiot’ or a ‘Putin stooge’ to hold this view, nor does one have to approve of all of Russia’s or Putin’s actions, which can sometimes be problematic."</font></p><h3 style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.77em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Guest List</font></h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Additional details of the Russian delegation’s visit to Washington at that time emerge in the previously unreported documents reviewed by Bloomberg. While in Washington, the Russian delegates were scheduled to attend the private Russia-U.S. dinner on Jan. 31 and the prayer breakfast, as well as a dinner with organizers of the prayer breakfast, according to an itinerary for the five-day trip that has Butina’s name and telephone number at the bottom.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Russian invitees to the Jan. 31 dinner were also provided a list of a dozen Americans they could expect to meet there, complete with Russian-language biographical bullet points and color photos of most attendees. It’s unclear who compiled the guest list.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">O’Neill and his wife are listed first, followed by Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, who, the presentation noted, supports Russia’s annexation of Crimea. It closes with Paul Erickson, who is believed to be the U.S. Person 1 who appears throughout the Butina documents. Erickson is identified, in the Russian-language presentation, as a Trump administration adviser. It’s unclear whether he had such a role. The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.</font></p><p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">Others on the list include Representative Thomas </span><b>Massie</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">, a Kentucky Republican (“in favor of Russian-American dialogue,” the list noted), and </span><b>Hollywood director Ronald Maxwell (</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">“under consideration to lead the Culture Ministry under Donald Trump,” “Dreams of making a film about Stalin-era repression”).</span></font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rohrabacher and O’Neill are part of a circle of friends from the Reagan White House, who also included Buchanan and the late ambassador Faith Whittlesey, the mother of O’Neill’s ex-wife, according to Ken Grubbs, a Rohrabacher spokesman. Rohrabacher and O’Neill met just once regarding Russia, as far as the lawmaker could recall, and law enforcement officers haven’t questioned Rohrabacher about the Butina matter, Grubbs said.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Massie and Maxwell didn’t respond to requests for comment. Maxwell <a itemscope="itemscope" itemprop="StoryLink" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-06/trump-s-russian-fans-won-t-take-nyet-for-an-answer-in-washington" title="Trump’s Russian Fans Won’t Take Nyet for an Answer in Washington" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">previously said</a> Americans at the dinner urged their Russian guests to let the Kremlin know that Putin can help Trump by “being patient.” Once Trump locked up some major domestic victories, Maxwell said in the interview, he’d be in a better position to do what he wants internationally. Erickson didn’t respond to requests for comment.</font></p><h3 style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.77em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Swimming Elephant Herd’</font></h3><p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b>The Russian delegation’s leader, according to the documents, was Torshin</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">. While not identified by name in the U.S. filings, Torshin is widely reported to be the official who maintained close contact with Butina after she founded a gun rights group in Russia in 2013. A central banker and former top Russian lawmaker who’s now under U.S. sanctions, Torshin has previously been reported as having accompanied Butina to the early 2017 dinner and several other events with U.S. conservatives and gun-rights groups. He hasn’t responded to requests for comment.</span></font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina focused on making inroads with the National Rifle Association and other conservative groups, prosecutors have said. Many of her introductions came through the person believed to be Erickson, who served on the board of the American Conservative Union.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While O’Neill doesn’t have much of a reputation among gun-rights activists, he is an establishment conservative with a long and sometimes colorful history. The great-grandson of John D. Rockefeller Jr., he has sat on the boards of several non-profit groups and manufacturers. He’s a sculptor with works including "Swimming Elephant Herd," which he gave to Britain’s Prince Charles. His acrimonious divorce two decades ago was the subject of a <a itemscope="itemscope" itemprop="StoryLink" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/01/rockefellers-200001" title="Vanity Fair’s ‘Irreconcilable Rockefellers’" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">feature</a> in Vanity Fair.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Over the years he’s bucked the Rockefeller family foundation’s support of liberal causes. An early booster of Buchanan, he’s donated to Massie and Rohrabacher. In October 2016, O’Neill gave $2,700 to Trump, according to public filings. O’Neill has long pressed for constructive dialogue with Russians, amid increasing tensions between the Obama White House and Putin, he said in March 2017 comments to Bloomberg. He has written multiple articles on the topic for the American Conservative, which is published by the American Ideas Institute, where he sits on the board of directors.</font></p><h3 style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.77em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Friendship and Dialogue’</font></h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to court filings, the person believed to be O’Neill began an effort to connect Butina to prominent conservatives in March 2016, as it became clear that Trump would become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At that time, according to court filings, Butina emailed the two Americans believed to be Erickson and O’Neill that she wanted to arrange a series of “friendship and dialogue" dinners in Washington and New York in late May 2016.