Trump Jr. And Emin Agalarov Stayed In Touch Throughout The Transition

Source: BuzzFeed | April 27, 2018 | Chris Geidner

From phone calls and text messages to “an expensive painting” that Aras Agalarov gave Donald Trump for his birthday in 2016, the two families were in regular communication before and after the Trump Tower meeting — and during the transition.

A direct line of communication between the Kremlin-connected Agalarov family and the Trump family was open during the transition after President Donald Trump’s presidential election, BuzzFeed News has learned.

The “first of a series” of text messages was sent between Emin Agalarov and Donald Trump Jr. two days after the 2016 election, a source familiar with the communications told BuzzFeed News.

The communications continued through at least mid-December 2016, according to information made public Friday.

It is not clear how many messages were sent, whether Trump Jr. sent any of them, or how many were sent by either party — although BuzzFeed News confirmed that multiple messages were sent.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee revealed one of the text messages, from Dec. 13, 2016, in their “minority views” report on Friday — one of several new pieces of information that suggest that the Trumps’ relationship with the Agalarovs was much closer than the president and his family have said.

………

But as even House Republicans concede in the House Intelligence Committee report released Friday, “the Agalarovs were the driving force to arrange” the Trump Tower meeting.

In their response to the Republican report, the Democrats on Friday provided more detail about the relationship between the Trumps and the Agalarovs.

The report confirms an email exchange Trump Jr. released in July 2017 in which Trump Jr. and Goldstone were trying to set up a phone call between Trump Jr. and Emin on June 6, 2016. BuzzFeed News sought more information this past summer about whether any such calls took place, but no one would say — until Friday, when the Democrats detailed two calls from a number that Trump Jr. told the committee was Emin’s. A call came from “a ‘blocked’ number … between the two calls.”

“The first call occurred at 4:04 pm on June 6, 2916 [sic] – just 21 minutes after Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. to say that Emin Agalarov was ‘on stage in Moscow but should be off within 20 minutes so I am sure can call,’” the report states. The blocked call came at 4:27 pm.

By 4:38 p.m., Trump Jr. sent Goldstone a follow-up email: “Rob thanks for the help. D”

Three days later, Trump Jr. — along with Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner — would host the Trump Tower meeting.

In addition to Goldstone, the attendees would include the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who Trump Jr. has said he knew would be attending but claims not to have known her name; Ike Kaveladze, a longtime employee of the Agalarov business; Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist with ties to Russian intelligence; and Anatoli Samochornov, a Russian-American translator who served as Veselnitskaya’s translator but has worked for the US State Department at other times.

……..

After the short meeting, according to the Democrats’ report, the group — excluding Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner — went to the bar in Trump Tower. While there, Kaveladze took a call from Aras Agalarov.

The next day, Aras had “an expensive painting” delivered to Trump. The Democrats’ report cites an email — subject line, “Birthday gift for Mr. Trump” — from Goldstone to Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant.

A week later, the Democrats’ report states, Trump sent Aras a thank-you note.

……..

Contacts between the Trumps and the Agalarovs continued after the election as well. While it has been known that the Agalarovs posted supportive messages on social media surrounding Trump’s election and inauguration, it had not before Friday been known that they were directly communicating during that time as well.

…….

Goldstone, who had sent the email about Aras Agalarov’s present for Trump to Graff in June, sent another email to Graff on Nov. 28, 2016.

“Aras Agalarov has asked me to pass on this document in the hope it can be passed on to the appropriate team.” The attachment related to the Magnitsky Act.

In Trump Jr.’s second statement after the news of the Trump Tower meeting came out in July 2017, he referenced the Magnitsky Act by name, and said of the brief meeting, “That was the end of it and there was no further contact or follow-up of any kind. My father knew nothing of the meeting or these events.”

Friday’s report from the Democrats makes clear there was follow-up — and precisely the follow-up Trump Jr. had told them to make at the meeting. In that second statement, Trump Jr. wrote that he had interrupted Veselnitskaya when she was talking about the sanctions law and told her “that her comments and concerns were better addressed if and when he held public office.”

…….

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Discussion
  • Consistent #23342

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.