Music promote Rob Goldstone was an intermediary for a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Image by facebook

By Aiden Pink July 12, 2017

Rob Goldstone, the Jewish-British music promoter who arranged a meeting last year between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, had previously met now-President Trump in Las Vegas in June 2013, CNN reported Wednesday.

Videos obtained by the network show Trump dining and speaking with Goldstone, his client the Russian singer Emin Agalarov, and Agalarov’s father Aras, a billionaire property developer with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The elder Agalarov and Trump signed a multi-million-dollar deal in 2013 to bring the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant to Moscow that year.

Donald Trump Jr. does not appear in the videos, but other Trump associates do, including Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer and sometimes-spokesman, and Keith Schiller, Trump’s former security manager who is now the White House Director of Oval Office Operations.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

In one of the clips, Trump praised Russia and said that he hoped the pageant would improve ties between the two countries. “”It really is a great country. It’s a very powerful country that we have a relationship with, but I would say not a great relationship, and I would say this can certainly help that relationship. I think it’s very important,” Trump said in response to a question.

Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. — who claimed that he met Goldstone at a golf tournament where Emin Agalarov performed and not at the Miss Universe pageant — last June to say that “The Crown prosecutor of Russia … offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.”

“If it’s what you say I love it,” Trump Jr. replied. He later posted the email exchange on his Twitter account.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount