Donnie JR is ******

No problem, says Giuliani. The son-in-law and sons are disposable. But remember, Mueller: Keep your mitts off Ivanka!

yeah! Trump wants to save her for his mitts.

This will be long:

From Seth Abramson:


(THREAD) BREAKING: The Senate has released the transcript of Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony—and it confirms he lied to Congress just has he's lied to the American people about his contact with Kremlin agents. This thread is an analysis of his testimony—I hope you'll read and share.

1/ First, understand that "agent" is a legal term. An "agent" is a person authorized by another person to act in their stead—and with their authority—in performing a task. If the authorization is for a specific task, the agent is a "special agent." If general, a "general agent."

2/ Sometimes, a "principal"—the person who authorizes an agent to act in their stead—will authorize his or her "agent" to *themselves* use new agents in the performance of their authorized task. So, Principal A may authorize Agent B to use various sub-agents to accomplish a task.

3/ In the parlance of espionage, a sub-agent of this sort is called a "cut-out"—though in common parlance the term we would use is "intermediary." However, *not all intermediaries are created equal*—and that fact is critical to understanding Trump Jr.'s lies to the U.S. Congress.

4/ An intermediary who knows the identities of the agents she or he is acting as an intermediary between—but who doesn't know the identities of the principals on either side of the transaction and/or the purpose of the work the intermediation is doing—is a conventional "cut-out."

5/ The Trump-Russia case doesn't involve conventional cut-outs in this sense. It involves principals designating special agents, and those special agents designating sub-agents *who both know the identities of the principals and know the purpose of their role as an intermediary*.

6/ An intermediary who knows the identity of the special agent who tasked them, and also the identity of the special agent they're to intrmediate with—and who further knows the identities of both principals—is themselves an agent of the principal who hired "their" special agent.

7/ With that in mind, the following people cited in Trump Jr.'s testimony are "Kremlin agents" by law:

???? Emin Agalarov
???? Aras Agalarov
???? Yuri Chaika
???? Natalia Veselnitskaya
???? Rob Goldstone
????/???? Ike Kaveladze*

* Born in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

8/ The "principals" involved in Trump Jr.'s testimony—whose identities were known to the Kremlin agents cited in Tweet #7—were as follows:

????Trump Sr.
???? Putin

The Kremlin agents cited in the last tweet knew also the purpose of their intermediation between Trump and Putin.

9/ Trump—one of the principals—had, prior to the infamous Trump Tower meeting, designated 3 Americans as "general agents" (whereas the Kremlin agents were "special agents"). Those general agents were:

???? Trump Jr.
???? Manafort
???? Kushner

These agents owed a duty to Trump.

10/ "Duty" is a legal term which here means a legal obligation that comes with one's designation as a general agent. The duty owed by Trump's three general agents in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting was a duty to keep the principal (Trump) apprised of any important developments.

11/ Any of these three general agents designated by Trump pre-June 2016—Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner—would have expected to be fired (or in some other way see their agency curtailed) if they failed to inform their principal (Trump) that Putin wanted to get information to him.

12/ Throughout the Trump campaign, Trump's general agents *obeyed* their legal duty as general agents to inform Trump whenever Putin made contact with a Trump agent (themselves or another) as a means of getting information to Trump. George Papadopoulos is a great example of this.

13/ On March 31, 2016, Papadopoulos *revealed himself to Trump* as a *Kremlin* special agent, though the looser term Papadopoulos himself used at the time was "intermediary." However, Papadopoulos was not an intermediary in the conventional "cut-out" sense I discussed previously.

14/ Per the Trump campaign, Papadopoulos had *not*, as of March 14, 2016—when the Kremlin made contact with him—been formally added to Trump's team. Nor had *anyone* on that team (if the Trump campaign is to be believed) authorized Papadopoulos to do *anything* on Trump's behalf.

15/ (Incidentally, if the Trump campaign were to change its story and say that Papadopoulos *was* on Team Trump in mid-March '16 and *was* sent to Italy and *was* authorized to negotiate with the Kremlin, it'd be *infinitely* worse for the Trump campaign than their current line.)

16/ So when Papadopoulos met Mifsud in Italy on March 14, 2016, and Mifsud asked Papadopoulos to help the Kremlin in reaching out to Trump to set up a secret Trump-Putin summit, Papadopoulos was being made a special agent by an existing Kremlin special agent—Mifsud. This is key.

17/ This also explains why AG Sessions and other Trump NatSec team members *lied* about what Papadopoulos told Trump—and how Trump responded—at Trump's March 31, 2016 National Security Advisory Committee meeting at the Trump International Hotel in DC. They *had* to lie about it.

18/ Don't worry, this will all come back around to Don Jr. very soon.

Sessions and other Trump NatSec advisors *had* to lie about what Papadopoulos said on March 31, 2016—and how they and Trump responded—because what Papadopoulos did was *admit to being a Kremlin special agent*.

19/ Instead of calling the FBI when Papadopoulos was revealed as a Kremlin agent tasked by the Kremlin—via its agent Mifsud—with brokering a Trump-Putin meet, Trump promoted Papadopoulos to Russia advisor and put him on the speech-writing team for his first foreign policy speech.

20/ On many other occasions, Trump special agents like Page and Dearborn communicated to Trump general agents like Sessions that they'd received overtures from Kremlin agents. Sessions—who perjured himself in testimony repeatedly—now says he hid these contacts from his principal.

21/ What you have to understand, though, is that Trump special and general agents only started saying that they hid Kremlin overtures from their principal *after* it became clear that the principal having knowledge of these overtures could play a key role in him being impeached.