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Erickson came up with the guest lists, O’Neill secured the RSVPs. In one email, Butina praised the host: The person believed to be Torshin was "very much impressed by you and expresses his great appreciation for what you are doing to restore relations between the two countries. He also wants you to know that Russians will support the efforts from our side,” she wrote.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina emailed him again a few days later, saying Torshin confirmed "his desire in our Russian-American project" and that a member of Putin’s administration had expressed approval for "building this communication channel."</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In September 2016, with the election less than two months away, Butina again emailed the two Americans to urge another dinner in Washington in early October. It took place on October 4, after which Butina reported to Torshin that "American society is broken in relation to Russia."</font></p><p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">On the same day as that dinner, with U.S. elections about a month away, the person believed to be Erickson emailed an acquaintance, according to prosecutors. He wrote that he had been involved "in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key [Republican] leaders" through what the court filing describes is a gun-rights organization widely believed to be the National Rifle Association. </span><b>The NRA hasn’t commented on the investigation.</b></font></p><h3 style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0.77em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Yes’ From Putin’s Side?</font></h3><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline">B<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">utina emailed a few days later to the person believed to be O’Neill. Torshin, she wrote, confirmed "his desire in our Russian-American project." A member of president Putin’s administration had expressed approval for "building this communication channel,” she added, according to prosecutors. They added: “Butina additionally assured U.S. Person 2 that he should not worry as ‘all that we needed is <<yes>> from Putin’s side. The rest is easier.’ ”</yes></font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The efforts to set up private channels may have paid off, prosecutors suggested in their filings.</font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Before the meeting, Butina was forwarded an email between the two Americans, in which the person believed to be Erickson noted that the assortment of Russian visitors to the prayer breakfast was well curated. In addition to Torshin, according to the forwarded email, “the list is populated by important political advisors to Russian President Putin.”</font></p><p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="font-weight: inherit;">A few days after the 2017 breakfast, Butina emailed an unidentified organizer of the event, according to U.S. filings, relaying thanks for the “precious time” that week “and for the </span><b>very private meeting that followed.”</b></font></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina added: “Once you have a chance to rest after last week’s events, I have important information for you to further this new relationship.”</font></p><div style="font-weight: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-weight: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">=
</font><div style=""><a href="https://thinkprogress.org/here-are-all-the-republicans-and-conservative-activists-maria-butina-met-134988a75bbb/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://thinkprogress.org/here-are-all-the-republicans-and-conservative-activists-maria-butina-met-134988a75bbb/</font></a></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many pix, lnx doc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Here are all the Republican leaders and conservative activists Maria Butina met</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And is this the unnamed American who helped Russia infiltrate the NRA?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CASEY MICHEL</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JUL 17, 2018, 12:19 PM</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Butina (right), accused by the DOJ of infiltrating the NRA on behalf of Russia, with former NRA head Wayne LaPierre.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MARIA BUTINA (RIGHT), ACCUSED BY THE DOJ OF INFILTRATING THE NRA ON BEHALF OF RUSSIA, WITH FORMER NRA HEAD WAYNE LAPIERRE.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Monday’s bombshell Department of Justice complaint accusing Maria Butina, a Russian national, of secretly infiltrating the National Rifle Association (NRA) was full of remarkable detail, and even more remarkable implications.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All told, the DOJ complaint accused Butina and Russian official Alexander Torshin — himself previously accused by Spanish authorities of massive money laundering and mob ties — of building ties with the NRA to get close to to Republican leadership.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As one of the unnamed Americans listed in the complaint wrote in October, a month before the U.S. presidential election, Butina and Torshin had helped build a “VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin” and Republican party leaders, describing the NRA as a “conduit.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ties between Torshin, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in April, and the NRA have been scrutinized for the past few months — all the more as Torshin said he and Butina were the only two Russian nationals he knew of who were lifetime NRA members.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?.?. ??????</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@torshin_ru</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> · Nov 9, 2016</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, a glimpse through Butina’s photos show just how successfully she managed to woo Republican leaders and activists alike.