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You should know about Walter Soriano.

Background

The first we heard of Walter Soriano was in a June 5th article by Natasha Bertrand reporting that in April, 2 weeks after Muller submitted his final report, the Senate Intelligence Committee had subpoenaed Soriano. The committee requested a “closed-door interview and documents with various Russia probe figures dating back to June 2015.” These figures included Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, as well as three Israeli private intelligence firms: “Psy Group, Wikistrat, and Black Cube.”

“They’re surprised by how connected he seems to several people of interest,” this person said, including the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska — a former business associate of Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who offered Deripaska private briefings about the campaign in 2016. Deripaska is believed to have worked with Soriano on corporate intelligence matters, this person said.

New reporting

As Bertrand explained, “Soriano is virtually a ghost online.” Reporting over the past month by Forensic News’ Scott Stedman and Jess Coleman has since filled in many details about Soriano, and raised more questions. There are four pieces in the Soriano Files series:

• Part 1: Walter Soriano: The covert operative for Russian and Israeli elite
• Part 2: The Walter Soriano files: The consultant once claimed to be ex-Israeli intelligence officer
• Part 3: The Walter Soriano files: Finance consultant ties Soriano to Russian military embezzlement scandal
• Part 4: The Walter Soriano files: Once claimed “close relationship” with Steve Wynn

Highlights

Russian connections
Forensic News obtained the full list of people/entities included in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena. There are many familiar Russian figures, such as Oleg Deripaska and Konstantin Kilimnik. [Part 1] Soriano’s company, USG Security, was hired to protect the Sochi airport during Putin’s prized olympics. The deal involved Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. “It also suggests very close links of Soriano with the Russian state and Deripaska as they don’t let random people in such sensitive spheres,” a Russia expert told us. [Part 1] It is likely that Soriano and USG Security received part of the $25 billion that was overpaid to “friends or cronies” of Putin during the Sochi Olympics. [Part 1]
Walter Soriano’s former financial consultant was in business with a wealthy Russian embroiled in a major embezzlement and money laundering scheme. [Part 3]
Israeli connections
Soriano claimed to be an ex-Israeli intelligence officer [Part 2] The Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena includes powerful Israeli figures, like Psy Group (Joel Zamel + Royi Burstein), Wikistrat, Black Cube, and George Birnbaum (who pitched the Trump campaign on Psy Group). [Part 1]

• Reminder: Rick Gates requested proposals in 2016 from Psy Group "to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation and to gather intelligence to help defeat Republican primary race opponents and Hillary Clinton." Psy Group formed a partnership with Cambridge Analytica to jointly bid for contracts with the American Government after the 2016 Trump election win.
• Reminder: In May 2018, Black Cube was accused of using false identities to seek damaging information about former Obama administration officials and help the Trump administration undermine the Iran nuclear deal.
• Reminder: In 2015 Wikistrat spent a week running scenarios called the Cyber Mercenaries project on how a U.S. election interference campaign could be made by Russian cyber actors which was reported to Donald Trump Jr in 2016
• Note these three companies are owned by Joel Zamel. Donald Trump Jr. had met with Zamel, Nader, and Erik Prince in Trump Tower in August 2016. Their discussion reportedly included an offer on the part of Zamel for pro-Trump manipulation of social media.

According to Israeli media, Soriano was hired by Netanyahu to investigate the police who were probing Netanyahu. Soriano was in business with a close aide of Netanyahu and once claimed to be in business with Netanyahu himself. [Part 1]
British connections
USG Security is located in London, as are multiple addresses listed as his residences. Soriano is the director of seven active companies in the UK, four of which are devoted to real estate. [Part 1]
US connections
Soriano claimed to have worked for Donald Trump’s friend and former RNC finance chairman Steve Wynn. A former employer of Soriano swore under oath in 2012 that Soriano told her that he had a “close relationship” with Wynn. [Part 4]

• Note 1: Wynn was part of Trump's inaugural committee and donated $729,000 to it.
• Note 2: The White House intervened in a labor policy dispute to benefit Wynn: In 2017 Steve Wynn "was embroiled in litigation involving Obama-era rules governing how companies could distribute tips gathered by their employees. Months after the meeting request, the Trump administration revised those rules to make them far friendlier to employers."