22/ Moreover, there's a long history of Trump *general* agents—thus, Trump campaign higher-ups—making unilateral contact with Kremlin agents and then claiming, once it was clear these contacts were profoundly problematic, that they too had hid these contacts from their principal.

23/ But the idea of a "general agent" hiding from his principal a *direct overture from a foreign leader* is so *insane* from a legal and professional standpoint that in most instances Trump's general agents tried to lie on the front end about having had any such contacts at all.

24/ This is why Kushner—a general agent—failed to disclose his April and November phone calls to Kislyak, and his April and December meetings with him, on his SF-86 security form. It's why Manafort kept it a secret that he'd offered private briefings to Kremlin agent Deripaska.

25/ It's why Sessions—a general agent—lied about his contacts with Kremlin agent Kislyak. He and the others felt that no one would believe a general agent had hidden from his principal an overture from a foreign leader—especially if the principal were Trump and the leader Putin.

26/ What Kushner, Manafort, and Sessions couldn't have known is that U.S. media wouldn't explain to viewers what an "agent" or a "principal" is or how "agency" works. So in fact, they didn't have to *hide their contacts* so much as just *lie about what they told their principal*.

27/ But guess who effed that up for them—just as he's effed up *everything* whenever he tweets about Russia? That's right, the principal—Donald Trump. In one of Trump's conversations with Comey he *railed* against a general agent of his—Flynn—not telling him of a call from Putin.

28/ Indeed, Trump implied to Comey that one of his general agents failing to tell him of an overture from Putin—and Flynn *did* tell Trump, he just waited six days to do it—was a potential firing offense. So now we know what sort of expectations this principal had of his agents.

29/ All of this is essential back-story to Trump Jr.'s testimony. Before it was problematic to do it, we know for *certain* that the practice of Trump agents was to inform Trump of overtures from Putin; moreover, we know that even many months later this *was* Trump's expectation.

30/ Add in two other facts—that Trump's general agents tried to lie about having contact with Kremlin agents to avoid having to lie about what they told their principal, and that when caught they said they breached their duty and told the principal nothing—and you have something.

31/ This is why Bannon determined, at a time he was the CEO of Trump's campaign, that there was "zero chance" Trump's top general agents—Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort—had *not* told their principal about an overture from Putin (via multiple Kremlin special agents) in June 2016.

32/ So as we read Don Jr.'s testimony, remember he knew (a) he was a general agent for a principal—Trump; (b) he was dealing with Kremlin agents; (c) he had a duty to report his dealings to his principal; (d) was working for a principal who *expected to be told* of such dealings.

33/ Remember too that Don Jr.'s testimony follows a *clear pattern* for Trump's general agents: 1) hide the fact of your contact with Kremlin agents, so you won't have to lie about not having told your principal about them; 2) if caught, lie about whether you told your principal.

34/ (NOTE: the reason to protect this principal from public revelation of what he knew and when is that—unlike his agents—he could make policy decisions that opened him to allegations of Bribery, an impeachable offense. His agents also had liability—but of a very different sort.)

35/ With all that said, here we go.

36/ (One clarification: Bribery isn't the *only* charge Trump is open to if he knew on or before June 9, 2016 that Russia had committed crimes. He'd be open to Aiding and Abetting Computer Crimes, Conspiracy to Commit Wire/Bank Fraud, serious election law violations, and more.)

37/ First, the transcript confirms Kremlin agent Rob Goldstone (a) knew the identity of his own principal (Putin); (b) knew the identity of the other principal (Trump); (c) believed he had near-direct access to the second principal; and (d) knew the purpose of his intermediation.

38/ Goldstone said his overture to Don Jr. was part of the Putin government's support for Trump—thus, Putin was his principal; that he could get directly to Trump via his secretary Rhona; and that the information he was helping Russia pass on was "ultrasensitive" dirt on Clinton.

39/ So Goldstone mustn't be seen as mere cut-out. He actually was a rather extraordinary agent for the Kremlin to have: he considered himself to have direct access to the second principal and knew his information was "ultrasensitive" and "obviously very high level and sensitive."

40/ Moreover, in his email to Trump Jr. he establishes that he knows very well the Kremlin special agent(s) who authorized him to act on the Kremlin's behalf: "This is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump, helped along by Aras [Agalarov] and [his son] Emin."

41/ So why didn't the Kremlin's agent (Goldstone) go directly to Trump? And by the same token, why didn't the Kremlin's "primary" special agents (the Agalarovs) go directly to Trump's agent Don Jr.? Same answer to both questions: to give the principals some plausible deniability.

42/ But let's be very clear here: *any* general agent in Trump Jr.'s shoes, whether he had had any prior political experience or not, would understand agency well enough to know (a) why it was Goldstone and not Emin writing him, and (b) why Goldstone didn't go directly to Trump.

43/ This is why Don Jr. contacted the Kremlin's "primary" special agent (Emin) by phone not email—so the conversation's content wouldn't be in writing. And it's why Goldstone went to Jr. rather than Trump—so Jr. could pass on the info to his father orally (i.e. with deniability).

44/ Anyone understanding how agency works, and how it worked in the Trump campaign by June '16—once the campaign knew, as it did by April '16, that Russia was committing crimes to help Trump—would expect (a) Jr. not to email Emin, and (b) Jr. to *call* his father about all this.

45/ Don Jr.'s lies to Congress start very early—pg. 23. He says Goldstone had *never before implied* the Russian government supported Trump—and that indeed he had *no reason* to believe the Russian government supported his father's candidacy. But of course neither answer is true.

46/ On February 29, 2016, Putin agent Aras Agalarov—who Jr. knew to be a Putin agent—emailed Jr. to say that both he (Putin agent Agalarov) and "many of his important Russian friends and colleagues" all "support[ed]" Trump's candidacy. This was 90 days before Goldstone's email.

