Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet intel officer turned lobbyist, attended a meeting last year with senior aides to President Donald Trump and his son, it has emerged.
Rinat Akhmetshin confirmed to media he was present at the Trump Tower encounter.
Donald Trump Jr. was promised damaging material on Hillary Clinton at the meeting, his emails show.
Donald Trump’s eldest son has only previously acknowledged that a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was present.
Donald Trump Jr. has played down the June 9, 2016, meeting since it was reported this week.
However, the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked Donald Trump Jr. to publicly testify.
Several congressional panels and federal investigators are looking into claims that Russia meddled in last year’s election in a bid to help Donald Trump.
The New York meeting was also attended by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and election chairman, Paul Manafort.
It has emerged as the firmest evidence yet of non-diplomatic interactions between Trump campaign aides and Russian figures.
During a news conference in Paris, France, on Thursday, President Trump said that “most people would have taken that meeting”.
Image source Flickr
“Zero happened,” he said.
Rinat Akhmetshin told the AP news agency he served in a Soviet military unit that was part of counterintelligence, but that he was never formally trained as a spy.
In court papers filed with the US District Court in Washington DC, where he lives, a mining company accused him of organizing a hack on its private records as part of an alleged smear campaign.
International Mineral Resources hired a private investigator to follow Rinat Akhmetshin to London.
The Russian-American was overheard in a coffee shop bragging about arranging the cyber-attack on the firm’s computer system, according to court documents.
Rinat Akhmetshin denied the allegations, and the case was later dropped.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the Russian government knows nothing about Rinat Akhmetshin, the AP reported.
Rinat Akhmetshin told the Washington Post he became a US citizen in 2009 but retains his Russian nationality.
He is a registered lobbyist who has focused in recent years on overturning the 2012 US Magnitsky Act.
The law, which froze the assets of senior Russian officials, angered President Vladimir Putin.
Rinat Akhmetshin told the Washington Post he only accompanied Natalia Veselnitskaya to the Trump Tower meeting on the spur of the moment after meeting her for lunch.
He said he showed up with her at the Manhattan skyscraper wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
Rinat Akhmetshin said he and Natalia Veselnitskaya were joined by an interpreter.
“I never thought this would be such a big deal, to be honest,” he said.
The meeting was set up by Rob Goldstone, a British music publicist for Russian pop star Emin Agalarov.
Emin Agalarov worked with Donald Trump on staging the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013.
Emails show that Rob Goldstone promised Donald Trump Jr. that Natalia Veselnitskaya, whom he described as a “Russian government attorney”, would share damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump Jr. said it became apparent as they spoke that Natalia Veselnitskaya wanted to discuss a suspended program for Americans to adopt Russian children.
However, Rinat Akhmetshin told the AP that Natalia Veselnitskaya informed Donald Trump Jr. she had details of possible illicit funds being funneled to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
“This could be a good issue to expose how the DNC is accepting bad money,” he said he recalled her saying.
According to Rinat Akhmetshin, Donald Trump Jr. asked her if she had evidence to prove the claim, but the lawyer urged the Trump campaign to research the matter.
Donald Trump’s son appeared to lose interest, said Rinat Akhmetshin.
“They couldn’t wait for the meeting to end,” he added.
Donald Trump Jr. has said he did not tell his father about a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who said she could help his election campaign.
President Trump’s son told Fox News the meeting was “just a nothing” but he should have handled it differently.
He released emails showing he had welcomed an offer to meet Natalia Veselnitskaya, who allegedly had Kremlin ties and material damaging to Hillary Clinton.
US officials are investigating alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
Since he was elected, Donald Trump has been dogged by allegations that Russia tried to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
President Trump has denied any knowledge of this and Russia has also repeatedly denied interfering.
Image source Wikipedia
Asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity if he had told his father about last year’s meeting, Donald Trump Jr. said: “No. It was such a nothing. There was nothing to tell.
“I mean, I wouldn’t have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.”
Donald Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort met Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York in June 2016.
Donald Trump’s son received an email from an intermediary, British music publicist Rob Goldstone, promising documents from Russia that would incriminate Hillary Clinton.
At that time, Donald Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee and heading towards an election fight against his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
The meeting was reportedly arranged by Russian businessman Aras Agalarov and his son Emin, a pop star who was managed for a time by Rob Goldstone.
One email from Rob Goldstone said the information they had been promised was “obviously very high-level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump”.
Donald Trump Jr.’s response to it was: “If it’s what you say I love it.”
The meeting took place, but Donald Trump Jr. told Fox News Natalia Veselnitskaya had provided them with nothing of use and it only lasted 20 minutes.
It is thought to be the first confirmed private meeting between a Russian national and members of Donald Trump’s inner circle.
After the New York Times first reported the meeting on July 8, Donald Trump Jr. released a statement which confirmed that it had taken place but did not mention whether it was related to the presidential campaign.
However, another Times report, on the next day, said Donald Trump Jr. had agreed to the meeting after being offered information that would potentially prove detrimental to Hillary Clinton.
The newspaper cited three White House advisers briefed on the meeting, and two others with knowledge for it, as its sources.
Image source Wikimedia
Donald Trump Jr. said that an acquaintance he had known from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant had set up the meeting. The Washington Post confirmed that figure to be music publicist Rob Goldstone, who has links to the Russian music industry.
In a statement on July 9, Donald Trump Jr. said he had been asked to meet “an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign”.
“I was not told her name prior to the meeting. I asked Jared [Kushner] and Paul [Manafort] to attend, but told them nothing of the substance.”
Donald Trump Jr.’s statement continues: “After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton.
“Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.
“She then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of Russian children and mentioned the Magnitsky Act.
“It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.”
Natalia Veselnitskaya said on July 8 that “nothing at all was discussed about the presidential campaign” and insisted she had “never acted on behalf of the Russian government and have never discussed any of these matters with any representative of the Russian government”.
The Magnitsky Act was adopted by Congress in 2012 and allows the US to withhold visas and freeze financial assets of Russian officials thought to have been involved in human rights violations.
The law so incensed President Vladimir Putin that he suspended a program allowing Americans to adopt Russian children.
Natalia Veselnitskaya is a lawyer whose clients include companies and individuals said to be close to the Kremlin and her main role has been campaigning against the Magnitsky Act.
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