I met Don Jr and Jared at Trump Tower and we DID give them dirt on Dems, says Soviet spook: Lobbyist feared to still be a spy says he and Russian lawyer handed over documents accusing Democrats of taking dirty money
Donald Trump Jr is facing a new crisis of trust over his account of his meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after the offer of dirt on Clinton
He told Sean Hannity 'this is everything' on Tuesday but on Friday more people were revealed to be there - and one said documents WERE turned over
Ex-Soviet military intelligence officer Rinat Akhmetshin said he was in the room with the lawyer and saw her leave a folder full of claims
He said it had evidence of Democrats taking dirty money - but Trump Jr said nothing about his presence or the paperwork
A translator was also there and was named Friday while British Svengali Rob Goldstone changed his tune to say he was at the meeting too after setting it up
CNN suggested there could be even more people present including a representative of the Agalarov family - Goldstone's boss is son Emin
Trump Jr kept silent on Twitter for once while his brother-in-law Jared Kushner, who was also at meeting but has said nothing in public, was grinning in Idaho
Donald Trump Jr faced damaging new claims on Friday that he lied about his meeting with a Russian lawyer, as an ex-Soviet intelligence officer revealed he was there too and claimed a trove of claims about Democrats and 'bad money' was handed over.
Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin - who U.S. intelligence think may still be a spy - told the Associated Press that he was part of the Trump Tower meeting with Don Jr.
Don Jr brought Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law who is now one of President Donald Trump's , and Paul Manafort, then the campaign chairman.
But on Friday Akhmetshin and other sources revealed stunning new details about the meeting which put Don Jr on the ropes.
Akmetshin's disclosure of being there blew apart Don Jr's claim on Tuesday to have told 'everything' there was to say about the meeting - because the president's son had only admitted to the presence of Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin (background in glasses) was working with Natalia Veselnitskaya on an effort to kill the Global Magnitsky Act around the same time as the Trump Tower meet-up. He confirmed to the AP he attended the controversial get-together +10
Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin (background in glasses) was working with Natalia Veselnitskaya on an effort to kill the Global Magnitsky Act around the same time as the Trump Tower meet-up. He confirmed to the AP he attended the controversial get-together
Donald Trump Jr met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya last June, after being promised by an intermediary dirt on Hillary Clinton, courtesy of the Kremlin +10
Donald Trump Jr met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya last June, after being promised by an intermediary dirt on Hillary Clinton, courtesy of the Kremlin
NBC News reported Friday morning that Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney who met with Donald Trump Jr and campaign aides, was accompanied by a man with ties to Russian intelligence, something the individual has denied
Next to be revealed to be there was interpreter Anatoli Samochornov
PR executive Rob Goldstone emailed Donald Trump Jr to set the controversial meeting up. He confirmed to the Associated Press that he participated in the gathering. Next to be revealed to be there was interpreter Anatoli Samochornov (right)
Off course: Donald Trump returned to the U.S. and went to the U.S. Women's Open Championship at his Bedminster golf course on Friday, while his administration faced crisis
Grip and grin: Jared Kushner was at the meeting too. His presence kicked off the whole affair because he disclosed it in his security clearance forms +10
Grip and grin: Jared Kushner was at the meeting too. His presence kicked off the whole affair because he disclosed it in his security clearance forms
Then Akhmetshin, a former Soviet military intelligence officer, piled on the pressure with a bombshell claim that Veselnitskaya had brought a plastic folder full of printed documents which contained claims of the Democratic National Committee receiving dirty Russian money.
That directly contradicted Don Jr's account that no information had been received from the visiting Russians.
Don Jr was uncharacteristically silent on twitter as disclosure followed disclosure.
In contrast his brother-in-law Jared Kushner was grinning and relaxed as he and his wife Ivanka mingled with media moguls at Sun Valley in Idaho.