47/ Moreover, in July '15 Goldstone invited Trump to Moscow to meet Putin. This invite came just days after Trump announced his candidacy and was therefore an extraordinary—and diplomatic protocol-breaching—offer. It would be astounding if Trump Sr. never told Trump Jr. about it.

48/ Moreover, Trump Jr. was directly involved, by his own admission, in *two* potential business deals with Putin agents the Agalarovs—the 2013 Trump Sr.-signed "letter-of-intent" and a subsequent potential 2014 deal. So he had *every* reason to think Putin supported his father.

49/ That Goldstone *emails* Jr. to ask him to *call* Emin is telling—why wouldn't Emin email Jr.? Or call Jr.? The answer is Emin—the Kremlin's primary agent here, one down the line from Chalka and two from Putin—didn't want to be on email and wanted to gauge receptiveness first.

50/ By gauging receptiveness first via Goldstone, Emin ensures that his overture—illegally giving illegally gotten material to the Trump campaign—doesn't offend Trump or implicate him and his team (without him having a chance to decline the offer first) in a criminal conspiracy.

51/ Was Trump's campaign open to the criminal conspiracy Kremlin agent Emin was offering via subagent? Yes—to the tune of agreeing in 17 MINUTES. If you want to gauge the alacrity with which the Trump campaign was willing to coordinate with a hostile foreign power, consider that.

52/ Jr. says he received "hundreds" of emails daily and that June 3, 2016 *in particular* was a "maelstrom" of activity—so, worse than usual. But when a Kremlin agent—identifying himself as such—offered the Trumps participation in a criminal conspiracy, he said yes in 17 MINUTES.

53/ Why does the speed of Jr.'s response to the offer of a criminal conspiracy (receiving stolen goods, violating election laws, aiding/abetting computer crimes, bribery) matter?

Because of what I said about *agency*: how *important* this means Jr. thought the communication was.

54/ Jr. threw down everything he was doing to tell Kremlin agent Goldstone that he "loved" the Kremlin's offer of stolen goods. So the chance that he would thereafter decide *his principal had no need to know about any of this* is *zero*. Especially given his dad's love of Putin.

55/ Remember everything you just read in this thread, then read Jr.'s description of how he responded to the Kremlin's offer:

"This wasn't something I was in a rush to act on."

People don't get charged with lying to Congress for loose statements like this, but man, if they did.

56/ Jr. explains the alacrity with which he followed up by phone with Emin to (of all things) *circumspection*—he was just doing due diligence to see if Goldstone was full of it. But in fact it's Jr. who's full of it—he knew Goldstone was Emin Agalarov's *designated spokesman*.

57/ Consider, too, the speed with which Emin is responsive to Jr. when—72 hours after Jr. begins emailing with Goldstone—he asks for a call with Emin. Emin gets back to Jr. in *1 hour*—and the only reason it takes that long is Emin was *literally on stage performing at the time*.

58/ So these *very* busy and powerful men were treating this issue as a matter of *utmost* importance. Don Jr. had already been told that Agalarov's principal(s) were aware of this overture, so we'd have every reason in the world to think he felt his principal needed to know too.

59/ Per Goldstone's recitation of his client's performing schedule, Emin called Don Jr. within *60 seconds* of getting off the stage from performing.

That's the sort of diligence a special agent shows when his principal—and the topic of his actions as agent—are mission-critical.

60/ Just 20 minutes after Jr. gets off the phone with Emin—a 2-minute call Jr. tries to play off as an answering machine message, though he doesn't remember the call(?)—Jr. speaks to a blocked phone number for 4 minutes. His dad has a blocked phone number. All of this is suspect.

61/ It's suspect because Jr. emailed Goldstone at 3:03 PM on June 6 asking for an immediate callback by Emin to discuss a critical issue. Goldstone tells Jr. that Emin will call at 4:03 PM. Emin then calls at 4:04 PM—essentially *right on time*—and Jr. sends it to voicemail? No.

62/ Which means Jr. took the call. But there's more: Jr. talks to a blocked phone number at 4:27 PM and *immediately thereafter*—as in, *seconds* after that 4:27 call ends—he calls Emin back. So either he missed Emin's 4:04 PM call but privileged his 4:27 PM call above Emin or...

63/ ...there's one person in America—Jr.'s principal (his father)—who could give him marching orders from a blocked phone call at 4:27 PM that would *immediately* require him to call Emin back with what turned out to be a 3-minute conversation (therefore *not* a machine message).

64/ So one thing we know for sure is that Jr. and Emin *did* talk at 4:31 PM on June 6, 2016—a call during which we *know* Emin had time to talk, because Goldstone had said so. Which suggests that Emin calling Jr. the next day at 12:44 PM means Emin was following up on something.

65/ At 4:07 PM the day of Emin's callback, Jr. calls an Alexandria (VA) number—and it's worth noting Manafort has a home in Alexandria, was Trump's campaign manager, was a man Jr. had to check with to schedule meetings, and was one of the Trump agents at the Trump Tower meeting.

66/ It sounds like Jr.'s call to Alexandria was up to 10 minutes, and that seconds after Goldstone emailed to set up the Trump Tower meeting. One wonders if Jr. and/or Goldstone were awaiting Manafort's green light. Jr. later says Manafort knew nothing about it before showing up.

67/ One of my favorite Jr. lies—because it's *so* unnecessary—is that he tells Congress that he *hadn't* discussed with Emin whether the meeting would happen by end-of-business on June 7, even though we *know* he'd had conversations with Emin on that very topic. It's nonsensical.