In July 2016, Soriano expanded his real estate activities into the U.S., creating Playland Investments, a Limited Liability Company registered in Florida. Overall, at least seven properties were purchased in Playland’s name in Florida, ranging in price from around $150,000 to nearly $500,000. [Part 1]
TL;DR: The Senate believes Walter Soriano, a security consultant who has worked for Russian oligarchs and those close to Israeli PM Netanyahu, may have knowledge of the Russian interference in the 2016 US Election. Soriano has deep connections with power-brokers in Israel, the UK and Russia, and is involved in several mysterious business ventures stretching from Russia to the U.S.
Stedman and Coleman discuss Walter Soriano on the Counter Intelligence podcast
Full disclosure: I am part of the Forensic News team. So I'm a little biased when I say that we do great work ;)

For the last couple of months, Japan lawmakers have been trying to determine whether legalizing online gambling will have a beneficial or detrimental effect on the economy. There are plenty of arguments brought forward by both sides, with some claiming that the setting up of gambling zones will lead to more money going to state coffers. Others are frightened by the prospect of addiction and worry that on the long run the country will lose more as a result of people winning their lives. The progressives seem to be gaining ground and if rumors are true, then in a not so distant future, online gambling would be legal in Japan. Land-based casinos can also benefit from the passing of a casino bill which Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga seems to be supporting. The idea is to determine which were the reasons for why previous attempts failed and address those issues that led to favorable laws to be stopped in their tracks. Online casino operators are also optimistic about the prospect of establishing a beachhead in Japan and tapping into the potential of its huge population. Sky Vegas Casino is known for not missing out on great opportunities and the Asian country presents plenty of them, for both land-based and online operators. The Cabinet committee of Japan is still in vacation and previous discussions came to an abrupt end due to the fact that the regular session ended on June 22. With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe siding with those who promote the bill, the prospects are optimistic. Thousands of miles away, in Crimea there are rumors of land-based casinos opening their games as early as 2015 after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law. The idea is to attract tourists to this area and Sochi, which hosted the Winter Olympics earlier this year and things are bound to move forward at an accelerated speed. Passing legislation in Russia is far easier and takes less time than in most countries, which is not necessarily a good thing, but definitely positive for the casino industry. Since Crimea used to be a place favored by tourists, it wouldn't be far-fetched to expect a local casino industry to flourish. The proximity to the Olympic village is also a good reason for optimism, but there are plenty of things that can go wrong in this, tumultuous part of the world. Not so far away a war is brewing and in the wake of the bloody incidents of June and July, there are many who hesitate to travel to the former Ukrainian province.
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The Moscow Times rang everywhere, as people scrolled through their apps, not believing what has happened. Civil unrests and riots happened throughout Russia, from Sevastopol, to Vladivostok. For the first time in Russian history, a party other than United Russia had won. And Russia did not seem united.
A whole lot has changed since the last election. As Medvedev steps down as president, it is easy to see the changes in Russian society and say that nothing has happened. Nothing has changed. The people are angry, and want change. As the Russian political system became more polarized, things especially went sour.
The most notable change would be the collapse of the communist party. The infighting, the decline in membership, and the corruption unearthed in the party has made the party explode in a fashion similar to the Soviet Union. From the remnants and decays of this, five major parties exist, and only one holds a seat — Mandel Nikolas, which dedicated and strong faction has made it stick out against the others. Every party holds a cult of personality for its leader however, and without a uniting character like Zyuganov to rally around, the party has officially lost its status as the opposition.
