The Trump legal team’s letter is a lot to digest. I’ve been reading and re-reading, and then doing more reading of testimony released by Congress.
The timeline surrounding the Trump Tower meeting response paints a very interesting picture. (Thread)
On July 6, 2017, an email from Rob Goldstone, who helped facilitate the meeting, to Alan Garten, chief legal officer for Trump Org, indicates that Trump’s team knew a story was coming on the meeting.
On July 7, Trump met with Putin at the G20. (As it has been reported, one of their conversations occurred without an American translator.) Here’s what Trump told NYT they discussed.
On July 8, we now know President Trump dictated the response regarding the Trump Tower meeting. Here’s that response, which Don Jr. gave to NYT.
And... per Goldstone’s messages to Emin Agalarov, the Russian “pop star” who helped set up the meeting, it appears as though Goldstone was in on the drafting of that initial statement.
On July 9, Don Jr. was forced to issue another statement, essentially amending his story about the Trump Tower meeting. He got called out for omitting a key detail: that the Russians had offered dirt on Clinton, and that’s why the meeting was set up. Here’s his 2nd response.
That same day, on July 9, Goldstone is told by Trump’s legal team that it’s best to stay quiet after the story has shifted. He relays the message to Agalarov.
Goldstone expresses nervousness about the impact of the news coverage. He tells Agalarov that it’s destroying his reputation. Here’s an interesting exchange between the two of them after Agalarov asks why.
Then, Agalarov and Goldstone imply that they’ve been talking about all of this to another attendee of the Trump Tower meeting — Ike Kaveladze. (Was he going along with the same story?)
On July 10, as the fallout continues, Goldstone tells Agalarov that Trump’s lawyers have drafted a statement that they want him to put out.
Per an email between Trump Jr.’s lawyer and Goldstone, Goldstone says he’ll run it by Agalarov. (The Russian who set up the meeting.)
Here is the the email between Goldstone and Alan Futerfas.
On July 11, Goldstone and Agalarov exchange a few more messages. They again discuss the need for “Ike” to help.
Then, the text chain goes dark until August 29. Agalarov reaches out and says he is finally cleared to talk to Goldstone again, though they can only speak about “non relative subjects.”
This timeline might explain why Mueller wants to ask Trump multiple questions about the response to the Trump Tower meeting.
FWIW, here are Paul Manafort’s notes from the meeting.
They do include words & names related to the Magnitsky Act- a topic related to Russian adoptions- but there are other fascinating notes that are still a bit of a mystery.
Value in Cyprus as inter -???
And, as @NatashaBertrand has pointed out, @Scaramucci sent an interesting email to Goldstone too. He stresses the importance of remaining consistent...
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*August 19, not 29
Back to the timeline. On July 11, Don Jr tries to get ahead of more damning news, and he releases the whole email chain setting up the Trump Tower meeting.
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Then, someone (redacted) asked Ike why Don Jr. would release emails admitting collusion.
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2. After Stone tweeted that it would soon be Podesta's time in the barrel, Corsi said Stone asked him for a "cover story" to explain the tweet. He helped by researching Podesta's lobbying activities.
New: A 2018 Fraud Guarantee investor letter sheds light on what Rudy Giuliani was paid to do for the company, which was founded by his now-indicted associates Lev Parnas and David Correia. It has been handed over to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. wsj.com/video/giuliani…
Fraud Guarantee said it expected to pay Giuliani Partners up to $2 million in consulting fees for the 1st year + give Giuliani equity in the company. In return, Giuliani would help the company "closely mirror the LifeLock model." Key excerpts here: wsj.com/video/giuliani…
Also new: shortly after the letter was sent & Giuliani received $500K, he traveled to political events w/Parnas & Igor Fruman. They flew on a private jet connected to Trump donor Andy Beal, who gave $2 mil to America First Action. He declined to comment. wsj.com/video/giuliani…
@emmatscott@LaurizzleK@WSJVideo One of Parnas's first photos, posted in April 2015, shows him posing next to Ivana Trump and his business partner David Correia.
@emmatscott@LaurizzleK@WSJVideo In August of 2015, Parnas posted four photos and a video from a Trump campaign event at Doral, including this picture with Trump and his son.
From report: "No single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African-Americans."
Our story on how Russian trolls targeted blacks using a black business directory, self-defense lessons & police brutality petitions: wsj.com/articles/russi…
Also, per report: "paid ads were not key to the IRA's activity & are not alone an accurate measure of the IRA's operational scope, scale or objectives."
Our story about how social media cos- which talked a lot about ads- didn't disclose key info to public wsj.com/articles/only-…
A quick look at the events surrounding Manafort's AUGUST 2, 2016 meeting with Konstantin Kilimnik, a man the gov't assessed to have had ties to Russian intelligence in 2016. Manafort's plea deal has now been voided bc of lies he told regarding that meeting.
JULY 27, 2016: Trump says he has "nothing to do with Putin" and says it's probably not Russia hacking Clinton's emails. Then, he calls on Russia to find Clinton's missing emails:
**worth watching the full clip
JULY 28, 2016: Rudy Giuliani tells a radio show host that "the Russians have those emails, they have had them for some time."