68/ I've conducted countless criminal trial examinations—so I know what to look for in witness transcripts. That Jr. says "I don't recall" to almost every answer he possibly can, but "No" to the question of whether he informed his principal of Putin's overture is a dead giveaway.

69/ Jr.'s line is that he can't remember who he spoke to about anything, or when, or what if anything was said during any phone call, or who he did or did not tell about this or that thing, but the one thing he suddenly KNOWS FOR SURE is that his dad NEVER KNEW about any of this.

70/ So allegedly the most certain thing in this fact-pattern—that a general agent will inform a petulant principal of the sort of mission-critical information that that principal has made clear he wants to know, and will do so immediately—is the one thing that didn't happen.

No.

71/ At midday on June 8, 2016, Jr. emails Manafort that "the meeting" has been moved—and the fact that Jr. doesn't have to explain what "meeting" he's referring to suggests that indeed he had discussed the meeting with Manafort earlier (possibly in that June 7, 2016 phone call).

72/ To help you understand how easily and instinctively Jr. lies to Congress, I offer this exemplar: here, Jr. is unwilling to confirm that he'd communicated with Emin Agalarov *either by phone or email* at a time he says he was *looking at a potential deal in Moscow* with Emin.



73/ So if you have any doubt that Jr. understands Emin is toxic—and that he's toxic because he's an agent of Vladimir Putin who, Trump Sr. himself has said, Jr. was very close to personally as well as professionally—this felony lie to Congress should clear that up for you quick.

74/ That's not what your dad and others say, Junior—and it's *stunning* that you feel the need to lie to Congress about this.



75/ If this weren't criminal, it'd be adorable—in one fell swoop Trump Org's acquisitions chief says he can't recall if he had ongoing agreements with the Agalarovs (Aras says yes—through February '17) *and* uses word games to avoid saying he knew the Agalarovs were Putin agents.



76/ More adorable lying-to-Congress: the one person whose presence Jr. just can't seem to recall at the Trump Tower meeting—and he's trying really, really hard to remember!—is the man who works for Russian intelligence. Funny how that's the one name/face that slips his attention.

77/ *This*. This is why you *have* to understand what "agency" is to understand Jr.'s testimony. Goldstone had *clearly* told Don Jr. he was working for the Russian government as a special agent. He had *clearly* said that Emin was too. So this answer by Jr. is absolute nonsense.



78/ OK, everyone needs to understand what you're seeing here—as it's absolutely critical but will be missed by those who don't practice criminal law. What's happened here is DAVIS asks TRUMP JR. a question to which TRUMP JR.'s answer is a lie. So FOSTER steps in to save TRUMP JR.



79/ This is what lawyers are *trained* to do—if they can do it—if their witness lies under oath or under circumstances (as here) where lying is a crime. Don Jr. *absolutely* knows that Veselnitskaya asked Trump to overturn the Magnitsky Act—so Foster *knows* he needs to save him.

80/ Any attorney actually trying to get to the truth would follow up with Don Jr. about his lie here—as the Committee knows it's a lie from other testimony (including public statements). But DAVIS has been cued by FOSTER's intervention that he needs to move on and do so quickly.

81/ Don Jr. says—pg. 45—"I don't remember much from the meeting because I didn't give it much credence at the time." Remember how speedily he set up the meeting? How excited he was? How he brought in his father's top aides?

And suddenly he wasn't paying attention from the start?

82/ Miraculously, *immediately* after saying "I don't remember much from the meeting" Jr. is unable to contain himself from remembering *almost every major detail* of the negative information that the Kremlin said it had on Hillary Clinton. He's not even *trying* to seem honest.

83/ When pressed, Jr. realizes his mistake and says "it didn't really seem all that relevant to me" in reference to... um... the *very purpose of the meeting*—the negative information about Hillary Clinton that the Kremlin had promised Jr.'s principal through its agent Goldstone.

84/ You might wonder why TRUMP JR. risks telling this particular lie (below) twice—even after FOSTER's implicit warning. The answer: any lawyer advising TRUMP JR. would've said you *cannot* admit that any "quid" or "quo" was raised in Trump Tower by Kremlin agents—thus, this lie.

85/ If Jr. concedes that the Kremlin asked for something from Trump, he effectively concedes illegal coordination. Why? Because we know that Trump's sanctions policy ended up being *exactly* what the Kremlin had asked for—so his team *can't* say they were *asked* for that policy.

86/ Mind you, before Don Jr. got properly lawyered up he and others on Team Trump *were* saying that Veselnitskaya asked for sanctions on Russia to be dropped. So this is Team Trump's "new story," which comes under penalty of criminal prosecution and is clearly the *false* story.

87/ Just 20 days after the meeting, Kremlin agent Goldstone writes Trump Jr., Trump Sr. (via Rhona), and Director of Social Media Dan Scavino and says he's following up on a topic he discussed at Trump Tower with Jr. and Manafort—building Trump's presence on Russian social media.

88/ This is *astounding* because a) Trump Jr. claims no such conversation was ever had (a convenient recollection contradicted by hard evidence authored by Goldstone), and b) it's a known Kremlin agent *actively* offering assistance to the Trump presidential campaign. In writing.

89/ Information on how to reach a Russian and Russian-American audience for fundraising and other purposes—and a mock-up to be used by the Trump campaign for that purpose—has monetary value (both the work product and the intelligence behind it). And it comes from a Kremlin agent.

90/ So Don Jr.—or his attorney—perfectly well understands that Goldstone is a Kremlin agent, that Don Jr. had the requisite information to know that on June 9, 2016. Thus *any* discussion of receiving in-kind value from Goldstone was an agreement to take value *from the Kremlin*.

91/ Jr. says his was a "20- to 30-minute" meeting with 4-5 Russians. Even if we believe Jr. didn't think it significant at the time—a lie—realize that Russia became an international issue just weeks later. So Jr. would've *then* cemented in his mind what happened at that meeting.

