The number one topic of discussion surrounding the Mueller Investigation right now is the Trump Tower Meeting that took place in 2016 during Trump's campaign for Presidency.
Why is it the topic of discussion right now? Well, let's just say it is partly because the Trumps can't seem to get their "Facts" (Lies) straight regarding the meeting, how it was set up, what it was about, and who knew what when.
Donald Trump has denied having advanced knowledge of the Trump Tower Meeting since it hit the news last year, but the evidence and timelines just seem to point to a different set of facts...he knew. I am going to walk you through the timeline of events and correspondence and you can come to your own conclusion, but I think it is fairly obvious when you put everything together.
Let's start with who was at this meeting in June of 2016. You had Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner (Son-in-Law and Senior Advisor to Trump), Paul Manafort (FMR Campaign Chairman for Trump), Rob Goldstone (Middle Man between Russia and Trump Jr. and Music Publicist), Natalia Veselnitskaya (Russian Lawyer), Rinat Akhmetshin (Russian-American Lobbyist), Ike Kaveladze (Agalarov Family Representative), and Anatoli Samochorinov (Translator).
Now let's go over the timeline...
On June 3, 2016, Rob Goldstone emailed Trump Jr., saying that Russian Pop Star Emin Agalarov had asked him to arrange a meeting in order to "provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father." Goldstone claims the information came from a meeting of the "Crown prosecutor of Russia" and Russian Oligarch Aras Agalarov, Emin's father, and claims they are "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
Just 20 minutes after receiving the email from Rob Goldstone, Trump Jr. responds writing "if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."
On June 6, 2016, Goldstone emails Trump Jr. saying, "Let me know when you are free to talk with Emin by phone about this Hillary info - you had mentioned early this week so wanted to try to schedule a time and day. Best to you and family."
Trump Jr. responds back "Rob could we speak now?"
Goldstone replies "Let me track him down in Moscow."
Trump Jr. provides his phone number and Goldstone writes "Ok he's on stage in Moscow but should be off within 20 minutes so I am sure can call."
Trump Jr.'s phone records show that he received and then called a Russian number in the afternoon and evening, which Trump Jr. said was Emin Agalarov's number, according to the House Intelligence Committee Democratic Report.
Agalarov also called Trump Jr. back the following day, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee Democratic memo.
Trump Jr., however, testified that he could not recall whether he spoke to Agalarov, suggesting they might have traded voice mails.
Trump Jr.'s phone records also show a "blocked" number in between the two calls to Agalarov for four minutes, as well as an 11-minute call in the evening following the second Agalarov call, according to the Judiciary Committee Democratic Report. Trump Jr. testified to the House Intelligence Committee he did not know who the number belonged to.
Interesting fact, considering that Trump's primary residence in the tower has a blocked phone line.
On June 7, 2016, the meeting is confirmed for June 9 at 3PM between Trump Jr. and Goldstone. Trump Jr. emails Goldstone after the meeting is confirmed that the attendees "will likely be Paul Manafort my brother in law and me."
Trump secures the Republican Nomination and makes remarks "I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. I think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting."
On June 8, 2016, Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. to ask if the meeting can be pushed back an hour to 4PM. Trump Jr. forwarded the entire email exchange to Manafort and Kushner, adding "meeting got moved to 4 tomorrow at my offices."
Michael Cohen, trumps former lawyer and fixer, has recently stated that Trump Jr. told his father about the planned meeting with the Russians. He claims that he was in the room when it happened, and that Trump gave the go-ahead for his son to meet with the Russians.
Trump denies knowing about the meeting ahead of time, and found out about it one year after it occurred.
At some point before the meeting, Ike Kaveladze, who was the Agalarov representative at the meeting, told the House Intelligence Committee that he emailed Roman Beniaminov, an associate of Agalarov in the US, to ask about the purpose of the meeting. Kaveladze testified Beniaminov wrote that he "believed the scheduled meeting at Trump Tower was about providing negative information on candidate Clinton to the Trump campaign." according to the Republican Intelligence Committee report.
On June 9, 2016, the Russian Group met for lunch before the meeting, in which Veselnitskaya shared a document with a synopsis of what she would discuss. The summary contained much of the same information as a similar document reportedly shared with Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, according to the House Intelligence Republican Report.
Donald Trump held a fundraiser at the Four Seasons Hotel two blocks away from Trump Tower on the day of the Trump Tower Meeting. The event was his first fundraiser for the Trump Victory Fund, where trump met for lunch with dozens of top Republican donors to discuss the general election.
Donald Trump returned to Trump Tower roughly three hours before the meeting with Veselnitskaya and his son is scheduled to begin, where he remains for the rest of the afternoon.