Replacing it as the left wing with a vengeance has been the A Just Russia party, whose new Democratic socialist stance has earned it the following of a number of ex-communists. After unification with Yabloko and the Alliance of Greens and Social Democrats, its earned a large left-wing following, that unlike the center-right United Russia, has made it very popular. The party, no longer directed by Mironov, is being guided now by the more charismatic, and slightly younger, Matthias Gandchehra, a Russian-born man who lived in New York when he was younger, who believes that the main problem with Russia not being a developed country is because of the upper class of Russia. As stated in his speech, "We need tah make corruption with da highah class nonexistent now. Russia is not runned by the people, but by the milyunares, dah bilyunares, dah oligawks, and dah one puh-cent. We gawt tah legalize marihuana, we got tah raise da minimum wage, and we need change in Russia — YUGE change."
The United Russia party has not been doing well either. Struggling to get on its feet, a huge scandal arised when Sergei Ivanov was kicked out of the party, for possible assassination attempts against his political opponent Viktor Ichkov. Ivanov immediately claimed he was being framed by United Russia, and claimed that they had only made such baseless accusations and charges to prevent him from getting more power in the kremlin. Ivanov decided to take the case to court against United Russia, and won, however eventually ended up losing anyways to the center-right allegedly corrupt candidate — who views theirselves as the most reasonable candidate, despite having refused to hold any press conferences during the entire election, and using multiple cards to defend himself against difficult questions against debates. This sank the support of United Russia, and caused it to fall in a downward spiral.
But perhaps what was most surprising, was the rise of the LPDR. After the death of Zhirinovsky, the future looked bleak for the party, as the main focus was around his candidacy. Yet, the party like a phoenix rose from the ashes with the candidacy of Stepan Vladinodsky. A far right-wing fringe, he had never held office before, and has generally shown to be unknown in his political views. As a wealthy real-estate mogul and owner of multiple foreign casinos, however, he's been listed as one of the most recognized people in Russian society of the modern day, especially known due to his construction in repairing Sochi as a major Russian city again, and for his real-estate tactics that has made his name plastered onto the tallest building in Moscow. Despite this, he had alienated a majority of Russians — from his inaptness in foreign policy (believing that Ukraine were enemies), to his racist-filled statements that had gotten the attention of multiple people (stating that he's considering deportation for Chechens due to ISIS, that the rogue Siberians need to learn to accept Russian society, and even getting rid of the Jewish autonomous oblasts).
One of his most ridiculed and criticized statements came even from a debate, where when asked the question "do you think reinstating relations with the Horn and Congo is necessary to preventing aggressive behavior in Africa?", he responded with "I would kill those n***ers before accepting any type of blame on this shit." His slogan, "Russia is the future," has riled supporters from all over the conservative regions to his cause, being even called "Vladimir PigPutin" as a nickname. Originally [A Just Russia] calling him the name as a part of their smear campaign on him, he simply laughed it off and encouraged his supporters to call him that. He supports a reversal on Russian gun control laws, Russian border control laws, developing the military even more, and a reversal on environmental and pro-minority laws. He's been called an "authoritarian prick" by Medvedev, a "corrupt piece of shit to work with" by one of his former co-workers, and a "delusional man" by his ex-wife who he divorced due to her communist stance. His stance on bringing back the orthodox religion has also appealed to the majority of religious people.
When the ballots came in, nobody could believe it. Russia went mad.

