Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 7-14-17

White House and Political News
Trump, Jr. Hires Defense Lawyer After Emails Leading To His Meeting With Russian Lawyer Released
According to the New York Times:
Before arranging a meeting with a Russian lawyer he be- lieved would give him informa- tion about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Jr. was told in an email that the material was part of a Russian government ef- fort to aid his father’s candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email.
The email to Donald, Jr. was sent by a publicist and former British tabloid reporter, Rob Goldstone, who helped broker the June 2016 meeting.
In a statement on Sunday, Trump, Jr., acknowledged that he was interested in receiv- ing damaging information about Hillary Clinton, but gave no indication that he thought the lawyer might have been con- nected to the Russian govern- ment.
However, the email message, did indicate that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging infor- mation. It does not elaborate on the wider effort by Moscow to help the Trump campaign.
There is no evidence to s u g gest that the promised dam- aging information was related to Russian government computer hacking that led to the release of thousands of Democratic Na- tional Committee emails.
However, the meeting took place less than a week before it was widely reported that Russ- ian hackers had infiltrated the committee’s servers.
Russian Lawyer Denies Having Information About
Hillary Clinton; Ties To Kremlin
The Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. said on Tuesday she had no Kremlin ties and wanted to discuss U.S. sanctions on Russian officials, not Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.
"I never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton," Natalia Veselnitskaya told NBC News in an interview in Moscow. "It was never my intention to have that.
"When asked how Trump Jr. seemed to have the impression that she had information about the Democratic National Com- mittee, she responded:
“It is quite possible that maybe they were longing for such an information. They wanted it so badly that they could only hear the thought that they wanted.”
Things You Should Know:
President Donald Trump’s son, son-in law, and campaign chairman met secretly in June 2016 with a woman they’d been told was a Russian government attorney who could provide documents that, as part of
“Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” would “incriminate” Hillary Clinton, according to emails re- leased by Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter Tuesday morn- ing.
The emails, which were also obtained by The New York Times and which were released by Trump Jr. shortly before the Times published its scoop,
Donald Trump, Jr., Presi- dent Trump’s son, and son-in- law, Jared Kushner are at the center of the firestorm of pos- sible collusion with the Rus- sians to win the presidency for Donald, Sr.
blow up the Trump team’s longtime story that they were unaware of Russian support for his campaign and did not seek it.
•The emails explicitly refer to “Russia and its gov- ernment’s support for Mr. Trump” and show Trump Jr. agreeing to a meeting with a “Russian govern- ment attorney” to obtain documents from the Russ- ian government.
The Trump administration and the president himself have repeatedly denied that any- one from his campaign had any contact with Russian officials. It’s not clear whether Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer, actually works for the Russian government. She has denied it.
•Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who set up the meet- ing, offered to send information directly to Donald Trump via
Trump’s secretary, Rhona Graff.
•Trump Jr. forwarded the emails to Trump’s then- campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his son-in- law and close adviser, Jared Kushner.
Trump Jr. forwarded the email chain — which referred to providing “incriminating” infor- mation as part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump” ― to Manafort and Kushner. This shows that top officials in the Trump cam- paign knew or should have known there was a Russian ef- fort to support Trump’s cam- paign. But they never reported it.
•Manafort and Kushner attended the meeting, too.
Kushner initially failed to disclose the meeting in his ap- plication for a top-secret secu- rity clearance, but later amended his disclosure form. Manafort disclosed the en- counter in response to one of the Russia-related probes.
• Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya was not the only Russian at the meet- ing.
The emails refer to two Rus- sians attending the meeting with Kushner, Manafort and Trump Jr. — Veselnitskaya and another individual who she told the Times was an inter- preter. She declined to name the person.
•The emails suggest Trump Jr. may have broken the law, legal experts say.
Soliciting anything of value ― including opposition research ― from foreign nationals may vi-
olate campaign finance law.
•Trump Jr. says he re- ceived “no meaningful in- formation” from the meeting.
Trump Jr. told the Times that Veselnitskaya’s “state- ments were vague, ambiguous and made no sense” and that “no details or supporting informa- tion was provided or even of- fered.” But whether or not Trump aides gained useful dirt on Clinton hardly matters.
The emails, and Kushner and Manafort’s disclosures that they attended the meeting, show that Donald Trump’s closest advisers, including his campaign chairman, were will- ing — eager, even — to accept se- cret help from the Russian government in order to damage Clinton and win the election. There’s another word for that: collusion.
President Trump Responds
President Donald Trump
said on Wednesday that his son Donald Trump, Jr. is “inno- cent” and news that he met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer is part of “the greatest Witch Hunt in political history.”
The president had released a brief statement through White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders a day earlier, calling his son “a high-quality person.” He followed up on Wednesday in a tweet praising Trump Jr.’s interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity the night before.
Marine Transport Plane Crashes In Mississippi; 16 Reported Dead
Sixteen service members were killed after a U.S. military transport plane crashed in rural Mississippi on Monday evening, the U.S Marine Corps said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Marine Corps said the KC-130 Hercules transport aircraft took off from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina and the aircraft disappeared from air traffic control radar over Mississippi.
The KC-130 Hercules transport aircraft crashed on Monday.
withheld until family members were notified.
Further details were not re- leased. Gen. Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps, pledged "a thorough in- vestigation into the cause of this tragedy."
The aircraft was originally based out of New York's Stew- art Air National Guard Base, Marine Corps officials said.
Images posted online by news organizations showed the
crumpled wreckage of a plane engulfed in flames in a field surrounded by tall vegetation, with a large plume of smoke in the sky above.
The aircraft is used for air-to- air refueling, to carry cargo and perform tactical passenger mis- sions. The plane is operated by three crew members and can carry 92 ground troops or 64 paratroopers, according to a description on the U.S. Navy website.
The aircraft crashed on Mon- day at approximately 4 p.m. in northern Mississippi's LeFlore County, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Jackson, the state
capitol.
Fifteen Marines and one
Navy sailor were killed, the U.S. Marine Corps said. The names of the deceased were being
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