Goldstone met up with Veselnitskaya and the others before going to Trump Tower. As he arrives, Goldstone checks into Trump Tower on Facebook, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Trump Tower meeting took place with the attendees listed above. It lasted anywhere from 20-30 minutes.
Akhmetshin told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump Jr. asked, "So can you show us how does this money go to Hillary?" and he requested proof or paperwork that she did not have.
In his House Intelligence Committee interview, Trump Jr. was asked by Adam Schiff, "Right. How much of the time was spent discussing that (the Magnistsky Act), and how much of the time was spent discussing dirt on Secretary Clinton?"
Trump Jr. replied, "Again, the majority was really split up between - really started off as Russian adoption, which was sort of the , you know, what I perceive to be sort of the feel good segue to probably lobbying for something as it related to the Act. So, you know, I'd say we spent less than, you know, 5 minutes of the 20 minutes, again, speaking through a translator about the quote/unquote "dirt", and the rest was a quick segue, bait-and-switch, whatever you want to call it, to speak about Russian adoption and the Magnitsky Act."
According to other meeting attendees, Trump Jr. asked for the incriminating information on Clinton but did not receive it.
Adam Schiff asked Kaveladze if he recalled Don Jr. asking whether Veselnitskaya had anything on Hillary Clinton, and he answered in the affirmative.
Goldstone testified to the House Intelligence Committee that he apologized to Trump Jr. for the "bait-and-switch".
At 4:40PM on the day of the meeting, and shortly after the meeting was complete, Trump responded to a Tweet from Hillary asking him to delete his account. He Tweeted "How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up - and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?"
Kaveladze left the bar after a few minutes to take a call from Agalarov to discuss the meeting, according to the Democratic Report. He told Agalarov that the meeting was a "complete loss of time and about nothing" according to the GOP report.
Goldstone also spoke to Emin Agalarov after the meeting, he told the Senate Judiciary panel, and said he told him it was "the most embarrassing thing you've ever asked me to do. I've just say in a meeting about adoption."
He said Agalarov replied "Adoption?" which could imply Agalarov didn't anticipate that to be the topic of the meeting.
Two hours after the meeting, Trump Jr. places another call to a blocked number, according to the Democratic Senate Judiciary memo.
On June 10, 2016, Aras Agalarov sent Trump a gift of an expensive painting for his birthday, according to the House Intelligence Democratic Report.
On June 14, 2016, Goldstone sends a news article on the hacking of the DNC being supposed Russians to Emin Agalarov and Kaveladze, according to the Democratic Report, and Goldstone states, "Top story right now - seems eerily weird based on our Trump meeting last week with the Russian lawyers etc."
On June 17th, 2016, Donald Trump sends a thank you letter to Agalarov for the gift. It read "There are few things better than receiving a sensational gift from someone you admire - and that's what I've received from you. You made my birthday a truly special event by your thoughtfulness - not to mention your remarkable talent. I'm rarely at a loss for words, but right now I can only say how much I appreciate your friendship and to thank you for this fantastic gift. This is one birthday that I will always remember."
Now, here we are, over a year later, and we have went through so many more comments and mis-directions since then. What I want you to do is really look at the details of the timeline and the very specific things that have happened.
Remember these facts as well. The initial response from Donald Trump Jr. regarding the meeting being specifically about Russian adoptions was supposedly written by Trump Jr. and Trump had nothing to do with it.
Then Sarah Sanders stated that Trump "Weighed In like any father would do", and finally, this year, Trump's Lawyers put out a statement that Trump did, indeed, dictate that entire misleading message.
So if Trump didn't know about the meeting in advance, and found out about it a year later, why was Trump Junior making calls to a blocked number after each interaction he had with the Russians? You can say that there are a lot of blocked numbers, but there really aren't that many, and the fact that Trump has one in his primary residence, where he happened to be during the times of those calls, leads most reasonable thinkers to discern that Trump was receiving updates on the meeting.
Couple that with the speech Trump gave before the Trump Tower Meeting took place where he talked about information he was going to put out the following Monday about everything the Clinton's were involved in, and the fact that no information came out of the Trump Tower Meeting, and Trump never ended up providing that information on the Clintons that he promised, and you have a recipe for a lie.
Trump is a man who wants to be involved in everything, and Trump Jr. is a son who wants to show his father that he can be successful. There is no way that a meeting that Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner were all at was not known by Trump and signed off by Trump in advance.
All of the just basic information in the timeline drives right to that point, so whatever additional Mueller has, is likely to prove something more than can be speculated with what we have in the public.
However this all ends up, it sure is going to be one hell of a roller coaster ride between now and when Mueller goes public with his final report. So strap in everyone, because it's going to be a bumpy ride.