Candidate	Party	Percentage
Stepan Vladinodsky (Vladimir PigPutin)	LPDR	48.4%
Matthias Gandchehra	A Just Russia	28.5%
Viktor Ichkov	Untied Russia	19.9%
Mandel Nikolas	Communist motherland	1.2%
Igor Vladourin	Independent	1.1%
Invalid/Blank/Other		0.9%

Opinions A history of Donald Trump’s business dealings in Russia By David Ignatius Opinion writer November 2
President Trump takes questions from reporters before boarding Marine One (Drew AngereGetty Images)
MOSCOW — An ice-blue 14-story office tower called Ducat Place III is the building that President Trump might have constructed here, with help from a business friend named Howard Lorber who came with him to scout the market in 1996. But like so many other Trump adventures in Russia, this one proved a tantalizing but futile dead end.
Trump is angrily dismissive when questions are raised about his Russian contacts. He calls the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III a “witch hunt” and media reports about his Russia connections “fake news” and “fabrication.” He tweeted in January, shortly before his inauguration: “I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”
As the Mueller investigation accelerated this week with the indictment of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the plea deal reached with former campaign foreign-policy aide George Papadopoulos, the context of the probe becomes newly important. How did Trump accumulate his network of Russian business contacts in the years before the 2016 campaign? What’s the prehistory of Trump and Russia?
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The Mueller investigation is still in its opening round, and it’s far too early to make any judgments about Trump’s own actions. A member of Trump’s inner circle told me that he advised the president recently, “This is the most innocent you’ve ever been of any allegation.” But to reach a judgment, you first must understand the history of Trump’s fascination, bordering on obsession, with Russian business deals.
The simple truth is that Trump has been hungry for Russia projects for more than three decades. He has repeatedly touted plans for a Moscow mega-development and has courted a steady stream of investors from the former Soviet Union for ventures in New York, South Florida and other locations. Trump has enjoyed playing the “big guy” in Moscow. As he bragged to a New York real-estate publication after a November 2013 dinner with prominent business leaders: “The Russian market is attracted to me.”
Trump’s Russia connections helped sow the seeds of Mueller’s investigation. The best example is the now-famous June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower organized by Donald Trump Jr. with Russians who had links with the Kremlin. Mueller is investigating whether that meeting was part of a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. But any potential criminal issues aside, the gathering embodied the Trump family’s 30-year involvement with wealthy tycoons from the former Soviet Union.
What follows is an attempt to explain Trump’s encounter with Russia as a narrative. Most of the details have surfaced before, but it has been hard to see the story whole, as a business saga. With Russia, as with so many other aspects of Trump’s business and political life, he has been more pitchman than builder. What’s clear, reviewing the facts, is that Trump’s claim he had “nothing to do with Russia” over the years is nonsense. 3:06 Inside the plan to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow
The Washington Post's Carol Leonnig and Tom Hamburger explain the Trump Organization's efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. (Jenny Starrs, Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)
Trump’s business interest in Russia began in 1986. The flashy young tycoon met Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin at a luncheon and, as he recounted in his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal,” the two began “talking about building a large luxury hotel across the street from the Kremlin.”
With Dubinin’s encouragement, Trump flew to Moscow in July 1987 with his Czech-born first wife, Ivana, to check out potential sites. Trump wrote in his book: “It was an extraordinary experience. . . . We stayed in Lenin’s suite at the National Hotel, and I was impressed with the ambition of the Soviet officials to make a deal.”
But Trump was preoccupied with other business projects in the late 1980s, including buying an airline and the Plaza Hotel (which he lost after bankruptcies in 1991 and 1992, respectively), and the Russia hotel deal stalled.
Trump explored the Russian market again in 1996, with help from his friend Lorber, who is chief executive of Vector Group, a holding company that back then owned a Russian cigarette company and now owns Douglas Elliman Realty, one of the leading brokerage firms for super-rich Russians seeking property in the United States.
Lorber is a fascinating, little-noted member of Trump’s inner circle. Trump described him last year as one of his two closest friends; they’ve helped each other’s children in business, and Lorber introduced Trump to David Friedman, who is now U.S. ambassador to Israel; Friedman’s former partner, Marc Kasowitz, became Trump’s lawyer. Lorber even made a cameo appearance in a 2005 episode of “The Apprentice.”
The Trump-Lorber foray in Moscow began with Lorber’s business partner (and close Trump friend) Bennett LeBow, who had acquired the Liggett tobacco company in 1986. One subsidiary, called Liggett-Ducat, marketed the company’s cigarettes in Russia. And Liggett-Ducat had a 98-year lease on a prime development site in central Moscow.
With his usual panache, Trump announced plans for a $250 million investment that would include a “Trump International” complex on the Liggett-Ducat site at a November 1996 news conference in Moscow. “We have an understanding we will be doing it,” he said.
