DID DON JR. JUST SINK HIS DADS RUSSIA DEFENSE? [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya says the president’s son hinted at changing an anti-Russia law in exchange for dirt on Hillary Clinton.

BY ABIGAIL TRACY
NOVEMBER 6, 2017 11:24 AM

Donald Trump Jr.’s overeager response to a Russian intermediary’s offer for dirt on Hillary Clinton—“I love it”—essentially ensured that his subsequent meeting with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya would become a key focus for federal investigators. Trump Jr., his lawyers, the White House, and his father have all dismissed that meeting, which took place at Trump Tower in June 2016, as meaningless. “It was a 20-minute meeting, I guess, from what I’m hearing,” Trump said in defense of his son. “Many people, and many political pros, said everybody would do that.” But in a two-and-a-half-hour long interview with Bloomberg in Moscow, Veselnitskaya offered a much more damning account of the meeting, in which she says Don Jr. hinted at a quid pro quo deal.

The “dirt” Veselnitskaya was peddling was information that the Clinton campaign may have received money from the wealthy Ziff family that evaded U.S. taxes. (A spokesperson for the Ziffs said it had no comment.) In exchange for proof that the Clinton campaign received said illegal donations, Veselnitskaya said Trump Jr. indicated that, if his father won the election, the Magnitsky Act—a retaliatory measure the U.S. leveled against Moscow, blacklisting suspected human-rights abusers—would be re-examined. “Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,’’ Veselnitskaya recalled Trump Jr. saying. He allegedly added, “I understand our side may have messed up, but it’ll take a long time to get to the bottom of it.” (A lawyer for Trump Jr., Alan Futerfas, told Bloomberg that the eldest Trump son had no comment on Veselnitskaya’s interview.)

More:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/donald-trump-jr-natalia-vetelnitskaya-trump-tower-meeting