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
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#NATO Sec Gen @jensstoltenberg said the talks between @realDonaldTrump and other leaders had “made NATO stronger.” But some are still fearful about the President’s gravitation towards Putin’s #Russia.
Neil Hobday says @realDonaldTrump paid all of the expenses for the Aberdeen course in cash and that even Trump associates found that “very unusual.”
.@AlanShipnuck says that one of the biggest questions in the golf and political world is “where did the money come from” for the Trump Scottish and Irish courses #OnAssignment
Another golf writer, @jdodsonauthor, said that @EricTrump told him in 2013 “We have all the funding we need out of Russia.” Eric Trump denies saying that and calls Dodson’s report “fake news”.
Tonight @realDonaldTrump is sleeping at #TrumpTurnberry. We’ve been investigating the finances of his golf courses in Scotland and Ireland. They were purchased - and renovated at a cost of tens of millions of dollars– all in cash. #OnAssignment
.@Rob_Weissman, president of @PublicCitizen, a watchdog group which has often criticized the president, says “it’s reasonable to say President Trump is getting a publicity value 100 times over what the cost of him visiting is.”
Weissman and his team at @PublicCitizen crunched the numbers and estimate that @realDonaldTrump’s golf weekend in Scotland is going to cost the US taxpayer around $1.9 mil. #TrumpUKVisit
Now we’ve got a report about the big #TrumpProtest today in London to mark the #TrumpUKvisit. @realDonaldTrump stayed away, complaining the British public had made him feel “unwelcome.”
At their joint press conference, 40 miles from London, @realDonaldTrump said he’d apologized to the PM – but also said that the recording of the interview would prove it was all #fakenews.
.@metpoliceuk tells @NBCNews: Officers from the counter terrorism network are working jointly with colleagues from Wiltshire Police regarding the incident in Amesbury. As Wiltshire Police have stated, they are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Amesbury is about 10 miles from Salisbury, where former Russian spy Sergei #Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in March.
“Thank you,” say the missing Thai boys as British divers finally find them inside the cave after 9 days. But it may still be months before rescuers can get them out. #ThaiCaveRescue nbcnews.com/nightly-news/v…
The boys were found about 2.5 miles from the mouth of the cave on a rock shelf. It took expert divers several hours to get to the group through narrow, twisting passages. Bringing them out will not be easy #ThaiCaveRescue
The Thai Army says the boys will need to learn to dive or wait up to 4 months for flooding to recede before they can get out. Food supplies are being sent in and authorities are trying to get power & phone lines into the cave so the boys can speak with their parents #ThaiCave