Trump Tower meeting
The meeting was arranged by publicist and long-time Trump acquaintance Rob Goldstone on behalf of his client, Russian singer-songwriter Emin Agalarov.
[43] A few days later Trump Jr. acknowledged that he went into the meeting expecting to receive opposition research from Veselnitskaya that could hurt Clinton's campaign, adding that none was presented and that the conversation instead focused on the Magnitsky Act.
[49] Both Donald Trump and Trump Jr. have claimed this was "opposition research", but Steven D'Amico, an expert on the subject, denies the claim and describes proper opposition research: "All information gathered must be lawfully obtained....and you certainly don't sit in on meetings where a foreign attorney promises sensitive information obtained by a rival government.
"[50] Veselnitskaya said that she intended to provide allegations to the Trump campaign about a firm connected to William Browder, a financier who lobbied for the Magnitsky Act.
[51][52][53] On July 14, Akhmetshin stated in an interview that Veselnitskaya had claimed to have evidence of "violations of Russian law by a Democratic donor", and added that she "described her findings at the meeting and left a document about them with Trump Jr. and the others.
"[33][54] The meeting, which took place on June 9, 2016, first came to the attention of authorities in April 2017, when Kushner reported on a revised security clearance form that he had met with Veselnitskaya.
[55][2] On July 8, 2017, The New York Times first mentioned a June 2016 meeting with "a Russian lawyer who has connections to the Kremlin", arranged by Trump Jr. and including Kushner and Manafort.
[2][42] Later that day, Trump Jr. released a statement calling it a "short introductory meeting" about American adoption of Russian children and "not a campaign issue".
[58] He would later contradict this statement during a closed-door interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 7, acknowledging three short phone calls with Agalarov prior to the meeting.
On July 11 it was reported that the statement had been drafted by presidential advisers aboard Air Force One on the way home from the G20 summit in Germany, and that it had been approved by President Trump.
"[66][7][69] The next day, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated that Trump "certainly didn't dictate, but ... he weighed in, offered suggestions, like any father would do".
[73][74] In a November 2017 statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Veselnitskaya said "I have no relationship with Mr. Chaika, his representatives and his institutions other than those related to my professional functions as a lawyer.
"[21] However she also stated in April 2018: "I am a lawyer, and I am an informant,” adding that "since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general," Yury Chaika.
[77] The memo released by Veselnitskaya claimed that an American firm, Ziff Brothers Investments, illegally evaded tens of millions of dollars in Russian taxes, and contributed to Clinton's election campaign.
[79] On May 16, 2018, the Senate Judiciary Committee released emails and text messages in which Trump attorney Alan S. Futerfas provided a prepared statement for Goldstone, Agalarov and Kaveladze, further asserting that it "would be our preference" if they did not say anything else in response to inquiries about the meeting.
[87] Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, described the matter as "a very serious development", and that "It all warrants thorough investigation.
[88] On July 10, 2017, Representative Ted Yoho (R-FL) when asked in an interview if he thought it was appropriate for Trump Jr. to take a meeting with a Russian national, responded that he "probably would have done the same thing" calling it "opposition research".
[91][92][93] A statement issued by Mark Corallo, former spokesperson for Trump's legal team, suggested that the meeting was a "setup" and that Veselnitskaya and her translator had "misrepresented who they were".
[97] The Committee on the Judiciary scheduled a hearing on July 26 on the subject "Oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S.
[96] William Browder testified before the Committee on the Judiciary on July 27, claiming that Veselnitskaya was representing the Kremlin's interests in the meeting, which was arranged for persuading the future lifting of the Magnitsky Act.
The New York Times reported that in his testimony, Trump Jr. acknowledged he had indeed sought the meeting in the hopes to obtain information about Clinton's "fitness".
[102] During sworn testimony before the House Oversight Committee on February 27, 2019, Michael Cohen repeated his assertion of July 2018[83] that the president was aware of the Tower meeting in advance.
"[103]As of July 2017, Robert Mueller, the special counsel of the Department of Justice in charge of Russia-related investigations, was looking into the Trump Tower meeting.
[108][107][109][110] Los Angeles based Emirati real-estate developer, Rashid al-Malik, who is close to Prince Mohammed and one of Trump's aides, is being investigated for running an illegal influence scheme.
[113] Mifsud told him that during a recent trip to Russia, he had learned that the Russians were in possession of thousands of stolen emails that were politically damaging to Hillary Clinton.
[114][115] This occurred before there was public knowledge of the hack of Democratic National Committee computers and of John Podesta's emails, both of which U.S. intelligence agencies believe were carried out by Russia.
[120][122][123] In May 2016, Papadopoulos reportedly revealed Russia's possession of Clinton-related emails at a chance "romantic encounter" with a woman who knew the top Australian diplomat to the United Kingdom, Alexander Downer.
The revelation of Papadopoulos' inside information about Russia's stolen DNC emails was a driving factor in the FBI opening an investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections in July 2016.
[130][131][132] Page testified that he met with Russian government officials during this trip and had sent a post-meeting report via email to members of the Trump campaign.
[137] Page also testified that after delivering a commencement speech at the New Economic School in Moscow, he spoke briefly with one of the people in attendance, Arkady Dvorkovich, a Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's cabinet, contradicting his previous statements not to have spoken to anyone connected with the Russian government.