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s no indication any of them were aware Butina was, at least by 2015, coordinating her activities with Torshin — or that Torshin, according to Butina’s emails unearthed in the DOJ complaint, had relayed information to Russian President Vladimir Putin directly. Rather, they appear to have acted as unwitting dupes in Torshin’s and Butina’s bid to build what the DOJ described as a “back channel” between Republicans and Russia. (We know that Torshin first made contact with NRA higher-ups as early as 2011.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina, for instance, asked then-candidate Donald Trump about sanctions on Russia in 2015 — a policy Trump hinted he would do away with.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later, Butina posted a photo from the exchange, which took place at an event called FreedomFest. “So much for Republicans being supposedly against Russia,” Butina wrote of Trump’s response.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Trump was by no means the only Republican hopeful Butina met and spoke with in the run-up to the election. For instance, both she and Torshin met with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). Butina wrote that Walker even greeted her in Russian.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For good measure, Butina also crossed paths with outsiders for the GOP nomination, including former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But it wasn’t only Republican nominees Butina, who positioned herself as someone looking to expand gun rights in Russia, met with in her time trying to woo conservatives to Russia’s positions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For instance, <b>Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich interviewed Butina for TownHall.com,</b> with Pavlich describing Butina as “the woman working with the NRA and fighting for gun rights in Russia.” Butina also appeared on the popular radio show of Religious Right activist Eric Metaxas — alongside Paul Erickson, whom the Washington Post named yesterday as one of the unnamed Americans Butina and Torshin worked with in their infiltration efforts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For good measure, Butina also acted as one of the funders for the notorious 2015 trip in which numerous NRA higher-ups — such as Keene, <b>NRA mega-donor Joe Gregory, and current NRA President Pete Brownell </b>— traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian officials under U.S. sanction. Also on the trip: notorious ex-Sheriff David Clarke.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clarke (second from the right in back) stands over Butina (fifth from the right in front).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CLARKE (SECOND FROM THE RIGHT IN BACK) STANDS OVER BUTINA (FIFTH FROM THE RIGHT IN FRONT).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, of course, there are the higher-ups at the NRA who grew close to Butina over the past few years. Former NRA President Wayne LaPierre (pictured above) was spotted with Butina at one point, and <b>longtime NRA head David Keene took such a liking to Butina that she acted as his special guest at the NRA’s 2014 annual meeting.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Photo Illustration by Adam Peck. CREDIT: AP Images/Maria Butina</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why has the NRA been cozying up to Russia?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unnamed Americans</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Butina’s photo-ops and group trips to Moscow don’t represent the entirety of her interactions with influential Americans. According to the DOJ complaint, a pair of Americans specifically helped Butina’s efforts along — as evidenced by emails the DOJ complaint unearthed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One, as aforementioned, has already been identified:<b> Paul Erickson</b>, a conservative activist who has worked on numerous presidential campaigns, including Mitt Romney’s. As the New York Times reported last year, in<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> 2016 Erickson reached out to Rick Dearborn, one of Trump’s campaign advisers, and said, “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.” Erickson also wrote that he had been “slowly cultivating a back-channel” to the Kremlin for years — via, as is now clear, the NRA.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The identity of the second unnamed American is unclear. This American had multiple interactions and emails with Butina, especially just after Trump’s inauguration. We know, for instance, that this American was “among the participants in a series of email communications… that reveal [Butina’s] efforts” to arrange meetings between Russian nationals and influential Americans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We also know that the American — well before the actual election — wanted Butina’s and Torshin’s “Russian-American project” to succeed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps most damning, though, is that this unnamed American apparently helped organize Butina’s and Torshin’s events surrounding the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast. As Butina wrote to “a National Prayer Breakfast organizer,” “I have important information for you to further this new relationship” between Russia and the U.S.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Butina wrote to the second unnamed American that<b> Putin “has received ‘the message’ about your group initiatives and your constructive and kind attention to the Russians.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While the American remains unidentified, all of the information in the complaint matches the descriptions of<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> George O’Neill Jr.,</span> a Rockefeller scion and conservative activist. </b>In early February 2017, O’Neill hosted a luxurious dinner for, as he later wrote, “former and current Russian officials” and “a number of prominent U.S. Republicans and conservatives,” among others.