![]() It might sound implausibly generous to assume they simply didn’t care what was going on - that they took the meeting not because the Kremlin was involved, but simply because they were promised dirt on Clinton. (who, like his siblings Eric and Ivanka, often tried to exert influence on the campaign’s direction), the Trump campaign sent three very heavy hitters to this meeting.Įither they did so deliberately - because they thought it was a particularly important opportunity to get an edge on Clinton - or they did so carelessly, not really caring who was behind the supposed gift. Combined with Kushner (who had been intimately involved with the campaign from the jump) and Trump Jr. He hadn’t yet formally replaced Lewandowski as campaign manager, but his power was on the rise. No one was willing to say “maybe we should totally avoid a foreign effort to discredit our opponent”Īt the time of the meeting, in early June 2016, Paul Manafort was a relatively new hire to the Trump campaign, brought on to professionalize the operation (which was being run by Trump loyalists like Corey Lewandowski rather than career politicos). This story is about them - and, by extension, the circle of people advising the world's most powerful man - every bit as much as it's about Donald Trump Jr. Manafort was key in leading Trump to victory in 2016 Kushner has guided his presidency every step of the way. Though we don’t know exactly what Manafort and Kushner knew, they certainly don’t appear to have minded or cared what was behind the meeting - or asked too many questions at all. Top campaign officials went into a meeting that had been set up to gather damaging information about an opponent from a foreign entity. knew that Veselnitskaya was a “Russian government lawyer” who wanted to meet regarding “some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary” proffered by the Russian “crown prosecutor.” And he was downright gleeful at the possibility: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” he wrote.īut make no mistake - this wasn’t just a meeting with the president’s son. That meeting with Kremlin-affiliated lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016, also included Trump’s de facto campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and longtime close adviser to the candidate (and future senior adviser to the president) Jared Kushner. It goes to the heart of Donald Trump’s campaign - and his presidency. But the latest twist in the story isn’t just about Trump Jr. is at the center of the latest revelations in the Russia scandal - as confirmed by emails he tweeted himself, he agreed to a meeting in June 2016 knowing full well it was the result of a Russian government attempt to discredit Hillary Clinton.
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