The story’s a bit complex, so here’s the punch line: Jared set up a clandestine meeting with a Russian spy who operates a Russian bank under US sanctions. The Russian ambassador arranged this after checking with Moscow. Then Jared lied about it. (Yep, that link is to RedState. Even they get it.)
The story is actually worse than that. Turns out the banker he met with was Sergei Gorkov.
Before we get in to the details of how Jared and Sergei got together, it’s worth going in to Sergei Gorkov’s background. Here’s what the folks at Foreign Policy have to say about him:
Gorkov is the head of the Moscow-based Vnesheconombank (VEB), a government owned development bank that is sanctioned by the United States for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
So far, so good. The princeling meets with a banker who is on the “no deals” list. Nothing unusual about that, right? Well, actually yes -— but -— Gorkov is more than just a banker, and VEB is more than just a bank. And they didn’t just happen to run in to each other. And Jared lied about it.
VEB is the bank where Evgeny Buryakov worked under “non-official cover” as a banker while actually working for Russian intelligence. We learned this after the U.S. attorney, Preet Bharara (remember him?) , announced Buryakov’s guilty plea back in March 2016.
Sergei Gorkov is not just a guy who got in to banking. He got his degree in finance from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics after graduating from the Academy of the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service, which prepares members for the Foreign Intelligence Service and Federal Security Service (FSB). All of a sudden Buryakov doesn’t look like such a loose cannon.
If you dig into Gorkov’s background, he has quite a colorful history. I’m not going to waste time going in to it except to note that when Yukos bank fell apart due to fraud and tax evasion, Gorkov’s subordinate was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Gorkov’s boss was sentenced to 8 years. Gorkov, oddly enough, didn’t even get a fine. He got a promotion at a new location. That looks weird until you realize Gorkov and Putin have a direct working relationship. It’s good to have friends in high places. Especially in Russia.
This puts Jared in direct contact with a guy who is a) personally associated with Putin, and b) probably involved in espionage. Maybe this is all just a coincidence, right? Well -— not really.
Jared didn’t just meet with Kislyak once. Or twice. These are details he left out of his SF-86 (which is a felony for those keeping track.)
As reported by Foreign Policy
When Kushner met with Kislyak he was a member of the Trump transition team and still a private citizen. After that meeting, which took place in early December, Kislyak requested a second, to which Kushner sent a deputy, to whom Kislyak conveyed he wanted Kushner and Gorkov to meet. Kushner and Gorkov met at a later date.
Jared tried to be slick and keep his hands clean. Or maybe he knew he was out of his league. I won’t be surprised if the “deputy” turns out to have been Flynn. But old hand Kislyak wasn’t going for that. He wanted to connect Kushner with Gorkov himself. Since this happened at the Russian embassy under the guidance of a guy who is reputed to be a spymaster, this is no longer happenstance or innocent.
No wonder Jared lied about it.
All this raises an obvious question: “What the hell would Jared want to talk to Gorkov about and why would Kislyak be so interested in putting them together?” In their statement to CNN, VEB addressed that question directly:
VEB confirmed the meeting with Kushner in a statement to CNN, though described Kushner in his role as head of Kushner Companies, not as a representative of Trump.
"During 2016 the bank's management repeatedly met with representatives of the world's leading financial institutions in Europe, Asia and America ... including the head of Kushner Companies, Jared Kushner," the VEB statement said.
So Jared goes to Kislyak as a representative of the Trump campaign, Kislyak insists on setting him up with Gorkov who says they are meeting him as the representative of Kushner Companies. Nothing to say Jared knows he is meeting with a guy who graduated from the FSB finishing school. Because why would Jared use Google to get background information on anyone? But this meeting puts into stark relief something Clapper said in his answer to Rep. Gowdy’s questions:
"Frequently people who go along a treasonous path do not know they are on a treasonous path until it is too late.
Treason?! That’s a strong word. Most people think of treason as simply “providing aid and comfort” to an enemy. But as this diary by durrati notes, the folks at Foreign Policy (talking specifically about Jared) remind us that betraying the public trust for personal gain is also treasonous behavior. This is why we have things like the Emoluments Clause.
Who knows, maybe it was all innocent and Jared was happy to talk hypothetically about entertaining the possibility of considering the notion of exploring the option of studying plans worth considering in development of potential future engagements if (or when) sanctions were lifted. Maybe Kislyak reminds me of Sidney Greenstreet, but at this point I feel compelled to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in Casa Blanca, “Of all the bankers in all the banks in all the world….” Jared goes through all that with Gorkov?
This is no coincidence. To borrow a line from Crosby, Stills and Nash, “We have all been here before.” As previously noted (h/t Mark Sumner)
Alexander Shnaider, a Russian-Canadian developer who built the 65-story Trump International Hotel and Tower, put money into the project after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from a separate asset sale that involved the Russian bank, whose full name is Vnesheconombank.
That’s right. These guys have been in bed for a long time. And the name of the game is the same as it ever was. How much you want to bet VEB is involved in Money Laundering? Save your money. You know the answer. They are up to their necks in it. You can find them doing it in India. You can find them doing it in the EU. You can find them doing it in the Ukraine. And of course, they are tied in multiple ways to Don the Con’s operations.
How is it they can be so bold? Easy:
Vnesheconombank is a former Soviet bank operating with no Russian banking license and is not subject to the law on banks and banking activities. Its supervisory board is chaired by Putin.
Bottom Line: Just with what we know, we have established the opportunity (Jared is part of Trump’s inner circle), the means (meeting with Gorkov under Kislyak’s auspices), and the motive (financing Kushner’s real estate deals). That’s enough to explain a crime in court. It’s also enough to explain how Kushner would be horribly compromised and why Rice thought it important to unmask the name of the person Kislyak was dealing with. It wasn’t just Flynn she was worried about.
Go back and read Clapper’s comment again. The good news? That is the most charitable explanation of what happened. The bad news? It’s still a string of serious crimes. The really bad news? If I was looking for a way to get the goods on Jared, I would squeeze Flynn. “Forget immunity, here’s the best deal you get: Your son won’t die in prison if you give us Jared.”