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Rob Goldstone in New York on September 12 (Matt McClain / The Washington Post)
It was just a short email that British publicist Rob Goldstone released on his iPhone on a Friday morning in June 2016 to try to reunite his client. In retrospect, he admits that he has inflated some of the details when he promised Donald Trump Jr. incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as part of an effort by the Russian government to help the Trump campaign.
The hastily composed missive pushed Goldstone to the center of an investigative storm.
Over the past year, he has been questioned four times by congressional investigators, spent hours with prosecutors working for Special Adviser Robert S. Mueller III, and was questioned before a federal grand jury (a group of Residents section of DC). Her collection of selfies in clumsy hats has become the target of jokes on the part of late-night comedians. He has been decried as a Russian spy, a traitor, a white supremacist.
[[[[Inside the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting: a Russian lawyer who drinks, but no Dirty Clinton]
All the while, Goldstone appeared as a rare independent voice in the history of Russia – one of the few witnesses to voluntarily sit with any investigator who told him asked and
With his testimony now complete, Goldstone is ready to talk about the events surrounding President Trump, detailing the saga in a book titled "Pop Stars, Pageants and Presidents: How an E-mail Wrapped My Life" that will be released on Tuesday.
"The press apparently could not decide if I was ridiculous, insane and so naive that it was irrelevant. Or if I was a kind of brilliant operator, "said 57-year-old Goldstone, in an in-depth interview this month. "The reality is that I am not one of those things. . . . I am a publicist. I wrote an email.
He said he had no doubt that Russia had interfered in the 2016 campaign (although he insists it was not thanks to his help) and thinks that the Trump was open to such assistance. He praised the special council, which Trump accused of conducting a "witch hunt" for investigating a problem with global issues.
After more than nine hours with Mueller's team, Goldstone also drew conclusions about what the special council is pursuing. Investigators are less focused on the details of the Trump Tower meeting that followed his email invitation to Trump Jr.
Rather, prosecutors were keenly interested in his comments on Trumps' relationship with Aras and Emin Agalarov, the Russian billionaires father and son who financed Trump's Miss Universe contest in Moscow in 2013, and then asked the sit-in 2016 to Trump Tower. as well as the relationship of the Agalarovs with the Kremlin, he said.
"They were not as interested in detail," Goldstone said. "It was a bigger picture."
"There was a story here"
Born in Manchester, England, Mr. Goldstone said he grew up as a foreigner, chosen from among gay, Jewish and overweight youngsters. At age 16, he snuck on the staff of a local newspaper. Later, he became a radio reporter specializing in entertainment, crossing Princess Diana, Muhammed Ali and Michael Jackson.
After discovering that he had a talent for promotion, Goldstone left journalism to become a publicist. Over the years, her clients included Venezuelan actress Patricia Velasquez, who had participated in The Celebrity Apprentice and the famous Russian Tea Room in New York. (During testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in December, Goldstone said that a member of Congress asked him if the committee should be concerned about this commitment.I thought, "C & C Is a restaurant! 90 years ago! Leave me alone! "Recalled.)
In 2012, a friend suggested that he meet Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based crooner who had some success in Russia and was trying to get out in America.
Goldstone was intrigued. Agalarov was a billionaire playboy whose father, Aras, was one of the leading real estate developers in Moscow and whose father-in-law was president of Azerbaijan. "My old team of journalists has come in," he said. "There was a story here." He took Agalarov as a customer.
The rich Russians and Trump came together following a whim, he said.
In the spring of 2013, Goldstone and Emin Agalarov visited Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization in New York City, hoping to include a contestant in one of the singer's music videos.
Shugart mentioned that she had thought of bringing the international contest to Baku, where Agalarov was born. Agalarov responded by suggesting Moscow and Crocus City Hall, a new concert hall belonging to the Agalarovs – an idea he imagined on the spot.
The Agalarovs would eventually pay about $ 15 million to host the Miss Universe contest.
A few months later, Goldstone accompanied them to meet Trump in Las Vegas, where the Miss USA contest was held.