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The four-hour dinner included, unsurprisingly,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), the most outspoken pro-Putin member of Congress, as well as Rep. Thomas Massie (R.-KY). Also confirmed in attendance? Torshin, Butina, and Erickson.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>O’Neill, for good measure, has also been outspoken in publicly pushing conservatives to support Russia. In The American Conservative last year, O’Neill wrote that he supports using conservatives’ efforts to build a “good relationship” with Russia.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among the voices O’Neill recommended listening to: Stephen Cohen, who is now writing for Russian propaganda channel RT; Pat Buchanan, who has written that Putin has God on his “side”; and writers for anti-Semitic sites like Russia Insider and Unz Review.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Russians and the American right started plotting in 1995. We have the notes from the first meeting.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That wasn’t all, though. For O’Neill, any suggestion that conservative activists were acting as unwitting dupes of Russians was laughable. As he wrote, “the suggestion that American conservatives might be susceptible to manipulation by foreign officials certainly betrayed a lack of understanding[.]”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given that we now know just how many conservative activists and Republican leaders have been caught up in Butina’s and Torshin’s infiltration efforts — to say nothing of the efforts from other Russian nationals, official or otherwise — O’Neill may want to rethink his claims.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This post has been updated.</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">
</font><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mojo</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">From right: <b>Kolyadin </b>and Torshin, with others including Rohrabacher, second from left Kolyadin’s Facebook</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">January 31, 2017: Torshin, Erickson,<b> Rohrabacher </b>(who has received at least $18,000 from the NRA over the past 20 years), and former Kremlin staffer Andrey Kolyadin attend a <b>private event on Capitol Hill hosted by George O’Neill Jr., </b>a longtime conservative activist.</span></div><div>
</div><div>February 2, 2017: Torshin and Butina accompany a delegation of more than a dozen Russian officials and academics to the National Prayer Breakfast, where Trump is the main attraction. Kolyadin posts a photo with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, commenting that he “treats Russia pretty well, by the way.” Kolyadin later brags about his “direct access to leadership,” noting, “we sat very close to each other and just smiled.” </div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Torshin was scheduled to meet with President Trump, but the meeting is canceled when a national security aide points out that Torshin reportedly is under investigation by Spanish authorities for an alleged “godfather” role in organized crime and money laundering. For his part,<b> Rohrabacher </b>tells Yahoo News that Torshin is “sort of the conservatives’ favorite Russian.” </span></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>“Direct access to leadership” Kolyadin’s Facebook</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">February 24, 2017: “For years, the media couldn’t have cared less about Vladimir Putin or Russia,”<b> NRA leader Wayne LaPierre </b>says in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, giving early voice to a “deep state” conspiracy theory on Trump’s behalf: “But now, barely a month into Trump’s presidency, they’re ‘horrified’ and all a-fret over the ‘Russian-American equation.’ Even more alarming is that they’ve apparently found willing co-conspirators among some in the US intelligence community.” </span></div></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/01/rockefellers-200001"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/01/rockefellers-200001</font></a></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div style=""><section class="content-section" data-reactid="246" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="251" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eorge, on the other hand, seemed to find being a Rockefeller named O’Neill more of a drag than a blessing. “He certainly let you know, if you were a stranger, within 30 seconds,” says a former political ally. “There was a lot of conversation about ‘Uncle David.’ He brought up the connection incessantly.”</font></p></section><section class="content-section" data-reactid="252" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="253" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Amy wanted her husband and herself to be judged on their own merits, Republican Party politics was probably not the place where that would happen. George was becoming so devoted to the conservative right wing—much to the delight of his mother-in-law—that he soon abandoned Pietrasanta for a cause greater than marble hearts: Pat Buchanan.</font></p><p data-reactid="254" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>George signed on big-time to the Buchanan for President campaign of 1992</b>—which was really more a crusade on behalf of the populists (read “angry white males”) of America than a serious bid for election. That changed, however, when Buchanan made an unexpectedly strong showing in the New Hampshire primary.</font></p><p data-reactid="255" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">George was very much a part of the victory brigade—even moving with Amy for three months to Concord, New Hampshire, to organize Buchanan’s database. George was very skilled with computers. “We were in chaos before they got here,” says Caroline Douglas, a Concord divorce lawyer and the ex-wife of former New Hampshire congressman Chuck Douglas, who ran the New Hampshire effort for Buchanan. “They were like the miracle couple. They were so organized and knew so much about campaign work, and were just <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">so charming</em> together. Of course, at first we thought they were spies.