Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
2016 Trump Tower Meeting Looks Increasingly Like a Setup by Russian and Clinton Operatives
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Joe Cooper
Aug 14, 2018, 2:14:48 PM8/14/18
to
The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
Russia to steal the election.
A growing body of evidence, however, indicates that the meeting may have
been a setup -- part of a broad effort to tarnish the Trump campaign
involving Hillary Clinton operatives employed by Kremlin-linked figures
and Department of Justice officials. This view, that the real collusion
may have taken place among those who arranged the meeting rather than the
Trump officials who agreed to attend it, is supported by two disparate
lines of evidence pulled together for the first time here: newly released
records and a pattern of efforts to connect the Trump campaign to Russia.
The first line of evidence includes emails, texts, and memos recently
turned over to Congress by the Department of Justice. They show how
closely senior Justice Department officials and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation worked with employees of Fusion GPS, a Washington-based
research firm reportedly paid $1 million by Clinton operatives to dig up
dirt on the Trump campaign.
They reveal that then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, the
fourth-highest-ranking official at DOJ, coordinated before, during and
after the election with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, who did work
for the Clinton campaign and Russians; and former British intelligence
officer Christopher Steele, who was employed by Simpson.
Those emails, which disclose the topics of discussions but not their
details, revolve around two business executives: Donald Trump and Oleg
Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate close to President Vladimir Putin.
Steele was particularly interested in resolving issues concerning
Deripaska's U.S. visa, which was revoked in 2006 because of his suspected
ties to organized crime. In another sign of the overlapping strands of
this story, when Special Counsel Robert Mueller was running the FBI in
2009, the bureau had asked Deripaska to contribute millions of dollars to
help locate former FBI agent Robert Levinson, captured in Iran in 2007
while working for the CIA. Levinson remains missing.
The Ohr-Steele-Simpson correspondence appears to include references to
the former British spy’s work for Fusion GPS on Trump’s ties to Russia.
Months before the election, Steele wrote Ohr to say that he would be back
in Washington soon "on business of mutual interest."
The cozy relationship was bolstered by the fact that the wife of the
senior DOJ official, Nellie Ohr, was employed by Fusion GPS.
After Steele was dismissed by the FBI for speaking to the press for an
October 31, 2016 report, Bruce Ohr took over the work of relaying Fusion
GPS’ opposition research on the Trump campaign directly to the FBI.
The culmination of their combined efforts, the 35-page dossier of
unverified Trump/Russia connections, was used by the FBI to secure a
warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. The Department of Justice did not
respond to RealClearInvestigations’ requests for comment, nor did Glenn
Simpson's lawyer, Joshua Levy.
The second line of evidence reframing the Trump Tower meeting -- after
the Ohr-Steele-Simpson correspondence – was first reported in June by
RealClearInvestigations. It shows that, starting in March 2016, FBI
confidential sources and other figures associated with Western
intelligence services and the Clinton campaign approached the Trump team
promising damaging information on Clinton. The Trump Tower meeting
appears to have been the most successful of these approaches, since it
was the one instance where the Trump campaign signaled it was willing to
receive incriminating information on its opponent.
These two strands of evidence – the DOJ’s collaboration with Clinton-paid
researchers and efforts to connect the Trump campaign to Russia – came
together in midtown Manhattan on June 9, 2016 at Trump Tower.
At the center of it all was Fusion GPS, which had two clients whose
interests were served by the Trump Tower meeting: the Russians and the
Clinton campaign.
Even though no evidence has emerged from the meeting of any dark
conspiracy, appearances were evidently enough. In sworn Senate testimony
last year, Simpson claimed the meeting corroborated one of the key claims
made in the reports filed by Fusion GPS contractor Steele: “Trump and his
inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the
Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.”
Nonetheless, Simpson also testified that he had no knowledge of the
meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and others until it was reported a year
later. There is reason to doubt that account.
In fact, the Russian lawyer at the center of the meeting, Natalia
Veselnitskaya, was his client.
She has publicly stated that she used talking points developed by Simpson
for the Russian government in that discussion. Kremlin officials also
posted the allegations on the Prosecutor General’s website, and shared
them with visiting U.S. congressional delegations.
In addition, Simpson has testified that he had dinner with Veselnitskaya
the night before the meeting and the night after.
Accompanying Veselnitskaya to the meeting was Russian-American lobbyist
Rinat Akhmetshin, who had served in the Soviet Union’s military
counterintelligence service. His role remains unclear, but evidence
suggests he may have been the source Simpson was alluding to in December
2016 when Ohr recorded that Simpson told him, “Much of the collection
about the Trump campaign ties to Russia comes from a former Russian
intelligence officer (? not entirely clear) who lives in the U.S.”
Veselnitskaya hired Simpson in spring 2014 for work that lasted,
according to Simpson’s Senate testimony, until “mid to late 2016.”