At dinner, Goldstone sat between Emin Agalarov and Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, whom he met for the first time.
Trump seemed to take it to Emin Agalarov. At one point in the dinner, Trump loudly challenged the young singer, "Hey Emin! I will reduce the [pageant] If you tell me that you have already slept with competitors, the fees are now a million dollars! "Recalls Mr. Goldstone.
Agalarov retorted: "Interesting. I will increase your fees by $ 5 million right now if you tell me if you have never slept with a competitor.
Trump responded with a smile: "We should just forget about the bet." The room cracked.
"It was like a fraternal behavior," Goldstone said. "It was a kind of liaison".
Scott Balber, an Agalarov lawyer, said that he was not aware of such an exchange. A Trump lawyer declined to comment.
36 hours in Moscow
In November 2013, the group of men was gathered in Moscow for the Miss Universe contest, a whirlwind of 36 hours of meetings and public events.
Goldstone said he was in Trump's company from the moment the celebrity mogul landed in Moscow on his private plane around 3 pm. a Friday until his departure at 3 am Sunday morning, except for a five-hour window that Trump was able to sleep early Saturday morning.
During his testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the Senate in December 2017, Goldstone stated that he did not know that Trump had engaged with prostitutes in the trip, as had been alleged in a research brief unaudited funded by Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Goldstone told the Post that he thought such a meeting would have been "unlikely", given Trump's busy schedule.
In Moscow, Goldstone said he had a taste of Russians' affinity for Trump, a prospect he believes has shaped what he wrote in his famous email to Trump Jr. three years later.
Trump's first stop was dinner at Nobu, an upscale Japanese restaurant, where he answered questions from leading Russian business and financial leaders. Goldstone recalled that one of Russia's mogul had asked Trump for his reflections on the European debt crisis and the recent bailout of the Greek economy.
Instead, Trump has embarked on another topic.
"Do you look at The Apprentice? "" Recalled Goldstone, before providing a 10-minute description of his grades and profits. He was televised in Europe, explained Trump, in his only nod to the question.
Goldstone thought the answer was comical – but he said business leaders were dazzled and gave Trump an ovation.
"It represented what became of their country, namely:" You can do it! You can do it! "You know, it's all about money, business, capitalism," Goldstone said.
Trump also expressed another sentiment that Russian magnates enjoyed: President Barack Obama, said Trump, was a weak president. Putin was strong.
Trump was determined to meet the Russian president, said Goldstone. So, at Emin Agalarov's suggestion, Goldstone said he had urged Trump before arriving in Moscow to write a letter inviting the Russian president to the contest.
"Many beautiful women!" Goldstone recalled that Trump scribbled in a pen at the bottom. He said he believed that the Agalarov delivered the letter. Balber declined to comment.
[In a personal letter, Trump invited Putin to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant]
But a few hours before the start of the contest, Putin's personal spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, called Aras Agalarov to tell him the bad news, and Goldstone said: The king of the Netherlands was stuck in traffic with Putin. As a result, the Russian president would not have time for Trump. Peskov said Putin had promised to meet with Trump during his next visit to Russia.
"I just remember thinking, 'Do not tell me we will not go to the Kremlin because the King of the Netherlands is late?' Said Goldstone.
But today, he is grateful that the notorious Moscow traffic spared him a meeting with Putin that would have brought even more attention from US investigators. He dedicated his book to "H.M. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
Rob Goldstone, in the center, arrives at an in camera meeting with the House Intelligence Committee in 2017. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)
"The recoil is a beautiful thing"
Goldstone, an American and British citizen who currently lives in New Jersey, said he thought Trump would win the presidency, but he added that he was never a political fan of the real estate developer . Independent Bernie Sanders was no longer his speed, he said, even though he never voted.
However, Goldstone had high hopes for his Russian client once Trump's bid was launched: Emin Agalarov might be invited to sing at the inauguration or visit the White House.
So, he was irritated when Agalarov called on the morning of June 3, 2016 and asked him to use the Trump family for something else.
