Because the Trumps never tell the truth, we only now have found out who the eighth person in the meeting Donald Junior took to get dirt on Clinton from Russians spies (via the Washington Post):
An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged as a key focus of the investigation of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russians.Here's how it shakes out:
Ike Kaveladze’s presence was confirmed by Scott Balber, an attorney for Emin and Aras Agalarov, the Russian developers who hosted the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant in 2013. Balber said Kaveladze works for the Agalarovs’ company and attended as their representative.
Ike Kaveladze: personal representative of Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov, Putin crony.
Rinat Akhmetshin: a former Russian spy, who traffics in information stolen by Russian hackers.
Natalia Veselnitskaya: a Russian lawyer who represented a company called Prevezon that was charged with fraud and money laundering by former US attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by Trump after initially being asked to stay on. The Prevezon case was settled for a paltry $6 million two days before trial.
Rob Goldstone: publicist for Emin Agalarov and go-between for Trump Junior.
Anatoli Samochornov: a Russian-born American translator, who apparently doesn't like Republicans.
Not at the meeting were Aras and Emin Agalorov: a Russian oligarch and his pop-star son. Trump has a long history of dealings with the Agalarovs, most notably with the Miss Universe contest.
The theory of the crime now looks like this: the Russians promised dirt on Clinton that they had or would obtain from Russian spies/hackers (Akhmetshin's area of expertise). In exchange, the Russians wanted the Magnitsky Act to be repealed (which Veselnitskaya had been working on for years), allowing oligarchs like those charged in the Prevezon case to freely launder their dirty Russian money in American real estate and casinos (things the Trumps know all about).
The subject of adoption came up because Veselnitskaya would have told the Trump campaign a future Trump administration could justify the repeal of the Magnitsky Act as a humanitarian action, allowing Americans to adopt Russian orphans once more. Putin instituted the adoption ban in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act.
Getting rid of sanctions on Russia was one of Trump's constant themes throughout the 2016 campaign. Trump frequently talked about removing sanctions on Russia, and recognizing Russia's annexation of Crimea. Why? Trump voters didn't give a damn about Russia, but this was always a top priority for Trump because he has lots of ties to Russian money.
The Trump Justice Department settled the Prevezon case in May, for $6 million even though their own brief claimed the scheme involved $230 million. This was two months after Preet Bharara, who brought the original charges, was fired by Trump. Did this come up in discussions that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had with Sergei Kislyak?
Trump's Justice department claimed the case was too complicated for a jury to understand, and there were no longer any witnesses willing to testify. The main witness, lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, "fell out a window" in Moscow and nearly died in March. I.e., the Kremlin tried to kill him.
Or was the Prevezon case settled because Trump shell companies were involved with the money laundering? Trump tax forms may answer this question, which is probably why he doesn't want to release them.
Or was the Prevezon case settled for pennies on the dollar because the Russians have dirt on the Trumps and Jeff Sessions? There is a very real possibility that the entire Trump administration has been compromised by Russia, and vulnerable to Russian blackmail and extortion.
The whole scheme is a classic quid pro quo: the Russians offered to help Trump get elected, and in exchange he would help Russian oligarchs launder money in the United States, quite possibly as "investments" in Trump real estate ventures (something Don Jr. bragged about, saying that he didn't need American banks because he could get money from Russia).
The Trumps now claim that "anybody" would have met with the Russians to get opposition research, but even before the meeting it was self-evident that this "research" was the fruit of Russian espionage and therefore illegal and likely treasonous.
Trump Junior claims he was ignorant and naive and didn't know what the hell he was doing (his father calls this 39-year-old man a "boy"). For once Junior is telling the truth: he is ignorant, naive and doesn't know what he's doing. But he knew he was dealing with Russian spies and criminals, because he had been doing business with these criminals for years.
Some experts think that this has little to do with the election, and everything to do with good old-fashioned corruption and money laundering.
Here's hoping that Mueller can get the straight dope on all this before witnesses like Goldstone, Akhmetshin, Samachornov and Veselnitskaya start falling out of windows.
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