92/ The idea that—in September '17—Jr. should get to say that he'd no way of thinking the meeting significant prior to September '17 is insane. Within mere days of the meeting—6—Russia was revealed to have committed crimes against America. Don would've cemented his memory *then*.

93/ Jr. told Congress there was a "substantial delta" between what Goldstone's emails told him the Trump Tower meeting would involve and what it involved. But that "delta" is imaginary: Goldstone promised dirt—Veselnitskaya offered dirt. Whether Jr. thought it good is immaterial.

94/ This (below) is a lie—but let's pretend for a moment it's not. *Under a week later* it was revealed that major hacks on the Democrats had been conducted which were believed to be (and later shown to be) the work of Russia. What did Jr. think of meeting with 5 Russians *then*?



95/ Moreover, what did Jr. think about being told on June 9th that Russia had secret information on Clinton and then—under a week later—seeing that very same claim made publicly rather than in Jr.'s office in Trump Tower? In *what universe* did he have no thought about it *then*?

96/ Goldstone acted as a Kremlin special agent over and over—including less than 3 weeks post-election, when he *again* wrote Trump on the Agalarovs' behalf. He wanted Trump to negotiate sanctions with Putin. And who goes to Trump Tower less than 3 days later? Putin's ambassador.

97/ This, too, is a trend: Putin has the Agalarovs use Goldstone to contact the Trumps on sanctions, and shortly thereafter—following some known and perhaps unknown responses from the Trumps—Russian agents directly tied to Putin act publicly. Happened in June *and* November 2016.

98/ Mind you, it also happened in mid-2013: the Agalarovs used Goldstone to get Trump to bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow under the promise of uniting Trump and their principal (Putin). Putin then sent 3 of his agents to the pageant to help Trump with Trump Tower Moscow.

99/ I would argue this exact same thing happened in *summer 2015* as well: the Agalarovs used Goldstone to invite Trump to Moscow under the promise of meeting Putin. Just a few months later Kremlin agents invited Trump's top national security advisor to Moscow to meet with Putin.

100/ Putin sent the Agalarovs to Trump with a gift in November '13, and another Agalarov brought Trump a gift from Putin shortly after he returned to America. So the Agalarovs both worked *for* Putin as builders and *literally* acted as his couriers more than once—Trump saw this.

101/ So yes, by June '16 it was absolutely clear to *all* the Trumps that the Agalarovs were Putin agents and that Goldstone was their own (and thus the Kremlin's) designated sub-agent. *Any* communication from Goldstone was mission-critical for the Trump campaign—Trump included.

102/ Even if Jr. *didn't* tell his dad of the meeting—he did—and even if he *didn't* cement the meeting in his mind on June 9—he did—by mid-June it's 100% certain he would've done so, given the breaking international news. So in March 2017 he *definitely* remembered the meeting.



103/ This is a lie so offensive I'm just going to leave it here. But I'll call everyone's attention to the fact that known Kremlin agent Goldstone made CRYSTAL CLEAR to Don Jr. PRIOR to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting that the meeting was orchestrated by the RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT.



104/ Too little has been made of Jr.'s July 11, 2017 statement on the June '16 meeting. He says he "just wanted to have a phone call but...that didn't work out." This is a stunning statement—it suggests that Emin told Jr. there was information that *had to be provided in person*.

105/ We know Emin knew the intel the Kremlin had; we know he spoke to Don on the phone; we know Don wanted (he says) not to have a meeting; we know there *was* a meeting—so either Emin vouched for the intel being too sensitive to be uttered on the phone *or there were documents*.

106/ We know Goldstone said the intel was "ultra-sensitive," but in his July 11, 2017 Jr. inadvertently implies Agalarov—who knew what the intel was—was of the same opinion. We also know at least one and possibly two meeting participants say that there *were* documents presented.

107/ So in trying to cover his tracks Don Jr. inadvertently underscores that the intel Veselnitskaya had *was* in fact valuable *and/or* she left a dossier of the intelligence she had with Team Trump—there's no way to make sense of Jr.'s bizarre July 11, 2017 statement otherwise.

108/ Why would Jr. have made such a big mistake on July 11, 2017? Because—as media reports have confirmed—he was *insanely* rushed. Why? Because the media was about to publish his emails and he was rushing to publish them first with an appended—accidentally inculpatory—statement.

109/ *No one* should credit Jr.'s testimony he didn't know who wrote his July 8, 2017 statement—as proven by him amending that statement (re: his dad) right away. But I've also said Team Trump had a policy on withholding from the principal *if* it knew Trump knowing would be bad:



110/ But here's the catch: by his own admission, on June 9, 2016 Don Jr. had *no reason whatsoever* to think his dad—the "principal" for whom he was an agent—would be harmed by learning of his (and Paul and Jared's) meeting with the Russians. So he had *no* reason to withhold it.

111/ I need to reiterate this: Jr. was at the meeting—but says he played no role in crafting a statement about *what happened* at the meeting. And says he never talked with Paul *or* Jared about the statement either. But Trump Sr. *did* work on it. Using *what base of knowledge*?

112/ IMPORTANT: Trump Jr. is HEAD OF ACQUISITIONS at the Trump Organization, which means he knows who Trump Org has open letters-of-intent with. He told Congress in September '17 Trump Org had no business ties to Russia. So how does he explain *Aras Agalarov himself* saying this:



113/ In this major public statement, Aras Agalarov says his "project" with the Trump Organization—which, per his son Emin in a Forbes interview, was under a letter-of-intent from November '13 onward—became "irrelevant" ONLY AFTER TRUMP WAS ELECTED. Note the date of the statement.