DUNK
Why is it the topic of discussion right now? Well, let's just say it is partly because the Trumps can't seem to get their "Facts" (Lies) straight regarding the meeting, how it was set up, what it was about, and who knew what when.
Donald Trump has denied having advanced knowledge of the Trump Tower Meeting since it hit the news last year, but the evidence and timelines just seem to point to a different set of facts...he knew. I am going to walk you through the timeline of events and correspondence and you can come to your own conclusion, but I think it is fairly obvious when you put everything together.
Let's start with who was at this meeting in June of 2016. You had Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner (Son-in-Law and Senior Advisor to Trump), Paul Manafort (FMR Campaign Chairman for Trump), Rob Goldstone (Middle Man between Russia and Trump Jr. and Music Publicist), Natalia Veselnitskaya (Russian Lawyer), Rinat Akhmetshin (Russian-American Lobbyist), Ike Kaveladze (Agalarov Family Representative), and Anatoli Samochorinov (Translator).
Now let's go over the timeline...
On June 3, 2016, Rob Goldstone emailed Trump Jr., saying that Russian Pop Star Emin Agalarov had asked him to arrange a meeting in order to "provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father." Goldstone claims the information came from a meeting of the "Crown prosecutor of Russia" and Russian Oligarch Aras Agalarov, Emin's father, and claims they are "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
Just 20 minutes after receiving the email from Rob Goldstone, Trump Jr. responds writing "if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."
On June 6, 2016, Goldstone emails Trump Jr. saying, "Let me know when you are free to talk with Emin by phone about this Hillary info - you had mentioned early this week so wanted to try to schedule a time and day. Best to you and family."
Trump Jr. responds back "Rob could we speak now?"
Goldstone replies "Let me track him down in Moscow."
Trump Jr. provides his phone number and Goldstone writes "Ok he's on stage in Moscow but should be off within 20 minutes so I am sure can call."
Trump Jr.'s phone records show that he received and then called a Russian number in the afternoon and evening, which Trump Jr. said was Emin Agalarov's number, according to the House Intelligence Committee Democratic Report.
Agalarov also called Trump Jr. back the following day, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee Democratic memo.
Trump Jr., however, testified that he could not recall whether he spoke to Agalarov, suggesting they might have traded voice mails.
Trump Jr.'s phone records also show a "blocked" number in between the two calls to Agalarov for four minutes, as well as an 11-minute call in the evening following the second Agalarov call, according to the Judiciary Committee Democratic Report. Trump Jr. testified to the House Intelligence Committee he did not know who the number belonged to.
Interesting fact, considering that Trump's primary residence in the tower has a blocked phone line.
On June 7, 2016, the meeting is confirmed for June 9 at 3PM between Trump Jr. and Goldstone. Trump Jr. emails Goldstone after the meeting is confirmed that the attendees "will likely be Paul Manafort my brother in law and me."
Trump secures the Republican Nomination and makes remarks "I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. I think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting."
On June 8, 2016, Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. to ask if the meeting can be pushed back an hour to 4PM. Trump Jr. forwarded the entire email exchange to Manafort and Kushner, adding "meeting got moved to 4 tomorrow at my offices."
Michael Cohen, trumps former lawyer and fixer, has recently stated that Trump Jr. told his father about the planned meeting with the Russians. He claims that he was in the room when it happened, and that Trump gave the go-ahead for his son to meet with the Russians.
Trump denies knowing about the meeting ahead of time, and found out about it one year after it occurred.
At some point before the meeting, Ike Kaveladze, who was the Agalarov representative at the meeting, told the House Intelligence Committee that he emailed Roman Beniaminov, an associate of Agalarov in the US, to ask about the purpose of the meeting. Kaveladze testified Beniaminov wrote that he "believed the scheduled meeting at Trump Tower was about providing negative information on candidate Clinton to the Trump campaign." according to the Republican Intelligence Committee report.
On June 9, 2016, the Russian Group met for lunch before the meeting, in which Veselnitskaya shared a document with a synopsis of what she would discuss. The summary contained much of the same information as a similar document reportedly shared with Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, according to the House Intelligence Republican Report.
Donald Trump held a fundraiser at the Four Seasons Hotel two blocks away from Trump Tower on the day of the Trump Tower Meeting. The event was his first fundraiser for the Trump Victory Fund, where trump met for lunch with dozens of top Republican donors to discuss the general election.
Donald Trump returned to Trump Tower roughly three hours before the meeting with Veselnitskaya and his son is scheduled to begin, where he remains for the rest of the afternoon.
