Russians Who Met With Trump Jr Also Met With Rohrabacher

The day before House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy made his "joke" about Rohrabacher and Trump being on the payroll of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was dining with Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin — the Russian lawyer and alleged former Soviet counterintelligence officer with whom Donald Trump Jr et al met with in hopes of obtaining "highly sensitive" documents from the Kremlin — in the Republican member's only Capital Hill Club.

Fair warning: If you're not big on reading, you might want to bail on this thread now.

According to reporting in The Daily Beast, this particular conspiracy begins months earlier, in April of 2016, when Rohrabacher was on a trip to Moscow where he was presented with a document.

GOP Lawmaker Got Direction From Moscow, Took It Back to D.C.

The itinerary for that three-day trip, reviewed by The Daily Beast, shows that Rohrabacher and Behrends attended a side meeting—without the other members of the delegation—with one of Putin’s closest confidants, Vladimir Yakunin.

A former head of the Russian Railways who has been sanctioned by the U.S., Yakunin has routinely accompanied Putin on domestic and international trips over the years. He owns a dacha near the president in an exclusive enclave on the shore of Lake Komsomolskoye.

Rohrabacher said at the time that he had agreed to the meeting at the request of Sergey Kislyak. “The Russian ambassador asked me if I would meet with him in Moscow,” he told BuzzFeed.

Rohrabacher and his chief of staff, Paul Behrends, of course did as they were instructed. However, it was in yet another meeting without the congressional delegation that Rohrabacher was handed the Kremlin propaganda he was to foist on Congress and the American people upon his return:

Once the other members of the delegation had left the room, Viktor Grin, a top Chaika deputy in the Prosecutor General’s office and one of the 44 Russians enduring a travel ban and asset freezes under U.S. sanctions, appeared with the document outlining Russia’s position on the Magnitsky sanctions. Rohrabacher and Behrends were also given access to the anti-Magnitsky movie.

The Daily Beast reviewed a copy of a document that was passed to Rohrabacher in Moscow in April 2016. The document, marked “confidential,” was given to Rohrabacher and Behrends. It lays out an alternate reality in which the U.S.—and the rest of the world—has been duped by a fake $230 million scandal that resulted in sanctions being imposed on 44 Russians linked to murder, corruption, or cover-ups.

The document, which was handed over by an official from the Prosecutor General’s office to Rohrabacher along with means of viewing the Russian propaganda movie, suggested that U.S. “political situation may change the current climate” and claimed that it was the ideal moment to foment a challenge to the Western narrative on Putin’s kleptocracy. A subcommittee hearing that would re-examine the sanctions placed on Russia, the paper claimed, would be appreciated in Moscow.

After returning to the US, Rohrabacher immediately set about doing the Kremlin's bidding:

A month after returning from Moscow with the Russian document, which is just over a page long, the congressman had already delayed the Global Magnitsky Act. His spokesman told National Review at the time: “The congressman came across some information that puts the Magnitsky narrative as we know it into some question, and he wants to pursue it.”

He refused to say where this new information had suddenly come from.

Two weeks later, Rohrabacher explained to colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee why he had tabled an amendment to take Magnitsky’s name off the bill.

He did not say he was using the Russian document as the basis for his argument, but he did repeat five claims from the Moscow paper

The article is a little long but it's a veritable trove of information about what was going on in the months surrounding the recently exposed meeting between Trump, Kushner, Manafort and the Russian lawyer cum lobbyist and her team.

According to congressional staffers, Akhmetshin and a former Democratic Representative (like Rohrabacher, from California), Ron Dellums, were making the rounds lobbying for the repeal of the Magnitsky Act and a lifting of sanctions.

“They said they were lobbying on behalf of a Russian company called Prevezon and asked us to delay the Global Magnitsky Act or at least remove Magnitsky from the name,” the staffer said. “Mr. Dellums said it was a shame that this bill has made it so Russian orphans cannot be adopted by Americans.”

Prevezon’s lawyer at the time was Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was working to defend the Cyprus-based company against U.S. money laundering allegations related to the massive fraud uncovered by Magnitsky.

And who was seen leading these men around and making introductions to members of Congress and their staff? None other than Rohrabacher's chief of staff, Paul Behrends, another attendee of the Rohrabacher-Veselnitskaya dinner who had also been present when his boss was given his instructions.

We haven't even gotten to the most serious part of Rohrabacher's coordinating with the Kremlin yet.

