Money moving around that Trump Tower meeting
by digby
I don’t know what this means but I’ll bet Robert Mueller does:
On June 3, 2016, Donald Trump Jr. received one of the most striking emails of the presidential campaign, offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government’s “support for Mr. Trump.”
Trump Jr. responded 17 minutes later: “if it’s what you say I love it.”
That email led to a meeting at Trump Tower that has become a central focus of the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
But the very day that email was sent, another exchange was taking place behind the scenes.
Documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that $3.3 million began moving on June 3 between two of the men who orchestrated the meeting: Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer close to both Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, and Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, a longtime Agalarov employee once investigated for money laundering.
That money is on top of the more than $20 million that was flagged as suspicious, BuzzFeed News revealed earlier this month, after the money ricocheted among the planners and participants of the Trump Tower meeting. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which has been investigating whether any individuals colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, is examining the suspicious transactions, four federal law enforcement officials said. A spokesperson for Mueller’s office declined to comment.
There is a lot more detail at Buzzfeed.
I don’t know if it’s related but this struck me as interesting:
To Goldstone, the most important line came toward the end: “Would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly?” he wrote. His goal was to separate himself from this request and get Agalarov and Trump Jr. talking directly.
“If it’s what you say I love it,” Trump Jr. responded.
Phone records provided to Congress show Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov spoke briefly three days later as the singer stepped off a concert stage in Moscow.
Trump Jr. testified to Congress that he has no memory of a call. Balber said Agalarov has only vague recollection that they spoke.
The next day, Trump Jr. emailed Goldstone to say that he had invited Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law, and senior campaign official Paul Manafort to attend a meeting with the Russian lawyer set for June 9.
Trump Jr. testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee he did not know what to think of Goldstone’s email, but saw no problem with exploring whether he had important information. “I didn’t think that listening to someone with information relevant to the fitness and character of a presidential candidate would be an issue,” he said.
Goldstone said he concluded that Trump Jr. had been impressed by whatever Agalarov told him on the phone.