Now for our scoop: we've got new details on Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with top members of the Trump campaign in June 2016. The #TrumpTower meeting is a key part of Robert Mueller’s inquiry into possible collusion between #Russia and the Trump campaign.
Veselnitskaya has said she’s a private lawyer. But we reviewed leaked emails from 2014 in which she appears to direct the official Russian gov’t response to a DOJ information request in a case against her client, a wealthy Russian businessman.
Her behind-the-scenes machinations hindered the work of U.S. prosecutors in that case. They also suggest a far deeper relationship between Veselnitskaya and the Kremlin than she’s previously let on.
A former U.S. prosecutor on the case said Veselnitskaya’s conduct amounted to “complete behind-the-scenes, pulling-the-strings interference” and raises “serious questions about obstruction of justice.” #OnAssignment
“I am a lawyer, and I am an informant,” Veselnitskaya now tells @RichardEngel. “Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.” #OnAssignment
.@John_Sipher, a former CIA operative who worked in Moscow, described Veselnitskaya as “not someone separated from state power.” She had influence w Kremlin officials, and they trusted her in turn. He says the #TrumpTower meeting was an “intelligence ploy” by the Kremlin.
The offer of dirt on Hillary Clinton from someone connected to the Kremlin should have set off alarm bells within the Trump campaign, says @John_Sipher. Instead the campaign demonstrated a “willingness to collude.” #OnAssignment
