Russian-American lobbyist met with Trump Jr., Russian lawyer - NBC News

[rooster59]

Russian-American lobbyist met with Trump Jr., Russian lawyer - NBC News

By Mark Hosenball

 

FILE PHOTO: Donald Trump Jr. (L) talks with his father, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio U.S. July 20, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young/File photo

 

(Reuters) - A lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated last year in a meeting with senior aides to U.S. President Donald Trump, including his son, and a Russian lawyer, NBC News reported on Friday, adding to allegations of possible connections between Moscow and the November election.

 

NBC News, which did not identify the Russian-American lobbyist, said some U.S. officials suspected him of still having ties to Russian intelligence, something he denied to the network.

 

The Associated Press said the lobbyist, whom it identified as Rinat Akhmetshin, confirmed that he had attended the June 2016 meeting in New York's Trump Tower.

 

A source familiar with the participants of the meeting confirmed to Reuters that Akhmetshin was in the room.

 

The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel.

 

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former campaign adviser Paul Manafort were also at the meeting, which Donald Trump Jr. agreed to attend because he believed he could get damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

 

Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, did not mention Akhmetshin's presence when he released a series of emails about the meeting earlier this week.

 

'DEEPLY DISTURBING'

 

Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said the report about Akhmetshin "if accurate, adds another deeply disturbing fact about this secret meeting."

 

Akhmetshin was not available for comment on Friday. There was no answer at the door of his house in Washington.

 

The White House had no immediate comment about the NBC News report of a Russian-American lobbyist at the meeting.

 

Kushner's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Manafort's spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort had no comment on the meeting.

 

A former Trump campaign adviser, Michael Caputo, told reporters after he testified to the House Intelligence Committee in closed session on Friday that he had no contact with Russians and never heard of anyone in the campaign "talking with Russians."

 

  Accusations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Moscow meddled in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign have dominated the Republican president's first months in office. Russia denies the allegations, and Trump says there was no collusion.

 

The agencies said earlier this year that Russia sought to help Trump win the election by hacking private emails from Democratic Party officials and disseminating false information online.

 

Akhmetshin has been accused in federal and state courts in the United States of engaging in hacking conspiracies, although the allegations were later withdrawn, according to court records.

 

In 2015, lawyers for the Russian mining company International Mineral Resources claimed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia that Akhmetshin helped organise the hack, theft and dissemination of private documents.

 

That case was dropped. The same company filed a lawsuit against Akhmetshin in the New York Supreme Court but withdrew it last year.

 

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley described Akhmetshin in a letter to the Justice Department in March as "a former member of the Russian military intelligence services (GRU)" who was working to overturn the 2012 "Magnitsky Act" of Congress, which blacklists Russians for human rights abuses.

 

The Kremlin has often complained about the act.

 

Congressional records show that Akhmetshin lobbied Congress last year for the Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation, a Washington-based advocacy group that says it is working to lift laws that prevent U.S. residents from adopting Russian children. Those laws were put in place by Moscow in response to the Magnitsky Act.

 

Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he did not know about his son's meeting last year until recently. But in a conversation with reporters later that day, Trump said: "In fact, maybe (the meeting) was mentioned at some point," adding he was not told it was about Clinton.

 

Trump Jr.'s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, said he had talked with a person who came to the meeting between Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and Trump aides.

 

"He told me specifically he was not working for the Russian government, and in fact laughed when I asked him that question," Futerfas told NBC News. It was not immediately clear if the person he referred to was Akhmetshin.

 

The lawyer said Trump Jr. knew nothing about the man's background at the time of the meeting.

 

The Russian lawyer in the meeting, Veselnitskaya, has said she was not working for Russian authorities, but she told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Friday that she was meeting with Russian authorities regularly.

 

She said she shared information about a U.S.-born fund manager who lobbied for passage of the Magnitsky Act with the Russian prosecutor general’s office, including with Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, a top official appointed by the Kremlin, the Journal said.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-15

 

[edwinchester]

All that talk about 'draining the swamp' during the campaign when he was floating on his own stinking cesspool.

[simple1]

Akhmetshin claiming the Russian female lawyer with links to the Russian government, handed over a list alleging they were Russian donors to the Clinton campaign, Jnr asked for verification which was not immediately available. One wonders what other detail of the meeting, demonstrating intent, Jnr has omitted

 

Drip, drip...

Edited July 15, 2017 by simple1

[boomerangutang]

Just when you thought the rotten scoundrels couldn't get any more rotten.......

 

                                  Mainstream media is frothing at the mouth about this new tidbit.  Even so, I propose we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg.  I wouldn't be surprised if Trump Sr, Melania (who speaks Russian), Eric and Ivanka were at the meeting also - or at least party to similar clandestine meetings.  

 

                   When Russian agents meet with Americans, US intel agencies are obliged to listen in.  Same with emails, I assume.  There are likely reams of similar dirty meetings.  

 

                        Trump's hard-core fans may still be able to convince themselves that Trump Sr. is not involved in these dealings (he's the world's greatest dealer, remember?) ......but even the reddest of rednecks will have to face the facts.   Doesn't matter, really.  Americans will move forward to getting their country back on track, even if Trump fans won't assist. 

[boomerangutang]

4 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Akhmetshin claiming the Russian female lawyer with links to the Russian government, handed over a list alleging they were Russian donors to the Clinton campaign, Jnr asked for verification which was not immediately available. One wonders what other detail of the meeting, demonstrating intent, Jnr has omitted. Drip, drip...

                          Right. Don Jr and his co-conspirators are only going to reveal what they can't avoid revealing.  Even then, it will be spun more than cotton candy.  The only reason Jr released some emails is because NY Times called him to say they had the exact same email chain and were within an hour of releasing it themselves. 

