Trump Tower Meeting Looks Increasingly Like a Setup by Russian and Clinton Operatives

[anatta]

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.
Rinat Akhmetshin, Trump Tower meeting attendee, photographed at a distance in 2016 after a documentary screening in Washington.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via AP

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.
William Browder, whose complaint to the Justice Department that Simpson was acting as a foreign agent was ignored.
AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File

Although 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.
Rob Goldstone, the British music publicist who enticed Donald Trump Jr. to the Trump Tower meeting.
AP Photo

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.
Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., to the right of Donald Trump on the campaign trail.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

According to the dossier, Trump himself as well as aides Paul Manafort and Carter Page were in clandestine contact with the Russian government. “If that was really the case,” former FBI agent Mark Wauck told RealClearInvestigtions, “it’s not clear why the Russian government needed a British music publicist to make an overture. And why would Moscow need to send a Russian lawyer who didn’t speak English to Trump Tower? That tends to confirm that the meeting was intended as a setup.”

On June 9, 2016, Goldstone brought Veselnitskaya to meet with Trump Jr., Manafort and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower. The senior Trump campaign officials were disappointed to find out that she wanted to talk about Browder and his associates.

Trump Jr. cut the appointment with Veselnitskaya short. But if this were a sting operation, engineered by Simpson, with likely assistance from Justice Department officials he is now known to have been in regular contact with, the damage had already been done.

“The purpose of the meeting,” one congressional investigator told RCI, “was to substantiate the Clinton-funded dossier alleging that Trump was taking dirt on his rivals from the Russians.”
https://www.realclearinvestigations....e_a_setup.html

[Darth Omar]

I was suspicious of a set-up from the get-go.

None of it makes a bit of sense. Unless, someone wanted Junior to take the bait as part of the ‘insurance policy’. Then there’s the by now, all too familiar, incestuous ‘all the characters are linked in some way’.

It reeks of a set up.

[Cypress]

Trump Tower Meeting Looks Increasingly Like a Setup by Russian and Clinton Operatives

This totally has to be from the Onion, no?

[Bourbon]

Yea Right

[dukkha]

I was suspicious of a set-up from the get-go.

None of it makes a bit of sense. Unless, someone wanted Junior to take the bait as part of the ‘insurance policy’. Then there’s the by now, all too familiar, incestuous ‘all the characters are linked in some way’.

It reeks of a set up.

It does.. Its so complicated witht he same players dropping in and out playing different roles,and then the classified curtain that obscures everything.

We need some investigative journalism here.. ROFL ..did I say that about our servile press??
Sarah Carter can't be everywhere!
~~

According to the dossier, Trump himself as well as aides Paul Manafort and Carter Page were in clandestine contact with the Russian government. “If that was really the case,” former FBI agent Mark Wauck told RealClearInvestigtions, “it’s not clear why the Russian government needed a British music publicist to make an overture. And why would Moscow need to send a Russian lawyer who didn’t speak English to Trump Tower? That tends to confirm that the meeting was intended as a setup.”

On June 9, 2016, Goldstone brought Veselnitskaya to meet with Trump Jr., Manafort and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower. The senior Trump campaign officials were disappointed to find out that she wanted to talk about Browder and his associates.

Trump Jr. cut the appointment with Veselnitskaya short. But if this were a sting operation, engineered by Simpson, with likely assistance from Justice Department officials he is now known to have been in regular contact with, the damage had already been done.

“The purpose of the meeting,” one congressional investigator told RCI, “was to substantiate the Clinton-funded dossier alleging that Trump was taking dirt on his rivals from the Russians.”

[Getin the ring]

Nothing Mueller is doing will stand up in a court of law. Opposition research paid for and obtained by the DNC and Hillary from a phony dossier to obtain a FISA warrant, everything after that is inadmissible.
This is law School 101, it's not brain surgery.

Mueller is just in to deep to stop.
My guess is he will keep going until embarrassed Democrats call it off, which could be a while given their triggered state.

[Old Trapper]

“The purpose of the meeting,” one congressional investigator told RCI, “was to substantiate the Clinton-funded dossier alleging that Trump was taking dirt on his rivals from the Russians.”

It is only natural for fools to grasp at straws to defend their pervert in chief. Emails showing that the commie offered the Trump campaign dirt on Hillary, and Donnie Jr. willingness to accept them even from a foreign agency, is not enough for the stupid, and the gullible.

[cancel2 2022]

This totally has to be from the Onion, no?

Jeez, Crypiss has turned into a Valley Girl!

[Micawber]

weak

[Bourbon]

Sure is a lot of Experienced Lawyers on this Forum ...

[Old Trapper]

Nothing Mueller is doing will stand up in a court of law. Opposition research paid for and obtained by the DNC and Hillary from a phony dossier to obtain a FISA warrant, everything after that is inadmissible.
This is law School 101, it's not brain surgery.

Mueller is just in to deep to stop.
My guess is he will keep going until embarrassed Democrats call it off, which could be a while given their triggered state.

Four, count them, FOUR Republican appointed judges accepted the dossier, and fools like you still think it was a fraud. Must be some awfully stupid judges the Rrpugnant Party is appointing.

And apparently we now have yet another stupid diagnosis from those lacking the IQ of a piss ant: "triggered".

[Centerleftfl]

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.
Rinat Akhmetshin, Trump Tower meeting attendee, photographed at a distance in 2016 after a documentary screening in Washington.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via AP

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.
William Browder, whose complaint to the Justice Department that Simpson was acting as a foreign agent was ignored.
AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File

Although 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.
Rob Goldstone, the British music publicist who enticed Donald Trump Jr. to the Trump Tower meeting.
AP Photo

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.
Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr., to the right of Donald Trump on the campaign trail.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

According to the dossier, Trump himself as well as aides Paul Manafort and Carter Page were in clandestine contact with the Russian government. “If that was really the case,” former FBI agent Mark Wauck told RealClearInvestigtions, “it’s not clear why the Russian government needed a British music publicist to make an overture. And why would Moscow need to send a Russian lawyer who didn’t speak English to Trump Tower? That tends to confirm that the meeting was intended as a setup.”

On June 9, 2016, Goldstone brought Veselnitskaya to meet with Trump Jr., Manafort and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower. The senior Trump campaign officials were disappointed to find out that she wanted to talk about Browder and his associates.

Trump Jr. cut the appointment with Veselnitskaya short. But if this were a sting operation, engineered by Simpson, with likely assistance from Justice Department officials he is now known to have been in regular contact with, the damage had already been done.

“The purpose of the meeting,” one congressional investigator told RCI, “was to substantiate the Clinton-funded dossier alleging that Trump was taking dirt on his rivals from the Russians.”
https://www.realclearinvestigations....e_a_setup.html

A new angle? WE set it up? And JR. fell for it?

[Micawber]

It doesn't matter how weak the bit is, all that matters is that the memo go out and all the Repugnitards rock back and forth chanting it
maybe to some droning Gregorian music.

[anatta]

A new angle? WE set it up? And JR. fell for it?

who is we?
signs point to Simpson setting it up

[Nordberg]

Rightys turning the world over. looking at its butthole is reality. Can see whatever you want and claim it is true. Fusion was started and paid for by Repub big time donors. The DNC picked up an ongoing investigation.