Fusion GPS assisted Veselnitskaya -- representing Pyotr Katsyv and his
son Denis, both Kremlin-tied businessmen -- in her campaign to repeal
U.S. legislation sanctioning Russian officials under the 2012 Magnitsky
Act, which was named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian corruption
whistleblower who died in police custody. Simpson, sources told
RealClearInvestigations, was tasked with running a smear campaign against
the driving force behind those sanctions, Chicago-born financier William
Browder, who had employed Magnitsky.
lthough the Trump campaign agreed to meet Veselnitskaya to receive dirt
on Clinton, she succeeded in turning the meeting’s focus instead to the
Magnitsky Act and Browder – including Simpson-generated claims accusing
Browder of tax evasion and embezzlement. Citing her public
acknowledgement, Browder told RealClearInvestigations, “It seems to me
that Simpson wrote the talking points about me that Veselnitskaya used in
her meeting with Donald Trump Jr.”
Although Browder was unaware of the Trump Tower meeting, he was so
concerned about Fusion GPS’s work on behalf of Russian interests that in
July 2016, he lodged a complaint with the DOJ against both Simpson and
Akhmetshin, for failing to properly register as foreign agents while
working for the Russian government.
Instead of raising red flags, Browder’s concerns appear to have been
ignored. Ohr continued to work with Fusion GPS. Records show he quickly
responded to Simpson’s Aug. 22, 2016 email whose only text was the chummy
subject line “Can u ring?” And the DOJ and FBI used the dossier prepared
by Simpson’s firm – which drew on Russian sources -- as evidence to
obtain a warrant in October 2016 to monitor the communications of Trump
team adviser Carter Page.
The warrant was renewed three times, twice after Sen. Charles Grassley,
the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, sent an inquiry to the Justice
Department in March 2017 on the status of Browder’s complaint. It has
still not responded to Browder’s complaint.
With Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen reportedly speaking to
Special Counsel Robert Mueller about the Trump Tower meeting,
congressional Republicans are pushing back on the interpretation of the
meeting as evidence of Trump collusion with Russia. They argue that the
meeting shows the collusion is between Russia and the Clinton campaign.
“Simpson approached the Clinton campaign through its law firm and said he
could dig up dirt on Trump and Russia,” said one congressional
investigator. “The difference between the Trump and Clinton campaigns’
willingness to take dirt on its opponent is that the Clintons went
through with it and paid for it. While their source, Glenn Simpson, was
working for a Russian oligarch” -- a reference to the Katsyv connection.
A lingering mystery of the Trump Tower meeting is the man who helped
arrange it, British music publicist Rob Goldstone. On June 3, he emailed
Donald Trump Jr. with an offer originating in a meeting in the office of
the prosecutor general—Veslenitskaya’s point of contact with the Kremlin.
Goldstone promised “official documents and information that would
incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful
to your father."
Trump Jr. promptly responded: "If it's what you say I love it."
The specificity of the phrasing in Goldstone’s email appears designed to
establish the case for collusion: “This is obviously very high level and
sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support
for Mr. Trump.”
Even more curious than the wording of Goldstone’s email is the role he
played in arranging the meeting. Goldstone, who has kept a low profile
since news of the meeting broke in July 2017, testified before Congress
that he now regrets his part in it...
Keep Reading: http://bit.ly/LockHerUp_2nDWfCJ
--
"Conservative actor James Woods let America know exactly what “#DACA is
about” in one devastating tweet that included a meme depicting Senate
Minority Schoolmarm Chuck Schumer ‘saying,’ “It’s very simple to
understand actually – If Americans won’t vote for Democrats, then we’ll
import people who will."” (Scott Morefield)
Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
Russia to steal the election.
A growing body of evidence, however, indicates that the meeting may have
been a setup -- part of a broad effort to tarnish the Trump campaign
involving Hillary Clinton operatives employed by Kremlin-linked figures
and Department of Justice officials. This view, that the real collusion
may have taken place among those who arranged the meeting rather than the
Trump officials who agreed to attend it, is supported by two disparate
lines of evidence pulled together for the first time here: newly released
records and a pattern of efforts to connect the Trump campaign to Russia.
The first line of evidence includes emails, texts, and memos recently
turned over to Congress by the Department of Justice. They show how
closely senior Justice Department officials and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation worked with employees of Fusion GPS, a Washington-based
research firm reportedly paid $1 million by Clinton operatives to dig up
dirt on the Trump campaign.
They reveal that then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, the
fourth-highest-ranking official at DOJ, coordinated before, during and
after the election with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, who did work
for the Clinton campaign and Russians; and former British intelligence
officer Christopher Steele, who was employed by Simpson.
