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Former Soviet Counter Intelligence Officer at Meeting With Donald Trump Jr. and Russian Lawyer
NBC News ^ | July 14, 2017 | Ken Dilanian and Natasha Lebedeva

Posted on 07/14/2017 5:15:41 AM PDT by Pinkbell

(Currently Breaking News On NBC)

WASHINGTON — The Russian lawyer who met with the Trump team after a promise of compromising material on Hillary Clinton was accompanied by a Russian-American lobbyist — a former Soviet counter intelligence officer who is suspected by some U.S. officials of having ongoing ties to Russian intelligence, NBC News has learned.

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.

The Russian-born American lobbyist served in the Soviet military and emigrated to the U.S., where he holds dual citizenship.

Veselnitskaya acknowledged to NBC News that she was accompanied by at least one other man, though she declined to identify him.

The presence at the meeting of a Russian-American with suspected intelligence ties is likely to be of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller and the House and Senate panels investigating the Russian election interference campaign.

Contacted by NBC News, representatives for Kushner and Manafort declined to comment. A lawyer for Trump Jr. did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Veselnitskaya, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, denied having any connection to the Kremlin and insisted the meeting was to discuss sanctions, not the presidential campaign.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: 201606; 20160609; akhmetshin; donjr; fakenews; rinatakhmetshin; russia; russialawyer; trump; trumpjrrussia; trumprussia
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To: grania

My theory is that he absolutely remembered that he met with russians but perhaps his ethics lawyer...gorelick. .told him he didnt need to report it.

Once top shelf legal shark was hired...voila...he suddenly remembers once legal team found them


21 posted on 07/14/2017 5:43:47 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: DoodleDawg

Yeah. The constant dribble of these leaks don’t help anything. At this point, Trump and his staff should make a public list of every single time they can remember talking to a Russian since the start of the campaign and release it. I don’t believe they colluded, so they would have nothing to hide.


22 posted on 07/14/2017 5:45:15 AM PDT by Pinkbell (http://dtforpres.blogspot.com/2017/05/tips-for-trump-beating-russia-narrative.html)
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To: Pinkbell
Has it occurred to even one of the Democrats pushing this witch hunt that they are steaming at flank speed into water filled with their own torpedoes?

Something has to give here. This idiocy has to stop. But how?

23 posted on 07/14/2017 5:46:02 AM PDT by 60Gunner (The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. - Plato)
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To: lowbridge
Sessions said the same thing.

And what about the Schummer/Putin picture....and that was Russia opening a company in the USA. Schummer was gleeful about it.

24 posted on 07/14/2017 5:46:07 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Malcolm Reynolds

Who was translating when she attended hearing and was spying on mcfauls laptop.

Perhaps claim of no English is a lie...still...she would need translator to keep up lie


25 posted on 07/14/2017 5:49:12 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: Pinkbell
The Russian-born American lobbyist served in the Soviet military and emigrated to the U.S., where he holds dual citizenship.

This sentence says more than a lot of people may realize.

I believe he would not have been able to secure U.S. citizenship without first attesting that he had never served as a Soviet intelligence officer. The mere fact that he holds U.S. citizenship should give anyone dealing with him the legal cover to assume that he is not a former Soviet intelligence officer.

26 posted on 07/14/2017 5:50:24 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." -- President Trump, 6/1/2017)
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To: Pinkbell

A steady stream of leaks is just the media using the Goebbels technique:
repeat a lie often enough, and people will start to believe it.

Or, throw enough mud, and some of it is likely to stick.

Just keep playing the same broken record over and over again...


27 posted on 07/14/2017 5:51:30 AM PDT by CondorFlight (I)
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To: lowbridge

If Donald Trump or Donald Trump Jr. met with persons of any other nationality than Russian, that would be regarded as totally not newsworthy. Only the Russia-Russia-Russia meme is meaningful.

Russians are not some kind of galactic aliens of other than earthly origin, they are not ten feet tall, they do not have powers of teleportation or telepathy, and they are not shape-changers. Of course, they will still and always be Russians, but that is not necessarily a stigma of any sort.


28 posted on 07/14/2017 5:52:57 AM PDT by alloysteel (The difference between Illinois and Venezuela, is that toilet tissue is still available in Illinois.)
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To: Pinkbell
(Currently Breaking News On NBC)

Wow! Now there's a surprise! /S

29 posted on 07/14/2017 5:53:38 AM PDT by Road Warrior ‘04 (Molon Labe! (Oathkeeper))
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To: Alberta's Child

Not necessarily. Remember..both sides recruit..and blackmail to gain assets and information

That lawyers life could be in jeopardy at this point.

There is already a hall of fame snitch involved in the trump saga...with protection because he isnt dead despite all the snitching he has done..including for loretta lynch


30 posted on 07/14/2017 5:56:25 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: manc; yldstrk
sick of hearing this crap. It is all B/S pushed by the Dem party to deflect attention away from the crimes of the Clinton crime family, and obama/Jarrett.