114/ In the article, Agalarov explains that Trump's election negated the outstanding letter-of-intent because Trump "couldn't do deals" once elected. So Trump Jr. saying the only business relationship the Trump Org had with any Russians was the 2013 pageant is a prosecutable lie.

115/ I say it's a prosecutable lie because Trump Jr. was/is HEAD OF ACQUISITIONS at the Trump Organization. It's a literal impossibility that he did not know that the Trump Organization was under an active letter-of-intent with his friend's dad and one of Russia's chief builders.

116/ Here's my further proof that TRUMP JR. lied—he admitted it. DAVIS, seeing that TRUMP JR. has lied about his dad's ties to Russia "not existing," comes back to the same question again—an old technique to avoid your witness perjuring themselves. This time he gets a new answer:



117/ Don Jr. saying "I don't believe" and "many if any" has to again be underscored as absolutely ludicrous because—I'll say it once more—Jr. is HEAD OF ACQUISITIONS at the Trump Organization. His ability to *not be sure* what deals Trump Org has or hasn't made is exactly *zero*.

118/ All these lies are exhausting. The NYT says Boris Epshteyn is "an old friend of Eric Trump's"—so, an old friend of Don's brother. Asked if he knows him, Don Jr. says "he was an effective surrogate on the campaign and that's about the extent [of my relationship with him]."

119/ I suppose it's *possible* Don has never encountered "an old friend" of his brother's except *on a presidential campaign*—but given that Epshteyn has often been mentioned as part of the Trump-Russia probe, which is more likely: that that's the case or that Jr. is again lying?

120/ Jr. even lies about why Manafort was brought aboard the campaign: "primarily because he had expertise and experience in contested conventions, which is something we were concerned about at the time." Really? Manafort was hired in February 2016—5 months before the convention.

121/ Moreover, Trump pal Tom Barrack approached Manafort about running Trump's campaign—and Manafort sent his pitch letter to Trump—*before* Super Tuesday. So in what universe was Trump picking a campaign chief in *mid-February* based on fears of a contested convention? Honestly.

122/ What makes more sense is that Flynn went to meet with Putin in December '15, and less than 60 days later *formally* joined Trump's campaign (he'd been advising him for months). *Immediately* Barrack—a Flynn pal and business partner—went to court old pro-Putin shill Manafort.

123/ If you read this and find it credible—if you think Don Jr. isn't lying to Congress here—I just can't with you, I'm sorry.

124/ And when Trump Jr. is asked if he knows if Rick Gates—Trump's DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER and the man who RAN THE CAMPAIGN for three months in mid-2016—was ever "affiliated with the Trump campaign," he says, "Actually I don't know if he was officially affiliated." I mean, Jesus.

125/ OK, we're on to the Democratic cross-examination (as it were) now.

126/ Trump Jr. gets stripped to his skivvies almost immediately. He says the only time he spoke to Manafort about the meeting pre-meeting was when he forwarded him Goldstone's email. But that forwarded email—June 8, 2016—referenced the meeting like Manafort already knew about it.

127/ Democratic counsel *also* establishes that Trump Jr. withheld Manafort's response to his forwarded email from the Committee—they found out about it by chance. But hey, these little (convenient) oopsies can happen in the most high-profile investigation of this century, right?

128/ In view of this thread we must evaluate Jr.'s statement—as to the initial Goldstone email—that "I wasn't all that focused on it at the time" as a lie. The time-stamps on his phone log, and his language to Goldstone, all confirm he was *very* focused on this Kremlin outreach.

129/ If you're wondering what the testimony transcripts of a guy who goes to prison look like—and I've read many such transcripts—*this* is what they look like. Moments like these—which are fairly summarized as "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."



130/ Oh—this is priceless. Jr. on why he responded to Goldstone in 20 minutes with "I love it" if he didn't think anything of Goldstone's email: "If I get an email, I respond to it. If I see it, I respond."

Remember how he said he got "hundreds" of emails a day on the campaign?

131/ This excerpt should *also* be considered for "Federal Prisoner Transcript Excerpt of the Year."

Keep in mind, Trump Jr. had just been told that the Crown Prosecutor of Russia had "ultra-sensitive" information on Hillary Clinton—to which Trump Jr. responded with "I love it."


132/ Trump Jr. concedes that "a lot" of the correspondence intended for Donald Trump Sr. would have to go through Rhona Graff first. Put differently, anyone in the Trump campaign emailing Rhona Graff *isn't* emailing Rhona Graff but is trying to get in touch with Donald Trump Sr.

133/ What this means is that Rob Goldstone felt he knew the American principal (Trump) well enough that—at times in 2015 and 2016—he bypassed Trump's general agents and wrote "directly" to Trump by emailing Rhona Graff. That underscores the level of access this Kremlin agent had.

134/ And remember, Trump Sr. knew of Rob Goldstone as a Putin agent *before* his son even did—as he knew it beginning in mid-2013, when Goldstone began coordinating bringing the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Moscow (in part with a passed-along promise of meeting Vladimir Putin).

135/ This is a response given by one of the ringleaders of the Pizzagate conspiracy, on the topic of whether one of the ringleaders of the Birther conspiracy would want to know that Russia's top prosecutor had ultra-sensitive incriminating information about Clinton. Process that.


136/ Oh my god. Trump's son just said—under threat of criminal prosecution for lying to Congress—that he has absolutely no idea whether his father ever makes phone calls from blocked numbers. Note that Trump Jr. has *one* phone and gets *all* calls from his dad on that one phone.
137/ I'd venture a guess that not a single Trump supporter in America believes that Don Jr. doesn't know if Don Sr. ever makes calls from a blocked number.

