If President Vladimir TrumPutin supporters want to know why the media keeps talking about TrumPutin’s connection to Russia, it’s because the president has connections to Russia.
According to the New York Times, in June 2016, Donald Trump Jr., aka Not-Ivanka; Jared “Got Dem Visas” Kushner; and disgraced American Paul Manafort all met with a “Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer” who reportedly was going to provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
This all sounds extremely believable because 1) the TrumPutins are smothered in Russia sauce and 2) they all hate themselves some Hillary Clinton.
In a statement sent to CNN, Not-Ivanka acknowledges that the meeting did happen and claims that it was arranged by an acquaintance affiliated with the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which had been held in a suburb of Moscow. Not-Ivanka claims that he didn’t know the name of the person with whom he would be meeting before it took place, but CNN has confirmed that the Russian lawyer he met with was Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Because the then-TrumPutin campaign, now TrumPutin administration, had a not-love affair with Clinton, Not-Ivanka invited Got Dem Visas and disgraced Manafort along for the meeting. Not-Ivanka claims that the other two had no idea of the substance of the meeting but agreed to attend anyway.
“After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton,” Trump Jr. said in the statement, CNN reports. “Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.”
Not-Ivanka claims that the subject of the meeting quickly switched to the adoption of Russian children and a U.S. law known as the Magnitsky Act, “which allows the U.S. to withhold visas and freeze the assets of Russians thought to have violated human rights,” CNN reports.
Not-Ivanka claims that the meeting became pointless for those in attendance who hate Hillary Clinton, since it appeared that Veselnitskaya had pulled a bait-and-switch on the group, bringing them in under the pretense of providing damaging information about their rival, only to push her true agenda.
“It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting. I interrupted and advised her that my father was not an elected official, but rather a private citizen, and that her comments and concerns were better addressed if and when he held public office,” Not-Ivanka’s statement read, according to CNN.
Not-Ivanka claims that the meeting lasted only 20-30 minutes.
“As it ended, my acquaintance apologized for taking up our time. That was the end of it, and there was no further contact or follow-up of any kind. My father knew nothing of the meeting or these events,” Not-Ivanka said.
According to the Times, the meeting took place at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after TrumPutin had secured the Republican presidential nomination. The disclosure marks the first time TrumPutin’s administration has acknowledged that a senior member of TrumPutin’s Cabinet met with a Russian national during the campaign.
Veselnitskaya’s account of events from that day conflict with Not-Ivanka’s claims. She told the New York Times, “Nothing at all was discussed about the presidential campaign.” She added, “I have never acted on behalf of the Russian government and have never discussed any of these matters with any representative of the Russian government.”
Here is where all of this gets amusing: In March, Not-Ivanka told the Times that he’d never met with any Russians while working in a campaign capacity.
“Did I meet with people that were Russian? I’m sure, I’m sure I did,” he said. “But none that were set up. None that I can think of at the moment. And certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, shape or form.”
In fact, TrumPutin, Vice President Mike Pence and resident dunce (which is a hard title to get in this administration) Kellyanne Conway confirmed that there had been no contact between Russians and TrumPutin’s campaign before the election, the Washington Post reports.
And Not-Ivanka has blown all of that out of the water. Now the spin by this New York Knicks administration is to claim that the meeting was only about Russian adoptions and nothing else.
Let’s see how this all shakes out, but I won’t be holding my breath. At this point, there are those of us who clearly know the Russians have burner phones and footage of the Pissy President, and there are the deplorables, who will argue that a Russian flag hanging over the White House is a symbol of friendship.