Rohrabacher attempted to schedule a hearing before Congress, to be held in mid-June and featuring testimony by none other than Natalia Veselnitskaya and Andrei Nekrasov, director of the propaganda film that had been shared with Rohrabacher to push in the US alongside the efforts of Veselnitskaya and her team.

The purpose of the hearing — what TDB reporter characterizes as a "show trial" — was apparently to bring forth Browder, the businessmen who had hired Magnitsky to find out why his companies had been seized by the Russian government, and confront him with the Kremlin propaganda film and give a platform for Kremlin agents to attack the man.

In preparation for the event, Behrends received further communications with updated material provided in emails coming from Mark Cymrot, another of the Prevezon lawyers. These emails were also reviewed by The Daily Beast. (and like the document retrieved in April, it should all be published)

The GOP leadership ultimately pulled the plug on the Kremlin orchestrated event. Another Kremlin orchestrated event did however take place — the July 13th screening of the film itself at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. and a Republican staffer from Rohrabacher's committee sent out invitations.

Catharine O’Neill, the unpaid intern who was not acting on the direction of Rohrabacher according to his spokesperson, sent emails to a number of people:

Invitations to attend the movie screening were sent from the subcommittee office by Catharine O’Neill, a Republican intern on Rohrabacher’s committee. Her email promised that the movie would convince viewers that Magnitsky, who was murdered in a Russian prison cell, was no hero.

The invite, reviewed by The Daily Beast, claimed that the film “explodes the common view that Mr. Magnitsky was a whistleblower” and lavishes praise on the “rebel director” Andrei Nekrasov.

Ms. O'Neill (coincidentally?) went on to be a member of the Trump administration's agency landing teams.

There's quite a bit more discussed in the article and it's well worth reading. These revelations effectively blow up the dubious, flimsy, attempted narrative of Donald Trump Jr being entrapped in some convoluted effort by the DNC, Clinton, the Obama Administration, the "deep state" or whoever else Team Trump thinks can be blamed.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Buzzfeed or the Daily Beast?
Those paragraphs you quote say both.
A bit confusing.

a reply to: theantediluvian


I think the Daily Beast just got trolled really hard!

"An email, reviewed by the Daily Beast"

"An invite, reviewed by the Daily Beast"

Where are the pics of this email, and invite?

There is no links to any sources, nothing to back it up other than Daily Beast.


Nothing they have is substantial proof to back ANY of this up.

Where's the evidence other than a really good piece of fiction?

Guess it's time to start a new meme war?

a reply to: Sillyolme

All excerpts are from the linked article from The Daily Beast. There was a single link to a Buzzfeed piece in which Rohrabacher confirms his meeting with Vladimir Yakunin:

Rohrabacher told BuzzFeed News he met with Yakunin at a restaurant in central Moscow called Café Pushkin while in the Russian capital with a congressional delegation.

"Yeah, I had a breakfast with him at the Pushkin Café," Rohrabacher told BuzzFeed News. He said Yakunin invited him to "an international meeting, dialogue for peace, he was putting together on Rhodes. I really have no desire to go to Rhodes. I think I probably turned him down." Yakunin is the president of an organization called the World Public Forum, which holds an annual forum on the Greek island of Rhodes.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Let's look at the ethics of Rico Hines the so called author of this piece shall we?

Early on Thursday, The Daily Beast published an article by London editor Nico Hines in which he "reported" on his use of Grindr at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Hines is a straight man, and the article is an unethical mess. 
Hines, who is married with children, included the heights, weights and countries of origin of several athletes whom he arranged dates with in the piece. That he saw this as no big deal is a huge problem and shows that he is blind to his own privilege by writing it. 
Putting an Olympian's stats next to their country of origin endangers the well-being of that person, especially when one athlete was from Central Asia, a region in which LGBT people are "marginalized, criminalized, and are exposed to high levels of violence, harassment and discrimination," according to one U.S. congressman's testimony.

Source


Yea, this guy sounds like a really reliable source for this type of information......


Try harder Ante

a reply to: seeker1963

Actually a lot of it was confirmed by Rohrabacher's press secretary, Ken Grubbs:

Grubbs said Rohrabacher had accepted the document but said the conversation with officials from the Prosecutor General’s office during the congressman’s April 2016 Moscow visit was “brief and formal.”

Ken Grubbs insisted that Behrends often escorted people around Congress.

