Trump further tweeted that the meeting was “totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere.” Numerous major media…
Trump further tweeted that the meeting was “totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere.”
Numerous major media outlets quickly utilized Trump’s social media posting to misleadingly suggest that the president was contradicting an official statement issued by Trump Jr. last July about the purpose of the meeting.
“We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up,” read that statement, which added that it was “a short introductory meeting.”
The news media also misleadingly framed Trump’s tweet to imply the statement about seeking to obtain “information on an opponent” was some sort of new admission when in fact the White House last year released information about the meeting being set up by Russian participants under the pretense that they possessed information about Hillary Clinton.
Here is Trump’s Sunday tweet about the subject:
NBC News used the twitter posting to claim that the tweet was “seemingly contradicting a statement from more than a year ago that the meeting focused on a Russian adoption program.”
A widely circulated Associated Press article suggested Trump’s tweet was at odds with Trump Jr.’s statement, claiming that Trump “gave a far different explanation for the meeting” 13 months ago and referring to the Trump Jr. statement.
CNN.com suggested there was a discrepancy between Trump’s tweet and the Trump Jr. statement:
An analysis piece by CNN Editor-At-Large Chris Cillizza reads:
A headline at CNBC.com claims that the president’s tweet “changes rationale behind son’s controversial 2016 Trump Tower meeting.”
In actuality, Trump’s Sunday tweet that the meeting was set up “to get information on an opponent” does not contradict Trump’s Jr.’s statement, which focused on the actual content of the meeting itself. Nor was Trump’s tweet the first time the White House released information about the meeting being set up by Russian participants under the pretense that they possessed information about Hillary Clinton.
All meeting participants who have spoken publicly, including the Russian attorney who led the meeting, agree the confab itself focused largely on the Magnitsky Act, which sanctions Russian officials accused of involvement in the death of a Russian tax accountant, as well as talk about a Russian tax evasion scheme and alleged connections to the Democratic National Committee.
Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who led the meeting, told the Wall Street Journa l that she approached Russian real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, whom she was representing, to help set up a meeting with the Trump campaign as part of her efforts opposing the Magnitsky Act. She was also looking to spread information about Bill Browder, the primary supporter of the Magnitsky Act, she said.
The meeting, however, was scheduled with Trump Jr. under very different pretenses.
Trump Jr. previously explained that he took the meeting thinking it was about “opposition research” on Hillary Clinton and was disappointed that it wasn’t.
The meeting was arranged by Rob Goldstone, the English publicist and music manager. Goldstone admitted that when he wrote Trump Jr. to set up the meeting with the Russian attorney at Trump Tower he used deliberately hyperbolic language to ensure that the meeting took place. In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed in full by Breitbart News, Goldstone further said that he believes the meeting was a “bait and switch” by a Russian lobbyist seeking a meeting on another matter by misleadingly claiming to be bringing the Trump campaign dirt on Clinton.
Goldstone contacted Trump Jr. on behalf of his client Emin Agalarov, a Russian singer and businessman who is the son of Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov. Aras Agalarov organized the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow when the pageant was partially owned by Donald Trump.
The news media on Sunday covered Trump’s tweet about the meeting being set up “to get information on an opponent” as if this were the first time that such information was made public. Trump Jr. himself released emails containing that information immediately following a July 2017 New York Times article on the subject.
On June 3,2016, Goldstone sent the following email to Trump Jr.:
Russia does not have a “Crown prosecutor.” Rhona Graff served as President Donald Trump’s longtime secretary.
In recently released Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, Goldstone admitted to using deliberately hyperbolic language to ensure that the meeting took place.
Goldstone was asked to clarify a draft statement he sent to the committee stating, “I, therefore, used the strongest hyperbolic language in order to secure this request from Donald Trump Jr. based on the bare facts I was given.”
“Mr. Goldstone, in your capacity as a music publicist, have you at times used hyperbolic language or exaggeration or hype as part of your pitch?” Goldstone was asked.
“At most times, yes,” he replied.
“So if I understand your statement right, you were saying that your email on June 3rd to Mr. Trump was an example of this hyperbolic exaggeration type?” he was asked.
Goldstone replied, “It was an example of, I was given very limited information, and my job was to get a meeting, and so I used my professional use of words to emphasize what my client had only given bare-bones information about, in order to get the attention of Mr. Trump Jr.”
Elsewhere in the testimony, Goldstone says it appeared the claim of damaging information on Clinton was used to pull a “bait and switch” on the campaign.
Dirty trick?
Meanwhile, amid renewed news media attention focusing on the infamous, brief Trump Tower meeting, there are largely unreported details surrounding the get-together that point to the increasing likelihood of the encounter being set up as a dirty trick against Trump’s presidential campaign.
One largely unreported issue centers on the two Russians at the meeting evidencing a larger relationship with Fusion GPS and the controversial firm’s co-founder Glenn Simpson. The Russia collusion conspiracy theory was sparked by the discredited dossier produced by Fusion GPS, which was paid for its anti-Trump work by Trump’s primary political opponents, namely Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) via the Perkins Coie law firm.
Email transcripts and other information disclosed in testimony released by the Senate Judiciary Committee reveal a significant relationship between Russian-born Washington lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, who was present at the Trump Tower meeting, and Fusion GPS. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who led the meeting, also worked closely with Fusion GPS on a legal matter.
Akhmetshin’s November 14,2017 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee contained numerous sections that detail his past relationship with Fusion GPS and Simpson. Some of that relationship, which also involved Veselnitskaya, spanned the period just prior to the meeting with Trump Jr.
In one instance, Akhmetshin was asked about an email obtained by the Senate committee in which he described Fusion’s Simpson as a “colleague.”
The email related to the Russian-linked Prevezon Holdings Ltd., a firm that had settled a case in the U. S. involving the purchase of real estate with allegedly laundered money, accusations that centered around the Magnitsky Act.
Veselnitskaya, who countered the Magnitsky Act along with Akhmetshin, was an attorney for Prevezon. Veselnitskaya was involved in the case since it investigated financier Bill Browder, who successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Magnitsky Act and was a witness in the Prevezon legal matter. Fusion GPS investigated Browder for another client and their findings were used in the Prevezon trial.
In his testimony, one Senate griller asked Akhmetshin about a December 2015 email from a Bloomberg News reporter that states he was told that Akhmetshin was “handling media calls” for Prevezon and its owner.
Akhmetshin’s email reply, in which he calls Fusion GPS’s Simpson “my colleague” was read aloud: “I am traveling this week, but my colleague Glenn Simpson, cc’d, will be able to brief you on the particulars of the case.”
Another email read in the testimony described plans for a February 4,2016 dinner meeting between Simpson, Akhmetshin and Veselnitskaya, with Akhmetshin confirming that he did have a meeting with Simpson and Veselnitskaya around that time, possibly dinner. This puts Simpson in person with two participants in the Trump Jr. meeting just four months before the June 2016 Trump Tower meet, although Akhmetshin described the meeting with Simpson as being about the Prevezon case.
Akhmetshin further describes pitching stories directly to Simpson while Simpson was a journalist prior to his co-founding of Fusion GPS. Simpson previously worked for the Wall Street Journa l.
Akhmetshin also relates a previous working relationship with Simpson’s wife, pitching her stories while she served at the Wall Street Journal.
