The Saturday statement by Donald Trump Jr. that he and two others met with Kremlin lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya turned out to be an alternative fact. He claimed the meeting was to discuss an adoption program for Russian children stopped by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2012.
The New York Times, however, presented Donald Jr. on Sunday a new account which went beyond his initial statement. Donald Jr. admitted the real reason for the meeting with him, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort was Veselnitskaya wanted to offer them damaging information on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate who was the rival of Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, for the presidency.
Russians were allegedly funding DNC
Donald Jr. said that an acquaintance from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, Rob Goldstone, requested the meeting with Veselnitskaya. The franchise to the Miss Universes, which was held in Moscow in 2013, was owned by his father, Donald Trump. Goldstone used to be a British tabloid journalist and is the president of Oui 2 Entertainment. He has worked with the Miss Universe pageant.
The younger Trump said after an exchange of pleasantries, she claimed to have information that some individual Russians were allegedly funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Clinton. The Kremlin lawyer, according to Donald Jr., did not provide details or supporting evidence.
“It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information,” he said.
Netizens who were aware of who the Kremlin lawyer is posted information on Veselnitskaya when the news about her meeting at Trump Tower came out on Saturday.
The case is obvious. Natalia Veselnitskaya is essentially KGB. She sees the Trumps & Manafort to increment Clinton = collusion w RU = crime. https://t.co/exbLodTw8w
— Anders Åslund (@anders_aslund) July 9, 2017
Cyprus, as Russian government laundering usually is, through a company called Prevezon Holdings Ltd., represented by Natalia Veselnitskaya.
— Ralph Bagdan (@OllieShawshank) July 9, 2017
Veselnitskaya then steered their conversation toward the adoption of Russian children and the Magnitsky Act.
Donald Jr. said it became clear to him the adoption of Russian kids was the real motive of the Kremlin lawyer for the meeting and she only offered the information about Clinton to meet the Trump campaign team.
Veselnitskaya, according to the Daily Beast, is the alleged lawyer of a Russian mob. She and Andrey Pavlov, who was arrested upon his arrival at the Dulles Airport in Washington on Sept.
15 to attend an international conference, lawyered for the Prevezon family where Sergei Magnitsky, after whom the Magnitsky Act was named, found an anomaly. The U.S. Department of Justice served Pavlov and Veselnitskaya a subpoena to appear before a grand jury on Sept. 21.
President unaware of the meeting
Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, also downplayed on Sunday the meeting when he appeared on “Fox News Sunday.” He described it as a “big nothing burger meeting.” Rep. Adam Schiff, the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was not satisfied with the explanation. He wants to question everyone involved in the meeting as part of the House probe on Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