Those emails, which disclose the topics of discussions but not their
details, revolve around two business executives: Donald Trump and Oleg
Deripaska, a Russian aluminum magnate close to President Vladimir Putin.
Steele was particularly interested in resolving issues concerning
Deripaska's U.S. visa, which was revoked in 2006 because of his suspected
ties to organized crime. In another sign of the overlapping strands of
this story, when Special Counsel Robert Mueller was running the FBI in
2009, the bureau had asked Deripaska to contribute millions of dollars to
help locate former FBI agent Robert Levinson, captured in Iran in 2007
while working for the CIA. Levinson remains missing.
The Ohr-Steele-Simpson correspondence appears to include references to
the former British spy’s work for Fusion GPS on Trump’s ties to Russia.
Months before the election, Steele wrote Ohr to say that he would be back
in Washington soon "on business of mutual interest."
The cozy relationship was bolstered by the fact that the wife of the
senior DOJ official, Nellie Ohr, was employed by Fusion GPS.
After Steele was dismissed by the FBI for speaking to the press for an
October 31, 2016 report, Bruce Ohr took over the work of relaying Fusion
GPS’ opposition research on the Trump campaign directly to the FBI.
The culmination of their combined efforts, the 35-page dossier of
unverified Trump/Russia connections, was used by the FBI to secure a
warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. The Department of Justice did not
respond to RealClearInvestigations’ requests for comment, nor did Glenn
Simpson's lawyer, Joshua Levy.
The second line of evidence reframing the Trump Tower meeting -- after
the Ohr-Steele-Simpson correspondence – was first reported in June by
RealClearInvestigations. It shows that, starting in March 2016, FBI
confidential sources and other figures associated with Western
intelligence services and the Clinton campaign approached the Trump team
promising damaging information on Clinton. The Trump Tower meeting
appears to have been the most successful of these approaches, since it
was the one instance where the Trump campaign signaled it was willing to
receive incriminating information on its opponent.
These two strands of evidence – the DOJ’s collaboration with Clinton-paid
researchers and efforts to connect the Trump campaign to Russia – came
together in midtown Manhattan on June 9, 2016 at Trump Tower.
At the center of it all was Fusion GPS, which had two clients whose
interests were served by the Trump Tower meeting: the Russians and the
Clinton campaign.
Even though no evidence has emerged from the meeting of any dark
conspiracy, appearances were evidently enough. In sworn Senate testimony
last year, Simpson claimed the meeting corroborated one of the key claims
made in the reports filed by Fusion GPS contractor Steele: “Trump and his
inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the
Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.”
Nonetheless, Simpson also testified that he had no knowledge of the
meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and others until it was reported a year
later. There is reason to doubt that account.
In fact, the Russian lawyer at the center of the meeting, Natalia
Veselnitskaya, was his client.
She has publicly stated that she used talking points developed by Simpson
for the Russian government in that discussion. Kremlin officials also
posted the allegations on the Prosecutor General’s website, and shared
them with visiting U.S. congressional delegations.
In addition, Simpson has testified that he had dinner with Veselnitskaya
the night before the meeting and the night after.
Accompanying Veselnitskaya to the meeting was Russian-American lobbyist
Rinat Akhmetshin, who had served in the Soviet Union’s military
counterintelligence service. His role remains unclear, but evidence
suggests he may have been the source Simpson was alluding to in December
2016 when Ohr recorded that Simpson told him, “Much of the collection
about the Trump campaign ties to Russia comes from a former Russian
intelligence officer (? not entirely clear) who lives in the U.S.”
Veselnitskaya hired Simpson in spring 2014 for work that lasted,
according to Simpson’s Senate testimony, until “mid to late 2016.”
Fusion GPS assisted Veselnitskaya -- representing Pyotr Katsyv and his
son Denis, both Kremlin-tied businessmen -- in her campaign to repeal
U.S. legislation sanctioning Russian officials under the 2012 Magnitsky
Act, which was named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian corruption
whistleblower who died in police custody. Simpson, sources told
RealClearInvestigations, was tasked with running a smear campaign against
the driving force behind those sanctions, Chicago-born financier William
Browder, who had employed Magnitsky.
lthough the Trump campaign agreed to meet Veselnitskaya to receive dirt
on Clinton, she succeeded in turning the meeting’s focus instead to the
Magnitsky Act and Browder – including Simpson-generated claims accusing
Browder of tax evasion and embezzlement. Citing her public
acknowledgement, Browder told RealClearInvestigations, “It seems to me
that Simpson wrote the talking points about me that Veselnitskaya used in
her meeting with Donald Trump Jr.”
Although Browder was unaware of the Trump Tower meeting, he was so
concerned about Fusion GPS’s work on behalf of Russian interests that in
July 2016, he lodged a complaint with the DOJ against both Simpson and
Akhmetshin, for failing to properly register as foreign agents while
working for the Russian government.