“That invitation was not from our office. O’Neill was an unpaid intern on the committee staff. Paul denies asking her to send the invitations,” said Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher’s press secretary, referring to the congressman’s staff director, Paul Behrends.

And some of it by former Reagan Ambassador to Russia, Jack Matlock, who was also at the dinner and who was asked to testify at the would be hearing:

It was Rohrabacher who put in the call to his old friend Matlock. “He and I share a view on the importance of getting along with the other nuclear power,” Matlock told The Daily Beast. “He asked me if I was willing to come to Washington and he was going to set up hearings at his subcommittee.”

“Rohrabacher did have a number of Russians who had done a film about the case in Moscow that had inspired the Magnitsky Act in Congress, and they had found that the story that was being pervaded here by Browder and his people was not the accurate one,” Matlock added. “I don’t know who’s right about that, but I do believe it’s wrong to suppress evidence.”

Perhaps instead of rushing to take pot shots for high fives from your peers, you could take the time to read the source?

You know they are going to just say this is proof he's being set up by the dems.
It's complete tunnel vision.

On the news last night every station was talking about the meeting or the death of the health care bill.
Flipped on Fox and Hannity is talking about Clinton and e mails. I swear!

a reply to: theantediluvian

I saw that and it threw me. Sorry.

a reply to: seeker1963

So instead of reading the source article, you went to dig up dirt on the reporter so you could attack him? Interesting. The irony here is apparently you didn't read your own source material either.

There's no claim that he isn't credible. In fact, the claim is that the whole piece was homophobic and that his reporting of certain details — height/weight and nationality — could have endangered some homosexual athletes.

Perhaps you could go on to tell us how you agree that he was also "blind to his own privilege" as well since you're apparently transitioning to radical SJW now that you think it can be used to attack a source of information that makes you emotionally uncomfortable?

a reply to: seeker1963

Why. Picasso was a male whore but he painted masterpieces.
Hemingway was a bully and a prick but he wrote genius novels.
Character has nothing to do with talent.
Look at any heavy metal band.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Sometimes I have a hard time taking you seriously because of stuff like this...

Rohrabacher said at the time that he had agreed to the meeting at the request of Sergey Kislyak.

Rohrabacher and his chief of staff, Paul Behrends, of course did as they were instructed.

Request and instruct are not synonymous...things like this show you're clear bias. I don't put much stock in someone making an argument with such bias as it doesn't tend to take count of all the facts or as in this situation puts a serious spin and some nonfactual info into the mix.

a reply to: seeker1963

And what does that even say?

More of the web comes to light. I wonder how much a congressman costs these days?

a reply to: theantediluvian


I can't stomach Rohrabacher. If he went down, I'd pour 2 fingers to celebrate. However, this has no proof. It reads like a piece of fiction.


What happened to the days when the real journalist actually had some evidence that could back up their story?

a reply to: RickyD

Too bad the board rules is you post the link, you quote some content and thenSupply a few words about your feelings about the piece.

If you have a problem with that take it up with management.

a reply to: RickyD

Did he do as he was requested? Yes. It seems that you want to play semantics games. If having a bias against Kremlin shills in the US Congress is wrong, well then I guess I'm guilty.

Do you have any comment about the details?

He met with Russian officials independently while in Russia. That's a fact and confirmed by his own people and in the case of that meeting, by he himself. He was given a document and access to the aforementioned propaganda film. That is a fact that is once more confirmed by his press secretary.

He returned home and set about trying to promote the video and the narrative it and the document laid out. That's a fact, it's a matter of record that the attempted to convene the hearing and that is confirmed by multiple sources, including named members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and Jack Matlock, who was contacted and asked to appear.

His chief of staff, Paul Behrends was introducing the lobbyists working with Natalia Veselnitskaya, including Rinat Akhmetshin, again confirmed if not by unnamed congressional staffers, in part by Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher's press secretary.

The dinner can also be confirmed and again, TBD reporter even interviewed Jack Matlock, who was in attendance.

Anything you'd like to say about that or do you want to waste both of our times discussing my word choice?

a reply to: seeker1963

His press secretary confirmed several of the details, including the meeting and the hand off of the document. What part do you feel isn't properly supported?

Anyone got a link to the document or the emails mentioned in the article? I would like to read them for myself.

a reply to: theantediluvian

13 hours since that story and a Google news search shows it going viral. s/c

I'll wait this one out. Rachel Maddow says that Trump is planting all of these fake news stories in order to discredit MSM