Rob Goldstone Says He Assumed Russian Intelligence Was Behind Trump Tower Meeting
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The British music producer responsible for organizing the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer said he assumed Russian intelligence was behind it, NBC News reported.
Rob Goldstone suggested it was the Trump campaign’s eagerness for dirt on Hillary Clinton that captured the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Goldstone’s recollection is in line with his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, revealed by The Daily Beast in May, as well as that of others. He had written an email to Donald Trump Jr. explaining that the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had information that “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” and that it was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
Goldstone said he was asked to relay the message and set up the meeting by Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, on behalf his father Aras, one of Russia’s wealthiest developers.
Goldstone said he wrote the email in three minutes on his cell phone using the little information he was given “with my own, I suppose, way of interpreting what I believe my client was trying to get across, and puffing it.”
“That’s what I do,” he added. “I’m a publicist.”
He explained that he assumed but didn’t know if the Russian government was behind setting up the meeting.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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