Instead of raising red flags, Browder’s concerns appear to have been
ignored. Ohr continued to work with Fusion GPS. Records show he quickly
responded to Simpson’s Aug. 22, 2016 email whose only text was the chummy
subject line “Can u ring?” And the DOJ and FBI used the dossier prepared
by Simpson’s firm – which drew on Russian sources -- as evidence to
obtain a warrant in October 2016 to monitor the communications of Trump
team adviser Carter Page.
The warrant was renewed three times, twice after Sen. Charles Grassley,
the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, sent an inquiry to the Justice
Department in March 2017 on the status of Browder’s complaint. It has
still not responded to Browder’s complaint.
With Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen reportedly speaking to
Special Counsel Robert Mueller about the Trump Tower meeting,
congressional Republicans are pushing back on the interpretation of the
meeting as evidence of Trump collusion with Russia. They argue that the
meeting shows the collusion is between Russia and the Clinton campaign.
“Simpson approached the Clinton campaign through its law firm and said he
could dig up dirt on Trump and Russia,” said one congressional
investigator. “The difference between the Trump and Clinton campaigns’
willingness to take dirt on its opponent is that the Clintons went
through with it and paid for it. While their source, Glenn Simpson, was
working for a Russian oligarch” -- a reference to the Katsyv connection.
A lingering mystery of the Trump Tower meeting is the man who helped
arrange it, British music publicist Rob Goldstone. On June 3, he emailed
Donald Trump Jr. with an offer originating in a meeting in the office of
the prosecutor general—Veslenitskaya’s point of contact with the Kremlin.
Goldstone promised “official documents and information that would
incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful
to your father."
Trump Jr. promptly responded: "If it's what you say I love it."
The specificity of the phrasing in Goldstone’s email appears designed to
establish the case for collusion: “This is obviously very high level and
sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support
for Mr. Trump.”
Even more curious than the wording of Goldstone’s email is the role he
played in arranging the meeting. Goldstone, who has kept a low profile
since news of the meeting broke in July 2017, testified before Congress
that he now regrets his part in it...
Keep Reading: http://bit.ly/LockHerUp_2nDWfCJ
--
"Conservative actor James Woods let America know exactly what “#DACA is
about” in one devastating tweet that included a meme depicting Senate
Minority Schoolmarm Chuck Schumer ‘saying,’ “It’s very simple to
understand actually – If Americans won’t vote for Democrats, then we’ll
import people who will."” (Scott Morefield)
I Am Q
Aug 14, 2018, 2:22:59 PM8/14/18
to
Joe Cooper wrote
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
Wicked evil Hillary will be personally behind Trump's downfall.
I wonder how he'll adjust to being a PRISON BITCH?
Hillary derangement syndrome (HDS) is a mental disorder that
infects only the most inferior of the usual ignorant,
unemployable, gullible TrumpFlakes and even they understand that
purifying the bloodline starts with exterminating the weakest of
the weak. These imbeciles somehow believe that their Kremlin
approved propaganda and hate speech diverts the simple attention
spans of the right wing Trump loving dross away from the
criminality and seditiousness of the fattest, most unfit for
leadership excuse for a President the world has ever known.
Did Obama mention John McCain's campaign even once following the 2008
election? NOPE.
Mentally insane Trump and his followers are still living in 2016.
And Trump is still afraid to lock her up. Preferring to spend his time with
dictator and mass murderer Kim Jong Un.
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
I wonder how he'll adjust to being a PRISON BITCH?
Hillary derangement syndrome (HDS) is a mental disorder that
infects only the most inferior of the usual ignorant,
unemployable, gullible TrumpFlakes and even they understand that
purifying the bloodline starts with exterminating the weakest of
the weak. These imbeciles somehow believe that their Kremlin
approved propaganda and hate speech diverts the simple attention
spans of the right wing Trump loving dross away from the
criminality and seditiousness of the fattest, most unfit for
leadership excuse for a President the world has ever known.
Did Obama mention John McCain's campaign even once following the 2008
election? NOPE.
Mentally insane Trump and his followers are still living in 2016.
And Trump is still afraid to lock her up. Preferring to spend his time with
dictator and mass murderer Kim Jong Un.
I Am Q
Feb 16, 2019, 8:29:20 PM2/16/19
to
Joe Cooper wrote
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
I Am Q
Oct 7, 2019, 9:49:28 PM10/7/19
to
Joe Cooper wrote
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
I Am Q
May 12, 2020, 7:21:55 PM5/12/20
to
Joe Cooper wrote
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
> The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between high-ranking members of the
> Republican presidential campaign staff and a Russian lawyer with Kremlin
> ties remains the cornerstone of claims that Donald Trump colluded with
> Russia to steal the election.
0 new messages