 

                            If this were a grammar school relay race, and there was cheating, the race would either be run again, or the cheaters disqualified.   For the most important contest in the US, cheating is acceptable, encouraged and excused with a laugh, by Republicans.

 

 

[iReason]

From the OP :

 

"Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, did not mention Akhmetshin's presence when he released a series of emails

about the meeting earlier this week."

 

Faulty memory?

 

"Kushner's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Manafort's spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort had no comment on the meeting."

 

Why not?

 

"Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he did not know about his son's meeting last year until recently.

But in a conversation with reporters later that day, Trump said: "In fact, maybe (the meeting) was mentioned at some point,"

adding he was not told it was about Clinton."

 

Not a whole lot to say about that. The buffoon changes his story daily on everything else.

 

"The Russian lawyer in the meeting, Veselnitskaya, has said she was not working for Russian authorities,

but she told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Friday that she was meeting with Russian authorities regularly."

 

Interesting...

[Grubster]

The ship is listing and the Captain may jump soon.

[jb61]

Collusion !!!!! Treason !!!!!

Better get a special prosecutor.

[Thaidream]

Step by step- inch by inch- more and more real facts come out about meetings with the Russians.  Soon comrade Donald will be able to go to Russia to see Comrade Putin whenever he wants  Russia will give him asylum and the good Comrade can be given an office in the Kremlin.

[Andaman Al]

Do people seriously think that politicians, lawyers and 'advisors' at this level meet to discuss 'adoption' and 'orphans'? There is not a bone of humanity amongst them. For 'adoption' it is a veiled term meaning 'sanctions'. The Magnitsky Act is about sanctions.

 

^^^

jb61 - No it was a public, notified, scheduled meeting and not something that had been denied or lied about. And whatever the circumstances does NOT excuse whatever Trump (Jr) may be doing. If you want to organise a special prosecutor for that, go ahead, but guess what it doesn't qualify. If it did Trump would already have a SP appointed.

 

The additional person involved in the meeting has already claimed that DOCUMENTS were handed to Trump Jr from the Russian female lawyer (Trump Jr denied he was given anything). The problem when you lie is that you need a frakking good memory to know what lies you told and when. A good memory implies intelligence and Trump and his son are as dumb as rocks. They are in the Titanic trying to bail out the water with a bean can.

 

Quote

Second Russian's Role at Trump Jr. Meeting Raises Questions

 

Quote

Akhmetshin told the Associated Press that Veselnitskaya turned over documents that she believed showed the flow of illicit money to the Democratic National Committee. She suggested the Trump associates make them public. “This could be a good issue to expose how the DNC is accepting bad money," Akhmetshin quoted her as saying. He added that he didn’t know if the documents were from the Russian government.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-14/second-russian-s-role-at-trump-jr-meeting-raises-new-questions

 

The heat is on!

Edited July 15, 2017 by Andaman Al

[iReason]

34 minutes ago, jb61 said:

Collusion !!!!! Treason !!!!!

Better get a special prosecutor.

 

You appear a bit confused.

 

Those weren't secret meetings.

 

Just a weak attempt to deflect and derail the thread...

 

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by iReason

[dutchisaan]

1 hour ago, PattayaJames said:

 

Oh I thought it was set up by Putin and the Russian government.

 

"Akhmetshin is a registered lobbyist for Veselnitskaya's organization, which has focused on lobbying Washington to overturn the Magnitsky sanctions, according to lobbying records. The Magnitsky Act allows the US to withhold visas and freeze the assets of Russians thought to have violated human rights. Veselnitskaya founded a group purporting to seek the removal of Moscow's ban on the adoption of Russian children by US citizens, which it put in place in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act. She has also sought to repeal that law."

 

So the meeting was about the Magnitsky Act. LOL

 

 

 

 

Yes, lol!

What part of rhe emails, released by Trump jr, don't you understand? Please stop your trolling on this form.

If you want to defend this clown and his familie than you better come up with something that is believable. Because the lies from the Trump doesn't cut it anymore.

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts and replies have been removed. 

[sirineou]

7 hours ago, jb61 said:

Collusion !!!!! Treason !!!!!

Better get a special prosecutor.

I am confused, is the treasonable offence having your picture taken with Putin , is it eating doughnuts in the presence of Putin,  or is it pointing you finger at Putin's general direction?

[boomerangutang]

On 7/15/2017 at 10:51 AM, iReason said:

From the OP :

"Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, did not mention Akhmetshin's presence when he released a series of emails

about the meeting earlier this week."

Faulty memory?

"Kushner's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Manafort's spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort had no comment on the meeting."

Why not?

"Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he did not know about his son's meeting last year until recently.

But in a conversation with reporters later that day, Trump said: "In fact, maybe (the meeting) was mentioned at some point," adding he was not told it was about Clinton."

Not a whole lot to say about that. The buffoon changes his story daily on everything else.

"The Russian lawyer in the meeting, Veselnitskaya, has said she was not working for Russian authorities,

but she told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Friday that she was meeting with Russian authorities regularly." Interesting... 

The only reason Trump changed his story from "Didn't happen.  I didn't know anything about any meeting until yesterday"  to.....   "well, ummm, maybe it happened."   ....was because there must be irrefutable proof.  The same reason Trump couldn't deny the 'grap 'em by the pussy' conversation - because there was ironclad proof.

 

Every other disparaging claim against Trump, he quickly and angrily denies, ....as long as there's not solid proof.   Same for the rest of the lying Trumps.   Kushner is the same, except he merely keeps his mouth shut on everything.   That will work for awhile.  But imagine if bank robbers and rapists never said anything, when being questioned about crimes they committed.   How long would that keep them out of jail?

 

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by boomerangutang