The Meeting - 9 June 2016

Who the heck wasn't at the Trump Tower meeting on 9 June 2016, one floor below the Republican Presidential nominee's "home" office?  It has been, what, ten days since the first news of this meeting was released?
    In the released "original" e-mails received and sent by the Cheeto-head's Junior son, the letters plainly say that the meeting is provide information from a meeting between "the Crown Prosecutor of Russia" and Aras Agalarov and, after, "their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.
    This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin."
    First, there is no such person with the title of Crown Prosecutor of Russia, but the person writing the letter is a British subject.  It is suspected that the man he is referring to is Russian Attorney General Yuri Chaika.  Aras Agalarov is a Russian real estate mogul and oligarch, with years of ties to the Trumps.  The son Emin Agalarov is a Russian pop singer, who adores our current elected President.  The person who started this chain of letters on 3 June 2016 which ended with the meeting in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016, was Rob Goldstone, a British publicist for Emin Agalarov, and a former tabloid news writer.
    Originally it was reported that only four people were present for the 9 June meeting - Don Junior, brother-in-law Jared Kushner, then campaign manager Paul Manafort, and a female Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.  Then reports started saying other people were in the meeting.  The lawyer, Velselnitskaya, had an interpreter - who has never yet been identified; Rob Goldstone, the publicist, was there; and one, or possibly two more people.  Ms Veselnitskaya claims that she was sent by her government only to discuss US sanctions against Russian adoptions, and that she has no ties to the Kremlin, or the Russian government.  Her husband is a Russian intelligence agent.  She dines frequently with top-level Russian officials.  She takes personal instructions from Yuri Chaika and from Vladimir Putin.  - Of course, she has no ties to the Kremlin.
     Yesterday, it was reported that Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-born lobbyist, who has spoken openly of his past as a Soviet military counter-intelligence officer, and who was once accused of hacking an American company's computer system, was also present at the meeting.  Akhmetshin, who says he is now retired, was a skilled practitioner in the rough Russian version of opposition research.  From his base in Washington, DC he has been hired by an ever-changing roster of clients, often Russian, to burnish their image and blacken those of their rivals.  He has been referred to as a master of the dark arts of  "kompromat" - the collection of compromising information by the Soviet KGB.
     This morning, Scott Balber, an attorney who has represented both of the Agalarovs, father Aras and son Emin, and has also represented the President in two lawsuits, announced that his client Irakly "Ike" Kaveladze, was also at that meeting.  Who is Ike?  In 2000, Congressional investigators were looking into money laundering, and kept finding Ike Kaveladze's name.  He was an obscure Soviet-born financier who offered special services to his Russian clients.  He had opened 2,000 shell companies in the state of Delaware and opened more than 100 bank accounts for Russian clients who moved more than $1.4 billion through those accounts to overseas destinations.  The attorney, Mr Balber, stated that Ike Kaveladze was there to observe what happened for the Agalarov family.
   I want to know the name of the interpreter.  I want to know if there were any other people present.  Natalia Veselnistskaya states that the only thing discussed were US sanctions and the Magnitsky Act.  Others there state that a pile of documents were left in the room for the Republican campaign people to discover, digest, and divulge.
    In a reply e-mail to Rob Goldstone, Don Junior states that he "loves it" and that he wants the information to come out later in the summer.  And - voila!  Just before the Democratic Convention, WikiLeaks starts releasing documents from the DNC and from Hilary Clinton's campaign manager.  Seems too much for coincidence to me....

Bits And Pieces

Monday is our Memorial Day, when we are given a paid holiday to honor our War dead.  Volunteers have been placing American flags in cemeteries, on graves of military veterans, all this past week.  We, as a country, actively honor all people who served in our Armed Forces, offering their lives in protection of our beliefs of justice, freedom, and democracy.  My Father was a career US Navy service member, my Uncle was a career US Army service member, and a brother-in-law was a career US Marines service member.  Our family has served in the armed services back into the times of Roman Emperors.  I am extremely proud of all of the men and women in my family who have ever served their country in times of need.
   In horse racing, it has been decided that Always Dreaming will not run in the Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the Triple Crown.  In today's 2,000 Guineas, Thunder Snow will be meeting Churchill...
   On the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, there have been 46 foals born so far...  The latest, seen this morning was out of the mare Chickadee and sired by Ace.  No photos yet.  Considering that the ponies are "wild," having lost only two foals so far this year is very good.  The first died from a massive infection that apparently entered through his umbilical cord; the second was lost to the thick marsh mud.  We're having a very good foaling season, so far.
    Then we come to the administration of the orange snowflake - His trip to the Middle East and beyond started out well.  He was very obsequious to the Saudis and signed a deal for another $110 billion in armed support for their country.  He then made a brief visit to Israel, where his performance was very uneven.  Then he was an unwelcome visitor to the Pope in Vatican City.  Francis looked extremely relieved and happy when the tangerine bigot left the premises.  In Brussels and then back in Italy, he was a complete and total boor.  He pushed the Prime Minister of Montenegro out of his way, so he could be at the front of a photo opportunity.  He yelled at the other members of NATO, saying they hadn't paid enough for US protection (which is NOT what NATO is about); never spoke of the 5th NATO Clause that states if you attack one of us, you attack all of us (and the only time that has been used was for US protection after 9/11); and he called Angela Merkel's German government "very, very bad."
    Now, with the Special Counsel appointed to look into any ties, connections, collusion, and monetary exchanges between the President and anyone remotely tied to his campaign, things are going to get very interesting.  Especially since the President has now hired a personal lawyer.  And then there's the new investigation into his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who reportedly asked for a "private channel of communication" to be set up between Putin and members of the new administration, which could not be "overheard" by US listening services.  They are all idiots.
   And, finally, the unprovoked attack on a British journalist who was asking a Republican running for a US Congressional seat...  The reporter, Ben Jacobs, from The Guardian, was trying to get a comment from man about the CBO score on the Republicans new health care plan, which had been released that afternoon.  Greg Gianforte, the candidate, grabbed the reporter by the neck, threw him to the ground, straddled his body, and began punching the reporter.  He broke the reporter's glasses and injured his elbow.  The candidate was charged with misdemeanor assault, and won the election, which took place the next day.
   The venality and callousness of the Republican party, and the seemingly calm acceptance of this violence by the American public, is very disturbing to me.