Someone work on this, please—find me a Trump supporter who thinks Don Jr. can't answer that question about his own father.

138/ What's bizarre here is that Don Jr. *does* claim to know whether his *brother-in-law* ever uses blocked numbers (Don Jr. thinks no). But then he reverts to I've-no-idea for Paul Manafort. There's just... {sigh}. No prosecutor in America would credit this testimony as honest.

139/ And here it is—on pg. 89, the Democratic counsel confirms what I supposed earlier in this thread, that the 703 number is indeed Paul Manafort's. Because of course. Because every piece of evidence we have says Don Jr. called Manafort to discuss the meeting—then lied about it.

140/ *One minute* after saying he has no idea if Paul Manafort ever calls from a blocked number, Jr. says "I spoke to Paul quite often [on the phone]." Which confirms that he definitely would've known whether Manafort used blocked numbers or (say) a real number—like a 703 number.

141/ I've got to walk our dogs. Be back very shortly.

142/ I'm back. Here we go.

143/ Democratic counsel has established that not only did Don Jr. lie to Congress about not speaking to Manafort—because he had access to the very phone records he was being asked about and knew Manafort's number was there—but he *also* lied about Kushner in exactly the same way.

144/ I'm almost as offended by the bad lawyering here as Trump Jr.'s lies—he had the phone records before him saying that he called Manafort and Kushner and he still said that he never did so. Who do you blame there? I'd say *both* the witness and his counsel. It's a major error.

145/ Here's the best part: Jr. called *both* Manafort *and* Kushner *before* he called Emin—which means (a) he was very excited by the Kremlin's offer; (b) he considered it time-sensitive; (c) he wanted official campaign approval to proceed; (d) he hoped to strategize a response.

146/ This underscores that the Kremlin's offer of a criminal conspiracy was taken as exactly that from the jump—and accordingly moved to the highest levels of the campaign *immediately* and was prioritized over Don Jr.'s "hundreds" of other campaign-emails likewise *immediately*.

147/ Understand that what I'm saying actually isn't so surprising: when the Kremlin contacted Papadopoulos he told the campaign immediately; when the Kremlin told Papadopoulos they had stolen emails he told the campaign immediately—all Russia contacts went to the higher-ups ASAP.

148/ At all stages—from November 2013 onward—the Trump Organization, then Trump campaign, then Trump transition, then Trump Administration went to CODE RED (no pun intended) the moment the Kremlin made an overture through one of its long-designated special agents. It was a trend.

149/ Most prosecutors would tell you that just the Don Jr. lies I've already uncovered in this thread would CONFIRM in their minds—were they investigating the Trump-Russia case—that the Trump Organization and/or campaign was involved in a cover-up of significant illegal activity.

150/ I'll go further: *no serious attorney* would have allowed Trump Jr. to testify if they knew in advance (and you *would* know in advance, because you'd review your client's whole testimony) that Trump Jr. would lie this flagrantly and repeatedly to the United States Congress.

151/ Another case-in-point:

Don Jr., July 11, 2017: "I first just wanted to have a phone call, but...that didn't work out."

Don Jr., September 7, 2017: "It would be pretty customary for me to give a friend a few moments [in person]."

Which is it? (Answer: he wanted a meeting.)

152/ Jr. says that because Manafort and Kushner both worked near his office in Trump Tower—(as does his dad)—it "wouldn't be uncustomary" for him to inform them of meetings even if he didn't know their importance. But—he says—he was meticulous about never doing that with his dad.

153/ Of course this flies in the face of Trump's reputation as a campaign micro-manager who'd rage at subordinates if they kept information from him. And it leaves out the best part: who did Kushner and Manafort meet with on June 9, 2016 besides the Russians? That's right: Trump.

154/ So Don Jr.'s testimony is that Jared, Paul, and he frantically coordinated how to respond to the Kremlin's offer and then studiously made sure they never said anything to their boss about it for a year despite meeting with him just minutes after the Russians left his house.

155/ Moreover, they did this despite their boss's *public protestation of interest* in any intel whatsoever that the Russians might have possession of that could damage Clinton—to the point that the *same week* as the Trump Tower meeting he *promised a speech on that very topic*.

156/ SPEECHLESS.

157/ Don Jr. told Congress his dad might have known about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Which means all he's vouching for is that *he* didn't tell him. He's *not saying* Jared Kushner and/or Paul Manafort didn't tell him. He's saying *he doesn't know*.

This is jaw-dropping.

158/ Asked if he ever asked his dad if he knew about the Trump Tower meeting with Kremlin agents, Trump Jr. offers a clear "No."

Asked if *his father* ever told *him* he knew about the meeting—say, from another source, like Jared or Manafort—Trump Jr. answers, "I don't recall."

159/ As a former defense attorney, I see enough now to begin to develop a theory of the case: Jr. felt it was Manafort or Kushner's job to tell his dad about the meeting because they—not he—were on the campaign. And they did tell him—so Jr. must lie about his contacts with them.

160/ Trump Jr. makes a bizarre statement: he says he "certainly at the time" would *not* have remembered if his dad told him that he'd heard about the meeting from Kushner, Manafort, or someone else because the meeting meant nothing to him (Trump Jr.) at the time.

Process that.
161/ Trump Jr. further says that his dad expressed no surprise when he learned of the meeting AND expressed no anger that (allegedly) he hadn't been told of it earlier. Knowing what we know about Trump, that means he *already knew about the meeting* and had no one to be angry at.

162/ Note that this is the same reaction Trump Sr. had—i.e., *none*—when Papadopoulos told him on March 31, 2016 that the Kremlin had made contact with him. I've said the evidence suggests Papadopoulos had *already told him this* and I stand by that analysis of the case evidence.