Trump bragged about his plans in January 1997, when he and Lorber met visiting Russian politician Aleksandr Lebed in New York. A 1997 New Yorker profile of Trump captured their exchange and showed the breadth of Trump’s hopes for Moscow investment and business connections.
“We are actually looking at something in Moscow right now, and it would be skyscrapers and hotels, not casinos. Only quality stuff. . . . And we’re working with the local government, the mayor of Moscow, and the mayor’s people. So far, they’ve been very responsive. . . . I always go into the center.”
The Moscow mayor Trump cultivated was Yuri Luzhkov. John Beyrle, then U.S. ambassador to Russia, offered this blunt summary of Luzhkov’s approach in a 2010 cable to Washington: “Corruption in Moscow remains pervasive with Mayor Luzhkov at the top of the pyramid. Luzhkov oversees a system in which it appears that almost everyone at every level is involved in some form of corruption or criminal behavior.” Beyrle’s cable was published by WikiLeaks.
Whatever inside track Trump thought he had with Luzhkov in 1996, the deal petered out. Trump’s business troubles were mounting at home, and financing may not have been available. Handsome towers were built at sites called Ducat Place II and III, but not by Trump.
The Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles. (Angel Valentin/for The Washington Post)
The Russian moneymaker for Trump in the 2000s turned out, instead, to be investment in U.S. properties bearing his name. Russians were eager to move their capital into fancy condo apartments in New York and Florida. Here, again, his friend Lorber was well connected.
Lorber’s real-estate firm Douglas Elliman, hoping to profit from the Russian market, hired a string of Russian-speaking agents who could help rich clients find high-end properties.
“If you didn’t target the Russian billionaires, then you shouldn’t be in the business,” said Dolly Lenz, a former Douglas Elliman broker, in a 2008 article in the New York Observer. Lenz told USA Today last year that she had sold about 65 apartments in Manhattan’s Trump World Tower to Russian buyers. “They all wanted to meet Donald,” she said.
One magnet for Russian money was a private resort called Fisher Island in Biscayne Bay, just off Miami. Lorber has been a director of the Oceanside at Fisher Island Condominium Association since 2000 and is currently a director of the Fisher Island Club.
Among Fisher Island’s many Soviet-born property owners have been Aras Agalarov, a Russian-Azerbaijani magnate who sponsored Trump’s Miss Universe 2013 pageant and whose pop-singer son Emin organized the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower; and Felix Sater, a Russian-born former adviser to Trump who worked with the Bayrock Group that helped develop the Trump SoHo project in New York.
(Lorber declined to comment through Vector’s public-affairs consultant, Emily Claffey of Sard Verbinnen & Co.)
Trump’s business deals in South Florida illustrated his blend of panache and caution, his hunger for Russian cash and his ability to skirt disaster. He sold his name to condo projects in an area called Sunny Isles Beach, helped pump up the market there and walked away unscathed when it crashed.
“The city has earned the nickname ‘Little Russia’ for its high percentage of Russian-speaking residents,” notes the Douglas Elliman website, pitching high-rises there to prospective buyers. The Miami Herald reported that according to U.S. Census data, nine percent of Sunny Isles Beach households have Russian origins, the largest percentage of Russians in Miami-Dade County.
Sunny Isles is a case study in how Trump does business. It was once a decidedly un-chic beachfront north of Miami, “a place where your uncle who lives on Social Security would go on vacation,” says Peter Zalewski, a Florida real-estate consultant. But after it incorporated as a separate jurisdiction within Miami-Dade County, with business-friendly local managers, it became a magnet for investment — and was rebranded as “Florida’s Riviera.”
Trump’s name graces a string of sleek buildings along this strip of coast. First was the Trump International Beach Resort, a complex completed in 2004. Then came Trump Palace in 2006; Trump Towers I, II and III, built in 2007, 2008 and 2009; and Trump Royale in 2008. But Trump’s developer friends plunged into Sunny Isles at the wrong time. According to a 2010 article at SouthFloridaCondos.blogspot.com, unit prices at the three Trump Towers buildings dropped nearly 40 percent from the 2005 pre sales period. As the market crashed, the construction loan for Trump Towers had to be restructured. Trump Hollywood, another glitzy project further north, was driven into foreclosure in 2010.
Trump deftly distanced himself from the developers’ troubles, telling the Sun-Sentinel that he questioned their “timing.” But the condo market gradually improved, thanks in part to Russian buyers. A Reuters investigation found that 63 people with Russian addresses or passports have purchased $98.4 million of property in Trump-branded condos in South Florida.
Trump also had a personal infusion of Russian cash in the liquidity-starved 2008 market. That year he sold for a handsome $95 million a Palm Beach waterfront mansion he bought at auction in 2004 for just $41.35 million — more than doubling his money at a time when much of the South Florida market was underwater. The buyer was Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.
Dezer Development, the real-estate company that helped attach Trump’s name to six projects in Sunny Isles Beach, saw Trump’s presidential campaign as a promotion opportunity. “It’s a free press release,” Gil Dezer told Bloomberg News in August 2016.
Donald Trump Jr. arrives at Trump Tower in New York City. (Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
Helping build the Trump-Russia pipeline in the fragile 2008 market was Donald Trump Jr. He was a keynote speaker at the June 2008 Russian Real Estate Summit in Moscow, where he touted the Trump Organization’s plans to build condos and hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. At a New York real-estate conference in September 2008, Trump Jr. was frank about the tide of Russian money supporting the family business.
