Maria Butina (right) accused by the DOJ of infiltrating the NRA on behalf of Russia, with former NRA head Wayne Lapierre

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.

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.

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.”

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 […]