Thread by @jedshug

Akhmetshin is a former Soviet spy who lobbies for Russian oligarchs and money launderers against sanctions... who just happens to meet Kushner, Jr, and Manafort in Trump Tower.
Why on earth is a Trump campaign insider paying him big money in 2016-17?
buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/emmalo…

Follow the money. And this could be one of the first money exchanges from the Trump world to Russian agents during the campaign. Could be a significant thread.
More crazy coincidences: Trumpers Lanny and Susie Wiles are linked to Veselnitskaya, too: washingtonpost.com/politics/russi…

3/ Remember this striking photo of Veselnitskaya behind Bill Browder while he testified in Congress in 2016?
Guess how she got that seat with the menacing photo-op view of Browder?
washingtonpost.com/world/russian-…

4/ "In fact, her seat had been reserved for her by a Republican consultant with close ties to the Trump campaign.
Lanny Wiles, whose wife, Susie, was then chairing the Trump campaign in Florida, said in an interview that he came early to scout out the seat..."

5/ "...and was there at the request of Akhmetshin, with whom he was working as a consultant on the sanctions-related adoption issue.
Lanny & Susie Wiles both said she was unaware of his role in the lobbying effort....

6/ "Wiles said he was unaware that the Russian lawyer whose seat he was saving had just days earlier met with Trump Jr.
“I wasn’t part of it,” Susie Wiles said.
That's right - the Wileses were handling Veselnitskaya right after the Trump Tower meeting. And then paying Akhmetshin.

7/ Correction: Veselnitskaya sat behind @McFaul, not @Billbrowder.
But it’s still uncannily creepy, and the story solidified that Trump Tower meeting was about lifting sanctions, coinciding with more hacking and Wiki-leaking.
Also known as: quid pro quo (apparently).