Tag: Russiagate

Donald Trump Jr. was told campaign meeting would be with ‘Russian government attorney,’ according to emails

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and John Wagner was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2017:

Donald Trump Jr. agreed to take a meeting during the 2016 presidential campaign with a woman he was told was a “Russian government attorney” who could provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of “Russia and its government’s support” for his father’s presidential campaign, according to emails tweeted by the president’s son on Tuesday.

President Trump’s eldest son early Tuesday posted on Twitter what he said was the entire exchange that led to the meeting amid a swirl of controversy about the June 2016 encounter. Continue reading “Donald Trump Jr. was told campaign meeting would be with ‘Russian government attorney,’ according to emails”

Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. has long history fighting sanctions

The following article by Michael Kranish, Tom Hamburger, David Filipov and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2017:

A House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “U.S. Policy Toward Putin’s Russia,” on June 14, 2016. Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, center right, testified as Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, center left, sat behind him. (House Foreign Affairs Committee)

The photograph is striking: There sits Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. and others at Trump Tower in Manhattan on June 9, 2016, seated a few days later in the front row of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing at which witnesses discussed U.S. sanctions against her country.

The day before, Veselnitskaya was at Washington’s Newseum, attending the screening of a film that criticized U.S. sanctions.

In the course of a week — from New York to Washington — Veselnitskaya showed up at several events that go to the heart of the investigation of questions about whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Continue reading “Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. has long history fighting sanctions”

Here are the times that Trump allies have denied or obscured links to Russian agents

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website July 10, 2017:

Retired Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn, then the incoming White House national security adviser, speaks at a U.S. Institute of Peace conference in Washington on Jan. 10. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

News that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-linked attorney last June evolved quickly over the weekend.

When the story was first broken by the New York Times on Saturday, the president’s son explained that the subject of the meeting — also attended by his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort — was “adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government.” Since it was “not a campaign issue at the time,” there was no follow-up.

But that wasn’t the full story. It later emerged that this issue of adoptions — itself actually an issue related to anti-Russia sanctions — was secondary to the original intent of the meeting. Trump Jr.’s second explanation, offered on Sunday, made that clear. Continue reading “Here are the times that Trump allies have denied or obscured links to Russian agents”

Trump Jr. Was Told in Email of Russian Effort to Aid Campaign

The following article by Matt Apuzzo, Jo Becker, Adam Goldman and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website July 10, 2017:

The Times now has the email to Donald Trump Jr. offering Russian aid to “incriminate Hillary.” His reply: “If it’s what you say I love it.” Read the new article.

Donald Trump Jr. spoke at a rally in May in Bozeman, Mont. Credit William Campbell/Corbis, via Getty Images

WASHINGTON — Before arranging a meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. was informed in an email that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email.

The email to the younger Mr. Trump was sent by Rob Goldstone, a publicist and former British tabloid reporter who helped broker the June 2016 meeting. In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he was interested in receiving damaging information about Mrs. Clinton, but gave no indication that he thought the lawyer might have been a Kremlin proxy. Continue reading “Trump Jr. Was Told in Email of Russian Effort to Aid Campaign”

Email to Donald Trump Jr. could be a smoking gun, as Russia connections deepen

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: There is a paper trail.

Last night, the New York Times reported: “Before arranging a meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. was informed in an email that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email. The email to the younger Mr. Trump was sent by Rob Goldstone, a publicist and former British tabloid reporter who helped broker the June 2016 meeting. In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he was interested in receiving damaging information about Mrs. Clinton, but gave no indication that he thought the lawyer might have been a Kremlin proxy. Mr. Goldstone’s message, as described to The New York Times by the three people, indicates that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information.” Continue reading “Email to Donald Trump Jr. could be a smoking gun, as Russia connections deepen”

Trump minimizes hacking allegations and seeks to ‘move forward’ with Russia

The following article by Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website July 9, 2017:

President Trump on Sunday sought to move past allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, effectively dismissing the importance of the intelligence community’s definitive conclusion about a foreign adversary in pursuit of a collaborative partnership with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin.

Issuing his first public comments since sitting down with Putin in Germany, Trump vowed to “move forward in working constructively with Russia,” and said the two leaders were forming a cybersecurity unit to protect against the kinds of illegal intrusions that U.S. intelligence agencies say Putin ordered in the United States. Continue reading “Trump minimizes hacking allegations and seeks to ‘move forward’ with Russia”

Trump’s Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton

The following article by Jo Becker, Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman was posted on the New York Times website July 9, 2017:

Credit: (Rick Wilking/Reuters

President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton before agreeing to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.

The meeting was also attended by his campaign chairman at the time, Paul J. Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Mr. Manafort and Mr. Kushner only recently disclosed the meeting, though not its content, in confidential government documents described to The New York Times.

The Times reported the existence of the meeting on Saturday. But in subsequent interviews, the advisers and others revealed the motivation behind it. Continue reading “Trump’s Son Met With Russian Lawyer After Being Promised Damaging Information on Clinton”

The Wall Street Journal Just Published a Bombshell Story About the Russia Scandal

NOTE: Pres. Trump did his toxic tweeting the morning this story broke. Seems to tie into the George Lakoff view of his tweeting (for distraction).

The following article by Ben Dreyfuss was posted on the Mother Jones website June 29, 2017:

The Wall Street Journal just dropped a bomb:

Before the 2016 presidential election, a longtime Republican opposition researcher mounted an independent campaign to obtain emails he believed were stolen from Hillary Clinton’s private server, likely by Russian hackers.

Continue reading “The Wall Street Journal Just Published a Bombshell Story About the Russia Scandal”

s Trump attorney Jay Sekulow’s family has been paid millions from charities they control

The following article by Aaron C. Davis and Shawn Boburg was posted on the Washington Post website June 27, 2017:

President Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow was on his weekday radio show this month, defending the president vociferously, when he took a pause to highlight a charity that has brought Sekulow and his family millions of dollars

“Let me take off the hat of the president’s lawyer and put on the ACLJ hat,” he said, using the acronym for the American Center for Law and Justice. His June 16 program then cut to a plea for donations from audience members listening on 850 stations nationwide. “Now, more than ever,” a narrator said, “you need the ACLJ on your side.” Continue reading “s Trump attorney Jay Sekulow’s family has been paid millions from charities they control”

By Criticizing Obama, Trump Contradicts His Own Comments on Russian Meddling

The following article by Linda Qiu was posted on the New York Times website June 26, 2017:

President Trump at the White House last week. He has consistently refused to acknowledge Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election. Credit Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump has accused his predecessor of “doing nothing” in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election — a misleading statement that contradicts his previous comments.

Mr. Trump’s latest assertions were made after The Washington Post reported on Friday that President Barack Obama was aware of Russia’s campaign as early as August, but did not publicize the findings for fear of politicizing the election and of escalating aggression from the Kremlin.

“I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it. But nobody wants to talk about that,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with “Fox and Friends” that aired on Sunday. “If he had the information, why didn’t he do anything about it?”

Mr. Trump has consistently refused to acknowledge Russia’s involvement, and his assertions about Mr. Obama and his own ignorance are highly misleading. Here’s an assessment. Continue reading “By Criticizing Obama, Trump Contradicts His Own Comments on Russian Meddling”