163/ Trump Jr. says "it became pretty clear [Veselnitskaya] wasn't representing the Russian government"—which is an odd statement given that he can't remember with specificity anything she said and doesn't remember if she mentioned her employer. So on what did he base that claim?

164/ Jr. said "there was nothing to follow up on" post-meeting, yet (a) there's evidence to suggest Goldstone felt there *had* been; (b) even if not, it may've been because Jr. didn't know about it—he wasn't on the campaign—or the mid-June hack-dumps were all the followup needed.

165/ Wow—Trump Jr. admits that he talked about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Manafort and possibly with Kushner (he claims with attorneys present for all men) *before* the story hit the public (a week or two before). That suggests they had a chance to sync their stories.

166/ Nope—there's no way that this is what the Crown Prosecutor sent Veselnitskaya to give to the Trump campaign. That people who might not even be Russian were tax cheats but also—possibly *legally*—giving to the Clinton campaign or the DNC? No—just no. That's not what she said.



167/ First of all, that's not inculpatory to Clinton. Second, how in the world would intel like this be "ultra-sensitive" (unless it had been stolen from the DNC)? Third, how would anything like this be enough to convince Trump to drop Russian sanctions?

It's not what she said.

168/ Fourth, Trump Jr.'s lies are hurt by the fact that we now know Russia had *tons* of *stolen intelligence* on Clinton—so the idea that they would specially schedule a meeting with three top Trump advisors and then offer them something that's not an election law violation? No.

169/ I mean, this is absolutely bonkers: Donald Trump Jr. is saying the Kremlin went through all this trouble and then its four (four!) on-site agents offered precisely *zero* specific information about Hillary Clinton. That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.

170/ Don Jr. says there was so little content in the meeting that he, Jared, and Manafort had "lost interest" in what these four (four!) Kremlin agents had to say—though they'd been sent by Trump Sr.'s business partner—midday through the meeting. No prosecutor would believe that.

171/ Jr. says Russia sanctions and Clinton dirt wasn't "something we were spending time on" in the campaign. What the—Manafort and Kushner literally had a meeting with Trump Sr. to discuss Clinton dirt *that very day*! And relations with Russia were *central to Trump's campaign*!

172/ I really resent Don Jr. saying that "given Rob Goldstone and his history" he'd no way of knowing if Goldstone was legitimate. Really? Rob Goldstone made the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow *happen*. He invited Trump to a birthday party Putin would be at. Is Jr. kidding?

173/ Moreover, Rob Goldstone was the *sole designated representative* of one of Donald Trump Jr.'s personal friends—and a prospective business partner with multi-billion dollar implications to those deals—and Trump Jr. *knew* that. So no, he *didn't* doubt Goldstone's legitimacy.


174/ This is absolute made-up *nonsense*. Trump Jr. had no doubts whatsoever about Goldstone's "legitimacy," which is why Goldstone went to the top of a heap of "hundreds" of emails *immediately* and got access to the nerve center of the Trump presidential campaign *immediately*.

175/ Michael Cohen once told The Huffington Post that he spoke with Trump Sr. about the 2015 Trump Tower Moscow deal the Kremlin was working on for Trump for a total of "4 minutes" and Trump never uttered a polysyllabic word about it. Prosecutors can spot such patterns of deceit:

176/ So Cohen was leveraging Trump's run into *billions* for Trump *well after* Trump found he had a Putin agent on his NatSec/speechwriting team working on negotiations with Putin. Cohen said he "gave up" in January 2016—shades of Jr. "not following up" on the June 2016 meeting.

177/ What I'm telling you all, as a former criminal investigator and criminal defense attorney, is that there is a *pattern* to how individual witnesses lie and, when and where there's a conspiracy, to how all co-conspirators lie. *All* pro-Trump witnesses exhibit these patterns.

178/ THE PATTERN: I don't recall anything; if I recall anything, I didn't know anything; if I knew anything, I didn't tell anyone; if I told anyone, it wasn't Trump; if I told Trump, he had no reaction; if he *had* one, it was wholly improbable, uncharacteristic, and exculpatory.

179/ Holy sh*t.

I *think* most readers will see the staggering irony in the excerpt below—and *immediately*. The answer Don Jr. gave is *exactly* the answer Christopher Steele gave Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS on why he had to tell law enforcement about what he learned in Russia.



180/ So who thinks Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS acted *entirely appropriately*? Trump's son.

And where did he say it? In testimony before the United States Congress, under penalty of criminal prosecution for lying.

181/ This information dovetails with my working theory of the case: that Trump Jr. discussed the upcoming meeting with Kremlin agents with Manafort and Kushner on June 6, 2016—and one or both campaign officials thereafter told Trump. Thus, Trump on June 7th was *expecting* intel.



82/ My working theory of the case would readily explain the following series of responses from Trump Jr. after he'd given *many* clear denials in response to *other* questions about what Donald Trump Sr. knew of the upcoming June 9, 2016 Team Trump-Kremlin meeting (and when):

Missing Files Motivated the Leak of Michael Cohen’s Financial Records

As with Don Jr. setting up Rusher meetings behind Dad's back, should we assume Michael Cohen likewise set up Essential Consultants without Trump's knowledge? And ditto whoever deleted the SARs files from the government database?

My gosh, Trump is surrounded by crooked coffee boys!

when high govt officials are willing to go to jail to expose missing documents something very serious is happening...who is the head of the treasury..is it mnuchin ?

Yes, Mnuchin. But he and his wife Marie Antoinette seem like decent folks, so I doubt he's in any way involved in this deleted SARs imbroglio.

trump dictionary meaning of farce - a sarah sanders press conference.
has there been any news or truth in past 6 months.