Despite a pretense of being open, with Donald Trump Jr. dumping the emails related to his meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya hours before the New York Times was set to publish, and Donald Trump repeatedly praising his son’s “transparency,” more than a week after the meeting became public, we still do not even know who was in the room.
Last week was spent in a series of mini-revelations. We learned the identity of Veselnitskaya. Then Trump Jr.’s “it was about adoption” firewall collapsed as the purpose behind the meeting became clear. Then the astonishingly clear evidence for collusion was made obvious in the release of the emails with the bold declaration that this was merely part of a program by the Russian government to support Trump. Finally we learned of the presence of former counterintelligence officer Rinat Akhmetshin and got word that early accounts of the meeting had omitted at least three people in the room.
However, even if we assume that Akhmetshin was accurate in identifying one of those unknowns as translator Anatoli Samochornov, how can it be that there is still a gaping hole in the knowledge about the meeting. How is it possible that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with a Russian team with the express purpose of engaging in a conspiracy to exchange information with the Russian government for the express purpose of interfering in the election—but still have not revealed who they met with?
Special counsel investigators are seeking information from the still-publicly unidentified eighth person who attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower, this person's attorney Scott Balber said Tuesday.
Donald Trump Jr’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, claims to have talked with this mystery person within the last week. The story surrounding the person is that they are a US citizen, not involved with the Russian government, and present to represent the Agalarov family. But as the email sent to Donald Trump Jr. shows, that’s not exactly an exonerating claim.
The initial email outright states that the program to benefit Trump and conducted by the Russian government, is being assisted by Aras and Emin Agalarov.
“This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and it’s government’s support for Mr. Trump — helped along by Aras and Emin.”
It was the Agalarovs who asked PR rep Rob Goldstone to set up the meeting with the Trump campaign in the first place. Whoever this eighth person is, they were apparently a US citizen with strong ties to the Russian family that was working hand-in-glove with the Kremlin to support Trump.
All of which makes it seem as if it’s no coincidence this is the last name to emerge.
According to his client, the individual was asked to go to the meeting at Trump Tower last June with the understanding he would be Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya's translator because she didn't speak English, Balber said. He then realized at the meeting that she already had a translator that she had brought with her. Balber said his client remembers discussions surrounding the Magnitsky Act -- a 2012 US law that imposed sanctions on Russian individuals -- and the retaliatory Kremlin-imposed ban on adoption of Russian children by American citizens.
Everyone seems to have a very good memory for the adoption story … and a very poor one for the announced theme of the meeting, the opening discussion, and the folder of documents provided to the Trump team.
Of course, everyone involved seemed to have a very hard time remembering that Akhmetshin was present. Or Samochornov. Or that the last report we have didn’t say there were definitely eight people present—it said there were at least eight people present.
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2017 · 4:29:48 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
And now we know …
Ike Kaveladze’s presence was confirmed by Scott Balber, an attorney for Emin and Aras Agalarov, the Russian developers who hosted the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Balber said Kaveladze works for the Agalarovs’ company and attended as their representative.