A review of the materials the Senate Judiciary Committee released Wednesday that relate to its inquiry into the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower reveals important new details about possible Trump campaign cooperation with Russian government agents and allies.
7/24/15 Rob Goldstone emails Rhona Graff and says Emin Agalarov can set up a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. (Exhibit 9)
1/19/16 and 6/29/16 Goldstone first emails Rhona Graff and later Dan Scavino (copying several others) about "Russian Facebook" (VK) wanting to make Trump a page. In his June email, Goldstone says he mentioned the idea to Don Jr. and Paul Manafort in a recent meeting. (Exhibits 10 and 12)
6/10/16 Goldstone emails Graff to find out how Aras and Emin Agalarov can have a large birthday gift delivered to Trump. (Exhibit 14)
6/14/16 Goldstone emails Ike Kaveladze a CNN article about Russian hackers stealing information from the DNC, calling it "eerily weird." (Exhibit 16)
11/13/16 Kaveladze and Goldstone text about being in the president's inner circle. (Exhibit 21)
From Boston Globe's Deputy Washington Bureau Chief:
11/28/16 Goldstone passes sanctions document from Aras Agalarov to Trump transition through Graff who forwards it to Steve Bannon. (Exhibit 6)
7/9/17 Goldstone admits lying to hide the Agalarovs' involvement in the June 9th meeting. (Exhibit 4)
7/10/17 Trump Organization lawyers reach out to Rob Goldstone to coordinate stories (Exhibit 28) and communicate several times in June and July 2017 to help draft statements. (Exhibits 1, 2, 3, and 5)
7/23/17 Anthony Scaramucci emails Rob Goldstone saying "if we remain consistent and united I don't envisage any issues we can't ride out." (Exhibit 30)
As for the events immediately prior to and during the June 9th meeting itself, the following excerpts from Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony given on September 7, 2017 are worth noting:
Page 10:
MR. [Patrick] DAVIS, [Deputy Chief Investigative Counsel with the Committee' s majority staff]: You should understand that, although the interview is not under oath, by law you are required to answer questions from Congress truthfully. Do you understand that?
MR. TRUMP: I do.
(...)
MR. DAVIS: Witnesses who knowingly provide false statements could be subject to criminal prosecution and imprisonment for up to five years. Do you understand that?
MR. TRUMP: I do .
MR. DAVIS : Is there any reason you 're unable to provide truthful answers to today's questions?
MR. TRUMP: No.
Page 15:
MR. TRUMP: ... While this was going on we were also in the process of replacing our campaign manager. It was an extraordinarily intense period of time.
In the midst of this maelstrom on the morning of June 3, 2016 I received an e-mail from Rob Goldstone. Although I had not seen him in quite some time, Rob would intermittently contact me ...
Donald Trump did not fire campaign manager Corey Lewandowski until June 20th, and by that time, Paul Manafort already had become the campaign chairman and, basically, was running the day-to-day.
Page 18:
MR. TRUMP: ... I told Rob that Jared Kushner and our newly hired campaign manager Paul Manafort would likely also attend.
Don Jr. says Natalia Veselnitskaya opened the meeting "telling the group very generally something about individuals connected to Russia supporting or funding Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or the Democratic National Committee" but that he didn't understand her, and she quickly pivoted to discussing the Magnitsky Act and adoptions.
Page 20:
MR. TRUMP: ... At this point Jared excused himself from the meeting to take a phone call. I proceeded to quickly and politely end the meeting by telling Ms. Veselnitskaya that because my father was a private citizen there did not seem to be any point for having this discussion.
On June 6th, Don Jr. had two calls with Emin Agalarov. In between, he received a call from a blocked number.
Page 27:
Q. ... According to the document, 25 minutes after the first call ended you made an outgoing call to that same number, but in between the two calls there's another entry, a call at 4:27 that lasted four minutes from a blocked number. Between Emin's call to you at 4:04 and your return call to him at 4:31,with whom did you have a call?
A. I have no idea.
(...)
Q. And, again , according to this exhibit on the next day, June 7, 2016, you received an incoming call from that same number at 12:44 p.m. which lasted two minutes . Do you recall the contents of that call?
A. I do not.
According to Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, Donald Trump used a blocked phone number at his personal residence at the time of the call.
Page 29:
Q. Did you inform your father about the meeting or the underlying offer prior to the meeting?
A. No, I did not.
Page 44:
Q. Did Ms. Veselnitskaya or her colleagues ask that your father take any action regarding the Justice Department's lawsuit against Prevezon Holdings if elected?
