The Daily Telegraph

Ex-soviet spy in Trump Jr’s meeting with Russian lawyer

- By Harriet Alexander in New York

DONALD TRUMP JR’S controvers­ial meeting with a Russian lawyer promising incriminat­ing informatio­n on Hillary Clinton was also attended by an ex-soviet spy, it emerged yesterday.

Rimat Akhmetshin, described as a charming, stylish English-speaking lobbyist, has admitted working as a Soviet counter intelligen­ce operative – but insists he is no longer a spy.

But Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, was so concerned about his activities last April that he wrote to John Kelly, the homeland security secretary, to ask whether Mr Akhmetshin had registered as a “foreign agent”.

The presence of Mr Akhmetshin in the June 2016 meeting should have certainly rung alarm bells for those present – the president’s eldest son; his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and his campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

In an interview with AP yesterday, Mr Akhmetshin made unverified claims that Ms Veselnitsk­aya had brought documents with her that detailed what she believed was the flow of illicit funds to the Democratic National Committee. She presented the documents to the Trump associates and he recalled her saying: “This could be a good issue to expose how the DNC is accepting bad money.”

This account contradict­s earlier claims by Ms Veselnitsk­aya that she had not brought any damaging informatio­n on Mrs Clinton.

Mr Akhmetshin also claimed that Mr Trump Jr asked the attorney if she had all the evidence to back up her claims, including whether she could demonstrat­e the flow of the money, according to AP. But Ms Veselnitsk­aya said the campaign would need to research it more.

Alan Futertas, Mr Trump Jr’s lawyer, has said Mr Trump Jr knew nothing about the Mr Akhmetshin’s background at the time.

“He is a US citizen. He told me specifical­ly he was not working for the Russian government,” he said.

Yet the revelation will certainly exasperate even Mr Trump’s supporters, who are dismayed by a week of daily revelation­s about the ill-advised encounter. Soliciting campaign support from a foreign national is illegal.

“If you had a contact with Russia, tell the special counsel about it. Don’t wait until The New York Times figures it out,” said Trey Gowdy, a congressma­n for South Carolina who chairs the House oversight committee.

This week, Mr Trump Jr was asked on Fox News: “As far as you know, as far as this incident is concerned, this is all of it?” He replied: “This is everything. This is everything.”

Three days later, Mr Akhmetshin’s involvemen­t was revealed. The former spy moved to the US in 1999 to work as a lobbyist in Washington DC, representi­ng Russian interests, and 10 years later became a US citizen.

In court papers filed with New York Supreme Court in November 2015, Mr Akhmetshin was described as “a former Soviet military counter-intelligen­ce officer” by lawyers for Internatio­nal Mineral Resources (IMR), a Russian mining company, which alleged it had been hacked. The allegation­s were later withdrawn.

A year later he was working as a lobbyist registered with the Human Rights Accountabi­lity Global Initiative Foundation, which was founded in February 2016 and assisted by Natalia Veselnitsk­aya, the lawyer met by Mr Trump Jr.

The foundation describes itself as being dedicated to helping “restart American adoption of Russian children”. In practice, this means overturnin­g the Magnitsky Act – a series of sanctions placed on Russian officials.

Mr Akhmetshin was paid $10,000 by Ms Veselnitsk­aya’s group, according to his registered-lobbyist disclosure form.

Some US officials suspect Mr Akhmetshin of ongoing ties with Russian intelligen­ce, NBC News claimed.

Last night, the US department of jus- tice told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Akhmetshin is not currently, and has never been, registered as a foreign agent.

Michael Caputo, an adviser to Trump’s presidenti­al campaign, said he told a US House of Representa­tives committee yesterday that he never heard of anyone in the campaign talking with Russians.

“Today I spent my time in front of the committee detailing the fact that I had no contacts with Russians and I never heard of anyone in the Trump campaign talking with Russians,” Mr Caputo, a political consultant, told reporters after testifying at a closed meeting of the House intelligen­ce committee.

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