Maria Butina, Red Sparrow extraordinaire!

[Kablooie]

5. The big question is, Did the NRA and Republicans know they were conspiring with Russia?

It could be presented as an undercover Russian operation that manipulated Americans without their knowledge.

Of course if Butina was introduced to Republican Party leaders as "an unofficial representative" of Russian official Alexander Torshin makes it a bit difficult to defend.
Also the fact that the NRA was invited to Moscow to meet with Russian politicians is also a complication.

I guess they can still claim that they all thought these were just innocent goodwill efforts from Russia but it seems to me they'd have to have some pretty solid evidence to prove this.