Does it seem strange that, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Monday by the Justice Department, a Russian woman stands accused of “acting as an agent of a foreign government” in part because she hoped “to establish a back channel of communication” with American politicians at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington?
It shouldn’t. As Jeff Sharlet, an associate professor of English at Dartmouth, has pointed out, the National Prayer Breakfast has long offered “a backdoor to American power.” And America’s homegrown Christian nationalists have evinced an admiration for Russia’s authoritarian leader that appears to have grown apace with his brutality.
On Tuesday, Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian whose name was spelled Mariia in court papers, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the Russian Federation. According to the complaint unsealed on Monday, Ms. Butina’s promotional activities for Russian political interests included attending the National Prayer Breakfast twice.
The National Prayer Breakfast was initiated in 1953 by a Methodist minister, Abraham Vereide, who had been leading Congressional prayer groups for a decade. The annual breakfast now attracts close to 4,000 participants and is hosted by members of Congress. But the real force behind the event remains Mr. Vereide’s Fellowship Foundation, also known as “The Family,” whose fundamental mission is to create a ruling consortium of Christ-centered political and community leaders.
“The Family considers #nationalprayerbreakfast a recruiting device,” Mr. Sharlet, who has published two books about the group, tweeted on Monday.
Lobbyists and foreign governments look forward to the event as a way to meet powerful people without, as Mr. Sharlet has reported, having to go through the State Department and normal vetting processes.
“It’s not just the breakfast — The Family organizes a week of de facto lobbying events,” Mr. Sharlet explained on Twitter. “#MariaButina used them to maximize impact.”
On Oct. 5, 2016, with one National Prayer Breakfast under her belt, Ms. Butina direct messaged a Russian official on Twitter: “We made our bet. I am following our game. I will be connecting the people from the prayer breakfast to this group.”
After the election, Ms. Butina informed someone the complaint called “U.S. person number one” that she would be bringing along some “VERY influential” Russians to the breakfast. After the event — which President Trump attended, just as previous presidents have — Ms. Butina emailed one of its organizers to thank him for “the gift” of his “precious time during the National Prayer Breakfast week — and for the very private meeting that followed. A new relationship between two countries always begins better when it begins in faith.”
It also should not be surprising that at least some in the breakfast crowd were positively disposed to the Russian visitors. The bond between America’s Christian nationalists and the Russian government goes back a long way, long before anyone conceived of the possibility of a Trump administration.
Read the full story at The New York Times