Democrats are beginning to seize on the claims with Bernie Sanders telling an Associated Press reporter: 'These are very, very, very serious allegations.'
He added that there should not be a rush to judgment.
The most damage of the day was done to Don Jr's credibility.
As well as the disclosure that documents were left, the list of who was in the meeting grew, with portly British PR Rob Goldstone admitting to the Associated Press that he was in the room, and a New York Times reporter revealing on MSNBC that there was also an interpreter present.
Anatoli Samochornov, a U.S. citizen who has worked for Veselnitskaya for some time was with him, reporter Ken Vogel said.
There could have been even more people there as CNN reported that there was an associate of pop star Emin present. Emin is the son of Aras Agalarov, the billionaire friend of Vladimir Putin and CNN said a representative of the Agalarov family was there.
Trump Jr never noted the presence of any individuals outside the campaign's senior officials - Kushner and Manafort - and the lawyer, Veselnitskaya.
Gets around: A few days after the meeting in Trump Tower Natalia Veselntiskaya headed to Washington, where she sat in on a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, almost directly behind former Obama Moscow ambassador Michael McFaul - who stated publicly this week that he does not know her +10
Gets around: A few days after the meeting in Trump Tower Natalia Veselntiskaya headed to Washington, where she sat in on a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, almost directly behind former Obama Moscow ambassador Michael McFaul - who stated publicly this week that he does not know her
During the meeting, Akhmetshin said Veselnitskaya brought along a plastic folder with printed out documents that detailed illicit funds flowing to the Democratic National Committee.
'This could be a good issue to expose how the DNC is accepting bad money,' Akhmetshin recalled the attorney saying, according to comments he made to the AP.
Akhmetshin went on saying Donald Trump Jr asked Veselnitskaya if she had all the proof in the information she was delivering.
She replied that the Trump campaign would have to do some digging itself.
After that, Akhmetshin told the AP, Donald Trump lost interest. 'They couldn?t wait for the meeting to end,' the Russian-American lobbyist said.
Akhmetshin said he didn't know if the Russian government was the source of the documents, nor did he remember if Veselnitskaya handed them over to an individual or simply left them in the room, according to the statements he made to the AP.
NBC, which initially withheld Akhmetshin's name, described the lobbyist as holding dual American and Russian citizenship, having emigrated to the US after serving in the Soviet military.
After Akhmetshin was IDed, news organizations confirmed that there were a number of other individuals sitting in on the meeting, including PR executive Ron Goldstone, who previously said he wasn't in the room.
Additionally, CNN reported that a representative of the Agalarov family, a pop star central to the narrative, was there, as well as a translator.
The translator's existence was confirmed by both Akhmetshin and Donald Trump Jr's lawyer, Alan Futerfas.
Futerfas, told NBC News that two other people accompanied Veselnitskaya to the meeting ? a translator and a 'friend of Emin [Agalarov]'s and maybe as a friend of Natalia [Veselnitskaya].'
Emin Agalarov is a pop star friend of the Trumps who asked his PR person, Ron Goldstone to reach out to Donald Trump Jr, according to emails Trump's son produced, offering information about Hillary Clinton from the Russians.
Futerfas said he has talked to the 'friend' who attended the meeting.
'He is a U.S. citizen,' Donald Trump Jr's lawyer told NBC. 'He told me specifically he was not working with the Russian government, and in fact laughed when I asked him that question.'
The individual Futerfas described is likely Akhmetshin, though CNN reported later on Friday that a representative of the Agalarov family was also in the room, as the reported meeting's size doubled since Friday morning, from four to at least eight participants.
Last weekend, when the meeting first became public, Donald Trump Jr changed his story several times, as more information was released by the New York Times.
On Saturday, he told the Times the meeting had been about Russian adoption, on Sunday he added that Veselnitskaya had come armed with dirt on the Democrats.
'After pleasantries were exchanged the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton,' the eldest Trump son said.
'Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense.
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oh shit