Goldstone met up with Veselnitskaya and the others before going to Trump Tower. As he arrives, Goldstone checks into Trump Tower on Facebook, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Trump Tower meeting took place with the attendees listed above. It lasted anywhere from 20-30 minutes.
Akhmetshin told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump Jr. asked, "So can you show us how does this money go to Hillary?" and he requested proof or paperwork that she did not have.
In his House Intelligence Committee interview, Trump Jr. was asked by Adam Schiff, "Right. How much of the time was spent discussing that (the Magnistsky Act), and how much of the time was spent discussing dirt on Secretary Clinton?"
Trump Jr. replied, "Again, the majority was really split up between - really started off as Russian adoption, which was sort of the , you know, what I perceive to be sort of the feel good segue to probably lobbying for something as it related to the Act. So, you know, I'd say we spent less than, you know, 5 minutes of the 20 minutes, again, speaking through a translator about the quote/unquote "dirt", and the rest was a quick segue, bait-and-switch, whatever you want to call it, to speak about Russian adoption and the Magnitsky Act."
According to other meeting attendees, Trump Jr. asked for the incriminating information on Clinton but did not receive it.
Adam Schiff asked Kaveladze if he recalled Don Jr. asking whether Veselnitskaya had anything on Hillary Clinton, and he answered in the affirmative.
Goldstone testified to the House Intelligence Committee that he apologized to Trump Jr. for the "bait-and-switch".
At 4:40PM on the day of the meeting, and shortly after the meeting was complete, Trump responded to a Tweet from Hillary asking him to delete his account. He Tweeted "How long did it take your staff of 823 people to think that up - and where are your 33,000 emails that you deleted?"
Kaveladze left the bar after a few minutes to take a call from Agalarov to discuss the meeting, according to the Democratic Report. He told Agalarov that the meeting was a "complete loss of time and about nothing" according to the GOP report.
Goldstone also spoke to Emin Agalarov after the meeting, he told the Senate Judiciary panel, and said he told him it was "the most embarrassing thing you've ever asked me to do. I've just say in a meeting about adoption."
He said Agalarov replied "Adoption?" which could imply Agalarov didn't anticipate that to be the topic of the meeting.
Two hours after the meeting, Trump Jr. places another call to a blocked number, according to the Democratic Senate Judiciary memo.
On June 10, 2016, Aras Agalarov sent Trump a gift of an expensive painting for his birthday, according to the House Intelligence Democratic Report.
On June 14, 2016, Goldstone sends a news article on the hacking of the DNC being supposed Russians to Emin Agalarov and Kaveladze, according to the Democratic Report, and Goldstone states, "Top story right now - seems eerily weird based on our Trump meeting last week with the Russian lawyers etc."
On June 17th, 2016, Donald Trump sends a thank you letter to Agalarov for the gift. It read "There are few things better than receiving a sensational gift from someone you admire - and that's what I've received from you. You made my birthday a truly special event by your thoughtfulness - not to mention your remarkable talent. I'm rarely at a loss for words, but right now I can only say how much I appreciate your friendship and to thank you for this fantastic gift. This is one birthday that I will always remember."
Now, here we are, over a year later, and we have went through so many more comments and mis-directions since then. What I want you to do is really look at the details of the timeline and the very specific things that have happened.
Remember these facts as well. The initial response from Donald Trump Jr. regarding the meeting being specifically about Russian adoptions was supposedly written by Trump Jr. and Trump had nothing to do with it.
Then Sarah Sanders stated that Trump "Weighed In like any father would do", and finally, this year, Trump's Lawyers put out a statement that Trump did, indeed, dictate that entire misleading message.
So if Trump didn't know about the meeting in advance, and found out about it a year later, why was Trump Junior making calls to a blocked number after each interaction he had with the Russians? You can say that there are a lot of blocked numbers, but there really aren't that many, and the fact that Trump has one in his primary residence, where he happened to be during the times of those calls, leads most reasonable thinkers to discern that Trump was receiving updates on the meeting.
Couple that with the speech Trump gave before the Trump Tower Meeting took place where he talked about information he was going to put out the following Monday about everything the Clinton's were involved in, and the fact that no information came out of the Trump Tower Meeting, and Trump never ended up providing that information on the Clintons that he promised, and you have a recipe for a lie.
Trump is a man who wants to be involved in everything, and Trump Jr. is a son who wants to show his father that he can be successful. There is no way that a meeting that Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner were all at was not known by Trump and signed off by Trump in advance.
All of the just basic information in the timeline drives right to that point, so whatever additional Mueller has, is likely to prove something more than can be speculated with what we have in the public.
However this all ends up, it sure is going to be one hell of a roller coaster ride between now and when Mueller goes public with his final report. So strap in everyone, because it's going to be a bumpy ride.
DUNK
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