It is also for the feckless Republicans in Congress to give them MORE excuses to sit on their hands and do nothing on President Trump's agenda.

I really do despise them.

31 posted on 07/14/2017 5:58:57 AM PDT by KC_Lion (If you want on First Lady Melania's, Ivanka Trump's or Sarah Palin's Ping Lists, just let me know.)
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To: grania

They are more liberal, certainly, and I believe they’d be just as happy if her Dad ran a liberal administration, but that said, he has so few people he can trust. My understanding is that he can trust is son in law, and he can certainly trust his daughter. They already got Flynn, and I would hate to see the media get another scalp. Their goal is to isolate Trump.


32 posted on 07/14/2017 5:59:25 AM PDT by Pinkbell (http://dtforpres.blogspot.com/2017/05/tips-for-trump-beating-russia-narrative.html)
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To: Pinkbell

“Currently trending nationally on Twitter, and one of Hillary’s people, Peter Daou, is claiming that the Trumps colluded in the open. The liberals are in their usual state of Russia induced hysteria.”

Gotta love rat projection syndrome.


33 posted on 07/14/2017 5:59:40 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (“The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive.”)
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To: DoodleDawg

>> having this stuff come out in dribs and drabs just reinforces the perception that the Trumps are hiding something <<

It also doesn’t help when you keep CHANGING the story. Didn’t Don Jr. tell Hannity flat out that nobody else was involved in the meeting?

(Let’s hope Hannity will clarify this afternoon or tonight on his show.)


34 posted on 07/14/2017 6:04:56 AM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: RummyChick

I’m not saying the guy was NOT a former Soviet intelligence officer. I’m saying the people who met with him would have every reason to believe wasn’t.


35 posted on 07/14/2017 6:05:09 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." -- President Trump, 6/1/2017)
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To: Lisbon1940

His name has come up before..story from April about grassley


36 posted on 07/14/2017 6:05:23 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Oh sure..true

..trumps have had a lot of dealings with former Soviet bloc people. They aren’t all spies

.the people named in this escapade are all heavily involved in getting rid of that Act..probably because it hinders money laundering escapades...not because of adoptions


37 posted on 07/14/2017 6:10:07 AM PDT by RummyChick (can we switch Don,Jr for Prince Kush and his flak jacket. From Yacht Party to Warzone ready to wear.)
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To: Pinkbell; Brown Deer; thouworm; hoosiermama; Liz; rodguy911; GregNH; bitt; HarleyLady27

Six People Were Involved In The Trump Tower Meeting, But We Only Know About Five Of Them
http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/13/six-people-were-involved-in-the-trump-tower-meeting-but-we-only-know-about-five-of-them/

But the 43-year-old lawyer does not speak or read English, so she was accompanied by a translator in her Trump Tower pitch.
The identity of that translator has still not been confirmed, but Veselnitskaya works closely with Anatoli Samochornov, a Russia-born professional translator who at the time of the Trump Tower meeting was a part-time contractor for the State Department.
[ ]

The duo’s non-profit, HRAGIF, claims to advocate for the adoption of Russian children by Americans, which was banned by Russian president Vladimir Putin in retaliation for passage of the Magnitsky Act. But HRAGIF and its operatives, including a former Soviet intelligence official named Rinat Akhmetshin, have used the group to lobby U.S. lawmakers on the Magnitsky Act.

[ ]

Bill Browder, a London-based investor who has accused Veselnitskaya of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act because of her anti-Magnitsky lobbying, told TheDC that Samochornov translated for the lawyer during his deposition for the legal case involving Katsyv.

[ ]

Samochornov, whose wife lists herself on social media as a program officer at the State Department, recently translated for Veselnitskaya and Katsyv during a court hearing held in the Prevezon case on May 3.
Katsyv’s American lawyers filed a request asking the judge on the case to allow Samochornov to use a portable FM tour guide system to help translate for the two Russians.
Samochornov lists himself as a State Department and Meridian International Center employee on his LinkedIn profile.
Though the page appears to have not been updated recently, Samochornov says that has worked as an “Interpreter at high level UN and private sector meetings for the Secretary of State and other VIPs.”


38 posted on 07/14/2017 6:10:25 AM PDT by Whenifhow (when, if and how will Obama be gone?)
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To: KC_Lion

Tired of the limp 8888 republicans


39 posted on 07/14/2017 6:12:44 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Pinkbell
>> He told me specifically he was not working for the Russian government <<

It seems to me that if you're a deep undercover KGB asset, you might not necessarily go around telling people about your status.

(But that's just my humble opinion. Could be wrong.)

40 posted on 07/14/2017 6:13:22 AM PDT by Hawthorn
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