Agalarov explained that his father had met a well-connected Russian lawyer that day, which Mr. Agalarov said was either a prosecutor or a former prosecutor. The lawyer had damaging information on Russian funding of Democrats, reported Agalarov. He asked Goldstone to meet with "The Trumps" so that the information could be transmitted.
Goldstone said that he was confused. Which lawyer? What information? But Agalarov did not know or refused to answer, insisting that Goldstone should simply ensure the meeting and not worry about such details, Goldstone recalled. (Balber, Agalarov's lawyer, said the singer did not remember telling Goldstone that the information was about Russian funding for Democrats).
At the time, said Goldstone, it never occurred to him that the offer could be unethical or even illegal. "The decline is a beautiful thing," he said.
Sitting in his apartment in Hoboken, Goldstone threw an email to Trump Jr., whom he had met at a dinner in New York and with whom he occasionally corresponded.
He wrote that Aras Agalarov had met "the Russian Crown Prosecutor", a phrase he remembered from his stay in England. He stated that the prosecutor had provided information that would "incriminate Hillary" and was "of a very high and sensitive level", all he claimed to have considered as reasonable assumptions based on what he Agalarov had said.
The most provocative detail: Goldstone wrote that the information was part of the support of Russia and his government to Mr. Trump.
Agalarov did not mention the Russian government in their conversation, Goldstone admits. The line, he said, was a little flattery designed to reflect the attitudes he had seen towards Trump in Russia.
"It was not invented. It was swollen, "he said about his email. "There is a huge difference to that."
For Goldstone, the most important line came at the end: "Could you talk to Emin directly? His goal was to separate from this request and to have Agalarov and Trump Jr. discuss directly.
"If that's what you say, I love it," Trump Jr. replied.
The telephone recordings provided to Congress speakers Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov took place three days later as the singer came out of a concert scene in Moscow.
Trump Jr. testified before Congress that he has no recollection of an appeal. Balber said that Agalarov had only vague memories of what they had said.
The next day, Trump Jr. sent Goldstone an email telling him that he had invited Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law and senior campaign manager, Paul Manafort, to attend a meeting with the Russian lawyer scheduled for the June 9th.
Trump Jr. testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he did not know what to think of Goldstone's email, but saw no problem exploring whether he had any important information. "I did not think that listening to someone with relevant information about the form and character of a presidential candidate would be a problem," he said.
Goldstone said that he had concluded that Trump Jr. had been impressed by everything Agalarov had told him on the phone.
"My email did not have a meeting at Trump Tower. My e-mail has received a call, "he said, adding that if the details of the call are not revealed," we will never know why there was a meeting ".
The Trump Tower meeting
The meeting, from Goldstone's point of view, was a failure. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya invited uninvited guests, including a Russian-American interpreter and lobbyist. Inaugurated on the 25th floor of the Trump Tower, the group acted like noisy tourists, taking photos and selfie in front of the windows overlooking Central Park.
Goldstone had not planned to attend the meeting himself, but Trump Jr beckoned him to come in. Once the discussion started, he said that Veselnitskaya was beginning to talk about donors who contributed to the Democrats. The presentation, he said, was incomprehensible.
He thinks the information has been balanced so that Veselnitskaya can put pressure on his real problem: the Magnitsky law, the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia in 2012 for human rights violations. Putin viewed the law as a personal affront and blocked the adoption of Russian children by American families in retaliation for his adoption.
During the meeting, Goldstone said he apologized to the candidate's son for wasting his time. On leaving Trump Tower, he said he called Emin Agalarov. "Well, of all the things you've already asked me to do, it was actually the most embarrassing," he told the pop star. "We have just attended an adoption meeting."
Then, he said, he did his best to keep the meeting going – until more than a year later, when the New York Times announced the news of the rally.
Sitting at a lunch in a coffee shop in Greece the next day, he received a call from a Post reporter, asking him if he had arranged the meeting.
Since then, he said, "it was a whirlwind."
Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report.
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