A. Not that I remember.
Preet Bharara was overseeing the Prevezon case when he was fired on March 10, 2017. The trial scheduled for Monday, May 15, 2017 likely would have exposed details of suspected Russian mafia operations. But on the Friday before - May 12th - the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office settled. Prevezon was fined $5.9 million but did not have to admit any wrongdoing. It has yet to forfeit a dime.
Page 46:
Q. What, if anything, did Ms. Veselnitskaya and her colleagues offer you or the Trump campaign during this meeting?
A. Nothing.
Q. What, if anything, did they ask of you or the Trump campaign?
A. Nothing.
Q. Other than what we've already discussed, what other topics were discussed at the meeting?
A. As I said, it started off with that sort of tax scheme and, you know, quickly migrated to Russian adoption and ultimately the Magnitsky Act. That's really the extent of it.
Page 48:
Q. This is an e-mail from Mr. Goldstone to Dan Scavino, copying you, Rhona Graff, and Konstantin Sidorkov. It was sent on June 29, 2016. It states, in part, "Dan, I am following up an e-mail a while back of something I had mentioned to Don and Paul Manafort during a meet recently. ... To the best of your recollection, did Mr. Goldstone discuss his VK proposal with you and Mr. Manafort during the June 9, 2016 meeting?
A. No, not that I recall.
Q. Do you recall discussing it with him at any other meeting?
A. I recall seeing the e-mails in preparation for this, but, again, I didn't give it much.
Q. To the best of your knowledge, did theTrump campaign ever pursue this?
A. I don't believe they did.
Page 59:
Q. The Washington Post has since reported that your father was involved in drafting your July 8th statement. Is that correct?
A. I don't know. I never spoke to my father about it.
Q. Do you know who did draft that statement?
A. Well, there were numerous statements drafted with counsel and other people were involved and, you know, opined.
Q. To the best of your knowledge, did the President provide any edits to the statement or other input?
A. He may have commented through Hope Hicks .
Q. And do you know if his comments provided through Hope Hicks were incorporated into the final statement?
A. I believe some may have been, but this was an effort through lots of people, mostly counsel.
Q. Did you ask him to provide any assistance with the statement?
A. No.She asked if I wanted to actually speak to him, and I chose not to because I didn't want to bring him
into something that he had nothing to do with.
Witnesses disagree on how long Jared Kushner attended the meeting, but Goldstone says the president's son-in-law got upset when Natalia Veselnitskaya did not deliver the expected dirt on Hillary Clinton.
CNN:
Four of the attendees, including Trump Jr. and two of the Russians, backed up Kushner's recollection, according to the transcripts. But two of the other people in the room that day testified that Kushner stayed for the entire time, or was there nearly the entire time.
Jared Kushner became “agitated” and “infuriate[d]” at the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting when a Kremlin-connected lawyer droned on about U.S. sanctions, instead of delivering on a promise to provide damaging information on Hillary Clinton. That’s according to Rob Goldstone, a British music promoter and friend of the Trumps who helped set up the meeting between Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump Jr.—and who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Trump Tower confab.
Goldstone’s testimony stands in contrast to what Kushner said in public about the meeting. In a July 2017 statement, Kushner paints himself as bored and confused by Veselnitskaya’s presentation.
(...)
Goldstone, for his part, testified that Kushner became visibly angry when Veselnitskaya delivered a lengthy diatribe about U.S. sanctions on Russia and their impact on adoptions—instead of handing over dirt on Clinton.
“After a few minutes of this labored presentation, Jared Kushner, who is sitting next to me, appeared somewhat agitated by this and said, I really have no idea what you're talking about. Could you please focus a bit more and maybe just start again?” Goldstone recalled of the meeting according to hearing transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. “And I recall that she began the presentation exactly where she had begun it last time, almost word for word, which seemed, by his body language, to infuriate him even more.”
Materials from Inquiry into Circumstances Surrounding Trump Tower Meeting (Senate Judiciary Committee)
Donald Trump Jr. Senate Judiciary Committee testimony (pdf)
Russian social media giant offered pro-Trump effort during campaign (ABC News)
Witnesses disagree on Kushner timing at Trump Tower meeting (CNN)
Trump Jr. lawyer tried to coordinate stories on Trump Tower meeting with organizer (The Hill)
Steve Bannon Got Russian ‘Evidence’ From Rob Goldstone During Transition (The Daily Beast)
‘Infuriated’ Jared Kushner Lost His Cool When Russians Didn’t Deliver Hillary Dirt (The Daily Beast)
Donald Trump Fires Corey Lewandowski, His Campaign Manager (NYT)