Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s leak-proof investigation leaked again, reporting to the Associate Press that Russian lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, who attended a meeting June 9, 2016 with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower, testified before a secret grand jury. Reported by another anonymous source, Akhmetshin testified recently before Mueller’s grand jury in Washington, D.C. Mueller finds Trump Jr.’s meeting primarily with Russian Atty. Natalia Veselnitskaya the closest link yet establishing collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. When first reported by the New York Times July 9, 2017, Veselnitskaya was called a Kremlin attorney. When asked about Veselnitskaya, the Kremlin denied knowing anything about her, refuting her connection to the Russian government. Today’s AP story calls Akhmetshin a former Russian intelligence official, again misleading readers.
. Every story reported in the liberal press has attendees of the meeting, which included Trump Jr., former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Natalia Veselnitskaya, publicist Rob Goldstone and translator Ike Kaveladze, had all the Russian players as government agents. However Akhmetshin’s testimony to Mueller’s secret grand jury leaked, the press has already tried-and-convicted Trump & Associates of Kremlin collusion. Set up by publiscist Rob Goldstone, Trump Jr. welcomed the chance to talk with anyone with dirt on Hillary. After all, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had already paid former British spy Christopher Steele to work up a dossier of opposition research on President Donald Trump. Goldstone set up the meeting because he thought Veselnitskaya had dirt on Hillary. How Mueller leaps to Kremlin collusion is anyone’s guess.
When the meeting went down June 9, 2016, Veslenigskaya had nothing to say, other that discussing Russian adoptions under the Magnitsky Act. “I decided to take the meeting,” said Trump Jr. “The women, as she said publicly, was not a government official. And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act,” said Trump Jr. If Veselnitskaya came from Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan, no one would give the meeting a second thought. Only because she’s Russian does the meeting take on nefarious proportions. Goldstone set Trump Jr. up, calling Veselnitskaya a “government attorney” who had dirt on Hillary, “part of Russia and its government’s support of Mr. Trump.” Whatever Goldstone said, that’s a far cry from Russian collusion. “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. emailed Goldstone.
Media reports indicate that Akhmetshin was a former Soviet military officer who served in counter-intelligence. Akhmetshin denied the charges calling it a smear campaign tying him to the Kremlin. Working as a Washington lobbyist for years, Akhmetshin tried to discredit the story about Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in a Russian prison under suspicious circumstances. When you look at Trump Jr.’s June 9, 2016 meeting, the optics don’t look good but that doesn’t make a case of Russian collusion. Trump Jr.’s statement about seeking opposition research on Hillary makes the most sense, not that there were connections to the Kremlin. Testifying before Mueller’s grand jury, Akhmetshin has little credibility having served as a longstanding Washington lobbyist. Saying he’d “love it” to get all the dirt on Hillary doesn’t mean that Trump Jr. colluded with the Russian government.
More leaks about Trump seeking a deal with Russia to build a Trump Tower also doesn’t prove Russian collusion.. While Trump denied any business ties with Moscow, he obviously did business with the Miss. Universe Beauty Pageant. Any ties with Russia have been blown so far out of proportions, its looks like Mueller has stretched the mandate given to him by the Justice Department to investigate Russian meddling or Trump collusion in the 2016 election. Whatever business ties Trump, Manafort or any other associate had with Russia, it doesn’t mean that Trump coordinated with Moscow to release damaging emails on Hillary, her campaign chairman or the Democratic National Committee. Hillary admitted that there’s no love lost between her and Russian President Vladimir Putin. There’s nothing nefarious or illegal about foreign officials taking sides in U.S. elections.
Mueller’s in stretch mode trying to tie emails and other evidence to prove that Trump officials colluded with the Russian government. Whether or not Trump Jr. thought he was meeting with a Russian government attorney, there’s nothing illegal about taking information from anyone. When it became apparent June 9, 2016 that Veselnitskaya had nothing offer, the meeting ended quickly. Getting opposition research from anyone is fair game in campaigns, whatever the source. Whether or not Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen admitted that Trump wanted to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, that has no bearing on the ongoing collusion investigation. Mueller and former FBI Director James Comey rely heavily on Hillary’s paid opposition research on Trump, AKA the dossier. Far from proof of collusion, Mueller has at best an entirely logical reason for holding the July 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower.
