Former Officer ‘Is Suspected by Some U.S. Officials of Having Ongoing Ties to Russian Intelligence’
An ex-Soviet counter intelligence officer was also in the now infamous June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and a woman described in the emails the president’s son released as a Russian government attorney. This information was previously unknown, and just reported Friday morning by NBC News‘ Ken Dilanian and Natasha Lebedeva.
Trump Jr. helped arrange and attended the meeting for the purpose of obtaining compromising information against his father’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.Â
NBC News reports the former Soviet counter intelligence officer is a “Russian-American lobbyist” who “is suspected by some U.S. officials of having ongoing ties to Russian intelligence.”Â
Trump Jr. never mention the presence of the ex-Soviet counter intelligence officer in his public statements.Â
“NBC News is not naming the lobbyist, who denies any current ties to Russian spy agencies. He accompanied the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, to the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower attended by Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort,” NBC News reports. “The Russian-born American lobbyist served in the Soviet military and emigrated to the U.S., where he holds dual citizenship.”
On Thursday, overseas, President Trump defended his son, claiming, “most people would have taken that meeting. It’s called opposition research or research into your opponent.” If fact, nearly every politician and political operative on both sides of the aisle who has publicly commented have said they would not have attended. Many have said they would have called the FBI.
Speaker of the Houser Paul Ryan on Thursday, asked if he would have attended, said he doesn’t comment on hypotheticals.
Some responses to the breaking news about the ex-Soviet counter intelligence officer:
US Congressman:
Brookings Fellow:
Former Clinton campaign operative:
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