According to BuzzFeed News, Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov sent then-candidate Donald Trump an expensive birthday gift during the campaign, and Donald Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov exchanged text messages during the presidential transition.
The “first of a series” of text messages was sent between Emin Agalarov and Donald Trump Jr. two days after the 2016 election, a source familiar with the communications told BuzzFeed News.
The communications continued through at least mid-December 2016, according to information made public Friday.
It is not clear how many messages were sent, whether Trump Jr. sent any of them, or how many were sent by either party — although BuzzFeed News confirmed that multiple messages were sent.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee revealed one of the text messages, from Dec. 13, 2016, in their “minority views” report on Friday — one of several new pieces of information that suggest that the Trumps’ relationship with the Agalarovs was much closer than the president and his family have said.
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In their response to the Republican report, the Democrats on Friday provided more detail about the relationship between the Trumps and the Agalarovs.
The report confirms an email exchange Trump Jr. released in July 2017 in which Trump Jr. and [Rob] Goldstone were trying to set up a phone call between Trump Jr. and Emin on June 6, 2016. BuzzFeed News sought more information this past summer about whether any such calls took place, but no one would say — until Friday, when the Democrats detailed two calls from a number that Trump Jr. told the committee was Emin’s. A call came from “a ‘blocked’ number … between the two calls.”
“The first call occurred at 4:04 pm on June 6, 2916 [sic] – just 21 minutes after Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. to say that Emin Agalarov was ‘on stage in Moscow but should be off within 20 minutes so I am sure can call,’” the report states. The blocked call came at 4:27 pm.
By 4:38 p.m., Trump Jr. sent Goldstone a follow-up email: “Rob thanks for the help. D”
Three days later, Trump Jr. — along with Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner — would host the Trump Tower meeting.
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After the short meeting, according to the Democrats’ report, the group — excluding Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner — went to the bar in Trump Tower. While there, [Irakly] Kaveladze took a call from Aras Agalarov.
The next day, Aras had “an expensive painting” delivered to Trump. The Democrats’ report cites an email — subject line, “Birthday gift for Mr. Trump” — from Goldstone to Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant.
A week later, the Democrats’ report states, Trump sent Aras a thank-you note.
“There are few things better than receiving a sensational gift from someone you admire – and that’s what I’ve received from you,” Trump wrote to Aras. “You made my birthday a truly special event by your thoughtfulness – not to mention your remarkable talent. I’m rarely at a loss for words, but right now I can only say how much I appreciate your friendship and to thank you for this fantastic gift. This is one birthday that I will always remember.”
Contacts between the Trumps and the Agalarovs continued after the election as well. While it has been known that the Agalarovs posted supportive messages on social media surrounding Trump’s election and inauguration, it had not before Friday been known that they were directly communicating during that time as well.
In the Democrats’ report, it notes one message sent by Emin to Trump Jr. on Dec. 13, 2016, posing a “quick question” for Trump Jr. According to the footnotes in the report, the text message was found among documents turned over to the committee by Trump Jr. labeled, “Text Messages from Emin Agalarov to Donald Trump Jr., November 10, 2016.”
A source familiar with the messages told BuzzFeed News that the Nov. 10, 2016, date represents “the date of the first of a series” of messages between Trump Jr. and Emin. Based on the description in the Democrats’ report, the text messages — at least those between Nov. 10 and Dec. 13, 2016 — fit on one page.
Emin’s texts were not the only Agalarov communications to Trump associates that took place during the transition.
Goldstone, who had sent the email about Aras Agalarov’s present for Trump to Graff in June, sent another email to Graff on Nov. 28, 2016.
“Aras Agalarov has asked me to pass on this document in the hope it can be passed on to the appropriate team.” The attachment related to the Magnitsky Act.
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Friday’s report from the Democrats makes clear there was follow-up — and precisely the follow-up Trump Jr. had told them to make at the meeting. In that second statement, Trump Jr. wrote that he had interrupted Veselnitskaya when she was talking about the sanctions law and told her “that her comments and concerns were better addressed if and when he held public office.”
Graff forwarded Golstone’s Nov. 28, 2016, email to Steve Bannon, then one of Trump’s closest advisers, that same day.
She added a short note to the top: “The PE [President Elect] knows Aras well. Rob is his rep in the US and sent this on. Not sure how to proceed, if at all. R.”
Read more: Trump Jr. And Emin Agalarov Stayed In Touch Throughout The Transition (BuzzFeed News)