Donald Trump Jr. hid more information about the June 9 meeting at Trump Tower with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Rinat Akhmetshin, the former Soviet counter-intelligence officer who holds dual American-Russian citizenship, confirmed he attended the meeting, Associated Press reported.
It's possible Rinat Akhmetshin was the 5th person at the Trump Jr. meeting. He's a lead lobbyist for the HRAGIF. https://t.co/JFnLZAhzWX
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 14, 2017
While he claimed the meeting was not substantive, more details emerged about the incident that strengthened further suspicions of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S.
election. He disclosed that Veselnitskaya presented documents to Donald Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort that the Russian lawyer believed proved the alleged flow of questionable funds to the Democratic National Committee.
Eight persons in the meeting
Donald Jr., however, lost interest in the details provided by Veselnitskaya - the document that could have likely helped the Trump campaign defeat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton – when he asked if she had evidence to support their claim. She replied that the campaign would have to do more research on it. Akhmetshin recalled that Veselitskaya told Donald Jr., “This could be a good issue to expose how the DNC is accepting bad money.”
The Russian lobbyist, nevertheless, found the meeting not substantive because he expected more serious conversation.
“I never thought this would be such a big deal to be honest,” said Akhmetshin who is a registered lobbyist for Veselnitskaya’s organization that seeks to overturn the Magnitsky sanctions.
Besides Akhmetshin, one more person previously not mentioned in reports was present at the June 9 meeting. CNN reported there were eight people in the meeting, namely Donald Jr.
, Kushner, Manafort, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin, a translator, a representative of the family of Emin Agalarov who initiated the meeting, and Rob Goldstone, the British publicist behind the emails. This is the first time that Goldstone’s attendance in the meeting has been mentioned, although he posted on his Facebook page on that day that he checked into Trump Tower with the comment “preparing for meeting.”
Moscow denies knowing lobbyist
After Akhmetshin was identified as the Russian lobbyist with Veselnitskaya, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, denied he knew the former Soviet counterintelligence officer.
Putin has consistently denied Russia meddled in the U.S. election to help Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, although evidence now emerging indicates otherwise.
Another key person who was identified by Emin as the source of the report on Clinton, Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, denied he was involved in the meeting or provided the documents to Emin's father Aras Agalarov. Veselnitskaya, however, admitted she personally knows Chaika because she shared information with Chaika about William Browder, The Hill reported.
Browder is an American hedge fund manager who pushed for the Magnitsky Act. Veselnitskaya claimed the company Browder worked with did not pay taxes in Russia and later allegedly contributed to the Democrats which could be the Russian lawyer’s way of getting back at Browder for his support of the Magnitsky sanctions.