</font></p><p data-reactid="256" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They knew too much about the Reagan White House,” Douglas explains. For weeks she and her husband, unaware of Amy’s mother’s ties to Reagan, were convinced they were spying for the Bush campaign. But soon they learned the truth, as the scuttlebutt spread through the office: the O’Neills weren’t spies, they were Rockefellers!</font></p><p data-reactid="257" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political friends of George’s say his time with the Buchanan camp ended badly. He apparently left in a huff, complaining to friends that after he had totally reorganized the database other Buchanan operatives “fucked it up.” He also had ongoing scraps with Bay Buchanan, Pat’s bulldog sister and campaign manager. “I think they took advantage of him,” says Douglas. “They felt that he should just donate everything.”</font></p><p data-reactid="258" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, he remained devoted to Buchanan, taking Amy and Faith to the convention in Houston, where Buchanan made his infamous Christian-family-values speech, a screed that was widely viewed as, if not downright racist, at least hate-filled.</font></p></section><section class="content-section" data-reactid="259" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="260" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In Houston, George found an even more appreciative audience for his talents, in Phyllis Schlafly, </b>who remembers how grateful she was when he called to respond to a fund-raising letter she had sent for help in organizing her Republican National Coalition for Life’s efforts. “He said, ‘You don’t need all this money—let me do it for you,’” says Schlafly. George set up her computer database, which kept daily track of the delegates who were supportive of the pro-life cause. “And at night he’d take me and all the hardworking pro-life volunteers out to dinner,” she says.</font></p><p data-reactid="261" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>George also served as chairman of the Rockford Institute, the paleoconservative think tank in Illinois</b> that is a voice for the old right (immigration is bad, states’ rights are good). The institute publishes the conservative magazine <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chronicles</em> and for many years put out a monthly report called “The Family in America.” <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chronicles’</em> editor Tom Fleming considered himself a close friend of George’s—he even visited the O’Neills in Pietrasanta—“until the night he sat in my living room until two a.m., bullying me and threatening me and trying to get me to quit. He said I was being too critical of Republican conservatives.” The night ended with Fleming’s throwing George out. “George is capable of being very unpleasant when he doesn’t get his way.”</font></p><p data-reactid="262" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If Amy was a strange mixture of innocence and sophistication, George—who used to brag about knowing both Andy Warhol and Rush Limbaugh—presented a dichotomy of quite a different sort. On one hand, “he seemed to have nothing but contempt for anyone who wasn’t rich,” as Fleming puts it. “It was ‘the rich have a right to rule’ kind of thing.” On the other, he was drawn to those who weren’t rich. In his New York loft days, he became fascinated with a couple in the building who made their living by performing in live sex shows. Years later, in Lake Wales, he would develop a similar interest in the girls who came to work for him—almost all of whom had grown up in trailer parks, were just finishing high school, and knew one another through the First Assembly of God church, where some of the congregants speak in tongues.</font></p></section><section class="content-section" data-reactid="263" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="264" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When George met Amy, he was 38 and rather sickly. From the age of 12, he had suffered from Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of the intestines and joints that required an operation to remove a large part of his intestines. The disease flared up often, particularly in times of stress, forcing him to keep to a strict diet and, Amy says, preventing him from participating in sports. When he was a teenager, it kept him out of St. Mark’s and, later, Dalton for months at a time—periods during which he stayed at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. According to Amy, he never made it through his first semester of college. As an adult, George was six feet two, broad and lean, boyishly handsome, and carried himself with an aristocratic air, but whenever he was ill he looked haggard and jaundiced.</font></p><p data-reactid="265" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amy says that over the years, he had periodically been sent to Lake Wales to recuperate at his parents’ home, and he became comfortable in Mountain Lake. When he was about 20 he went to Arkansas to live on the ranch of his great-uncle Winthrop Rockefeller, the famously eccentric Arkansas governor who was generally regarded as the oddball in the family, the only one of “the Brothers” who didn’t seem to care much for blue chips or blue blood. There, Amy says, George toyed with the idea of becoming a cowboy.</font></p><p data-reactid="266" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Amy met George, she was young, beautiful, and grieving. Her brother Henry, an honors student at Harvard and her closest friend, had begun to exhibit the first signs of schizophrenia. The illness developed quickly and cruelly. One month the family was celebrating Henry’s admission to Harvard’s Porcellian Club, the next they were getting calls from the campus police. “It was worse than a death,” says Amy. “He was still here, but the person I knew was gone.” One date with George that she remembers was the time he drove her and Faith to Cambridge in the middle of the night in response to yet another call from the university.</font></p><p data-reactid="267" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think,” says Amy, “George was a type of father figure to me.”