“In terms of high-end product influx into the U.S., Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. . . . We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia,” said the young Trump, according to a Sept. 15, 2008, article about the conference. He said he had made a half-dozen trips to Russia during the previous 18 months.
A project that had significant financing from former Soviet Union investors was Trump SoHo, a 46-story condo-hotel project in Lower Manhattan that opened in September 2007. One development partner was the Sapir Organization, founded by Tamir Sapir from Georgia. Another partner was Bayrock, founded by Tevfik Arif, a Kazakh-born businessman who brought in Sater. As has been widely reported, Sater went to prison in 1993 after stabbing a man, and later became an FBI informant.
For the elder Trump, these ex-Soviet investors were important assets for the future. He said in a deposition in a Trump SoHo lawsuit: “Bayrock knew the people, knew the investors. . . . And this was going to be Trump International Hotel and Tower Moscow, Kiev, Istanbul, etc., Poland, Warsaw.”
Trump Jr. continued traveling to Russia and Eastern Europe, prospecting for business. He was interviewed in May 2012 before giving a speech to a real-estate conference in Riga, Latvia. His comments, captured on YouTube, explain why the Trump Organization saw the former Eastern Bloc as crucial: “It’s a part of the world that now you’re starting to see some amazing architecture, some incredible real estate, you’re seeing a real big boom in wealth. . . . We have something that’s very relevant in that sector.”
Russian businessman Aras Agalarov, Miss Universe 2013 Gabriela Isler and Donald Trumpat the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, Russia. (Irina BujoAP)
The apex of Trump’s personal fascination with Russia may have been 2013, when he brought the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow and talked, yet again, of building a “Trump Tower” there. His business partner in the pageant was Aras Agalarov, president of Crocus Group, a shopping-mall developer. Forbes magazine notes that he has been called “the Trump of Russia” because of his glitzy personal marketing.
Trump and Agalarov formed an ebullient partnership over a dinner in Las Vegas on June 15, 2013, captured on the Internet. As Trump began hyping the pageant, he even tried to draw in Russia’s president himself, tweeting on June 18, 2013: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow — if so, will he become my new best friend?”
The Miss Universe red carpet was rolled out Nov. 9, 2013. Emin Agalarov sang a song, and Miss Venezuela was crowned the winner. A story published that day by RT touted Trump’s latest business plans for Russia, quoting him: “I have plans for the establishment of business in Russia. Now, I am in talks with several Russian companies to establish this skyscraper.” Aras Agalarov was quoted saying he was participating in talks to be Trump’s partner in the project.
Agalarov hosted a dinner for Trump at the Moscow branch of Nobu, which he owned. The co-host was Herman Gref, the chief executive of Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and a close adviser of President Vladimir Putin. An ebullient Trump saluted Agalarov in a Nov. 11 tweet: “I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next.”
The Trump-Agalarov contacts continued. Trump’s daughter Ivanka visited Moscow in February 2014 and toured Crocus City Hall. Emin Agalarov performed at a golf tournament the next month at the Trump National Doral, near the family property at Fisher Island. Like so many seemingly imminent Trump-Moscow deals over the years, the skyscraper plan stalled. 4:17 What we know about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting
Here's what we know so far about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer during his father's presidential campaign in June 2016. (Video: Elyse Samuels, Jenny Starrs/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
And then, finally, came an event that Mueller is said to have examined carefully — the meeting in June 2016 where Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya met with Trump’s inner circle. It helps to recall the long history of Trump’s business dealings with Russia when you read this June 3, 2016, email to Trump Jr. from Rob Goldstone, the publicist for Emin Agalarov:
“Emin just called me to contact you with something very interesting. The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in 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 Trump — helped along by Aras and Emin.”
To which Trump Jr. answered: “I love it.” The meeting took place on June 9 with, among others, Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Manafort and Veselnitskaya, a lawyer with links to the Kremlin. Veselnitskaya says her real goal was to lobby the Trump team to oppose the Magnitsky Act, which she described in a May 31, 2016, memo as “the beginning of a new round of the Cold War,” echoing Putin’s line.
As the new president was taking office, the Trump brand sparkled brighter than ever for Russians. The Miami Herald reported on Jan. 30 that in November 2016, Russians topped the list of foreigners looking for homes in the Miami area.
Oren Alexander, one of the top brokers at Douglas Elliman, explained the post-election trend to the Herald: “There’s no doubt that Russian buyers think America is a good place to be again.” Among the places that attracted Russian purchasers, he said, were Sunny Isles Beach and Fisher Island.
Mueller’s investigation might tell us whether any of these Trump-Russian business connections improperly melded into the 2016 campaign. But at the core of Trump’s interaction with his Russian friends is an insight they have shared ever since Soviet days: Politics may be transitory, but real estate is forever.
Twitter: @IgnatiusPost
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