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Michael Cohen, personal advocate of President-elect Donald Trump, crosses the lobby of Trump Tower on January 12, 2017 in New York. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
The first natural reaction is: Of course .
Of course, Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney who attended the meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and others at Trump Tower in June 2016 had closer ties with Russian officials that She did not leave it.
And, of course, there would now be credible allegations – that President Trump himself knew that the meeting was scheduled and what it was before that happened.
After all, the denial after denial of those involved in the meeting, statement after statement, either collapsed or was punctured. The scenario that seemed to be the worst thing for Trump at the political level is more and more the one in which we seem to be heading.
It has long been the case to give Trump the benefit of the doubt not to be aware of the meeting It means putting aside the growing evidence and Trump's habit of denying things that have turned out later true.
Trump said explicitly last July that he did not know the meeting before that happened. But that's what his campaign about a so-called payment to former playboy model Karen McDougal when this news broke out in October 2016. A conversation between Trump and his lawyer long-time problem-solver Michael Cohen discussing this payment the previous month Thursday night, both NBC and CNN reported that Cohen, by a source close to him, was ready to say to the investigators that he was present when Trump Jr. spoke to his father about the possibility of meeting with the Russian lawyer to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. The meeting came out of an email sent by a music publicist to Trump Jr. in which the Trump campaign was promised "some official documents and information" which constituted "very high-level and sensitive information but are part of from Russia and his government Trump Jr. replied: "[I] That's what you say I like it." He wanted to talk with Emin Agalarov, the client of the publicist, before finalizing details
Three days later, Trump Jr. and Agalarov took the floor (a call that Trump Jr. claimed did not remember but that Agalarov did). suggest that Agalarov called Trump Jr. at 4:04 pm on June 6 and they spoke for a minute or two .. About 20 minutes later, Trump Jr. received a call from a blocked number, after which he immediately called Agalarov.The call lasted three minutes, and the next morning, the meeting was organized (a Nearly that Trump Jr. called campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the two other participants in the meeting – Trump Jr.'s calls did not remember).
The same evening as the calls to Agalarov, after Trump won several Republican primary contests, he delivered a victory speech.
"I'm going to make a major speech on Monday probably next week and we're going to discuss all the things that have happened with the Clintons," he said in his speech. "I think you're going to find it's very informative and very, very interesting. I wonder if the press will want to attend, who knows. "
He never delivered this speech on the Clinton." Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner also did not get the dirt promised about Clinton – or, at least, they did not. 39 got nothing that they found usable.
Enter Veselnitskaya, who initially claimed to have no connection with
Instead, she was a lawyer and also lobbied to overthrow a law called the Magnitsky Law, a law that imposed sanctions on Russian officials in retaliation for the death of a corruption whistle-maker named Sergei Magnitsky.According to Trump Tower, the lifting of sanctions would mean that Russia would end to his opposition to the adoption of Russian children by the Americans on the issue of adoption as a topic of discussion.This statement was dictated by Trump.
But the relationship of Veselnitskaya with the Kremlin and the topics discussed were both more complicated Earlier this year, she admitted to having links with the Kremlin, including the chief prosecutor of Russia. (These are the first emails to Trump Jr. who claimed that it was the person who was offering the filth.) Thursday night, the Associated Press reported emails and other documents that linked her more Closely to government officials and work
also appears, however, that "dirt" was offered.
Notes taken by Manafort during the meeting suggest that Magnitsky's law was discussed, as did Bill Browder, Magnitsky's employer, and the driving force behind the law.
Veselnitskaya apparently made his point. This meeting was similar to the one that Russian President Vladimir Putin presented at this press conference with Trump last week: Browder had given important money contributions allegedly illegally obtained to the Clinton campaign. (Browder denies any wrongdoing, the case against him and his company, and no evidence of significant donations to the campaign exists.)
There are still some question marks.
Cohen was with Trump when the then-candidate called his son and was informed of the meeting of Russia? Has he found another way? Is the presentation of this source close to Cohen accurate? (The former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, now a member of Trump's legal team, says that Cohen lies.) More broadly – and more subject to interpretation – is the key question: what about? does this tell us about Trump's relations with Russia? The bad news for Trump is that, up to here, the sure bet has always been to badume that the Trump Tower situation is more incriminating than the Trump team would have you believe. Thursday's revelations reinforce this idea
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