</font></p></section><section class="content-section" data-reactid="268" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="269" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amy’s father, Roger Whittlesey, was a Main Line Philadelphia adman, socialite, and Republican operative who made a name for himself heading Richard Nixon’s 1968 effort against Nelson Rockefeller in Pennsylvania. Whittlesey, who hobnobbed with John Eisenhower (Dwight’s son) and Arlen Specter (then Philadelphia’s district attorney), was once described by a society columnist as “the handsomest man in Philadelphia.” (“George looks a little bit like him,” says Amy.) In mid-1973, Whittlesey’s advertising business failed at the same time that his major stockholdings plummeted. The following March, while Faith, then a state legislator, was in a late-night session in Harrisburg, he pulled his car into the garage and left the engine running. He was found by a baby-sitter. Whittlesey was 37. Amy, whom he called Princess, was six.</font></p><p data-reactid="270" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Faith was in the throes of her re-election campaign—a race her husband had been managing, as he had managed her whole career (“It was Roger’s idea to hand out pot holders”). Although she went through with the election, and won, she found herself at 35 a widow with three children—seven, six, and 17 months—and a bankrupt estate.</font></p><p data-reactid="271" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Faith never entirely got over the loss, and she never remarried. She threw all her energy into conservative politics. “Mother was always working so hard,” remembers Amy. “I used to do my homework in her office at the White House.”</font></p><p data-reactid="272" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Both Amy and George,” as a friend of the couple’s puts it, “were in a sense robbed of their childhoods.”</font></p></section><section class="content-section" data-reactid="273" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="274" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amy’s girlfriends from private school—Shipley in Philadelphia, the Pensionat de la Chassotte in Switzerland, and Pomfret School in Connecticut—say that all she ever wanted was to marry and have children. “My ultimate fantasy,” Amy says, “was to have a minivan full of kids, a couple of dogs, and a house that was warm and inviting.” She says that in her eight-month courtship by George they talked often about having a large family (“He wanted six”). When he proposed—he gave her a family heirloom as an engagement ring—she dropped out of Fordham, where she was studying philosophy and classics. “When George got married,” says David Barron, he made it clear to his friends that he “didn’t want to be a jet-setter or a party boy or in the limelight anymore. He was old enough that he’d done that already. He wanted to be a full-time husband and father.”</font></p><p data-reactid="275" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To their great disappointment, for two years Amy couldn’t conceive (“Hard to believe now,” she says), and when she finally did, she miscarried. At the same time, her brother Henry fathered a child with a woman who was also mentally ill. For the first year of the baby’s life, he was shuttled between foster care and his mother’s family home. Then George and Amy decided to adopt him.</font></p><p data-reactid="276" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“George was the knight in shining armor to this family,” says one of his former friends. “He even adopted the kid.” In fact, according to Amy, of all their children, George is closest to Paul Henry, who is now eight. “There’s really a very special bond between them,” she says.</font></p><p data-reactid="277" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By the time the adoption was final, Paul Henry was two years old. Three months later Amy gave birth to a daughter, Catharine. Twelve months after that, George III was born. George and Amy had already moved to Mountain Lake, which comprises some 120 houses on 3,000 acres. It is a tranquil, if somewhat eerie, place, full of Spanish-moss-covered oaks, where the residents, mostly seasonal, tool around in golf carts. One day recently, the only signs of life were security guards patrolling the grounds for intruders.</font></p><p data-reactid="278" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though George’s parents have two grand homes in the compound, George and Amy moved into a large, dilapidated house on the lake, a short walk from the elder O’Neills. An old Spanish-style house that rented for $1,100 a month and hadn’t been lived in for years, it lacked modern kitchen appliances and air-conditioning. Amy called it “the dungeon.” “It’s old, dark, and roach-infested,” says one of their former housekeepers. “But they did get rid of the rodents.”</font></p></section><section class="content-section" data-reactid="279" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin-top: 30px;" times="times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><p data-reactid="280" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If anything ever represented George’s lifelong tug-of-war between embracing his family and rebelling against it, it was this house in Mountain Lake. He did not get around to air-conditioning the place fully for three years—a period during which Amy was pregnant most of the time. However, he soon put one of his huge nude sculptures on view. “I was in shock,” says Alyse O’Neill (no relation), a longtime supporter of conservative Florida Republicans, who was often invited to the house for fund-raisers and strategy sessions. “At the front door was this full-size nude woman, which was a little overwhelming. I mean, I’ve seen those things in museums but not at somebody’s front door.”</font></p><p data-reactid="281" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There were greater shocks for visitors inside, where the paint was peeling off the walls, the dogs peed on the carpets, and the rented furniture had mildew stains.</font></p><p data-reactid="281" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 35px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></section></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">=</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>