Donald Trump-Russia Alleged Scandal: Everything We Know So Far

In recent days, Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election has taken a dramatic turn. The latest email thread posted by Donald Trump Jr. has apparently changed everything, as the June 2016 emails reportedly showed that he was offered the help from a Russian lawyer during the presidential campaign.

Over the past few months, a lot has been written and published by different media houses about the alleged collusion that led to the massive scandal. As of this writing, nothing has been confirmed regarding the leaks and scandals.

The tangible details regarding Trump’s advisers and Russia’s alleged collusion that might have led to meddling in the 2016 presidential elections are below.

Jeff Sessions Alleged Meeting With Sergey Kislyak

In October of 2016, U. S. intelligence agencies blamed the Kremlin and its government officials for meddling in the U.S. elections in which Hillary Clinton was competing against real estate businessman Donald Trump. According to the agencies, Russia hacked and leaked embarrassing documents that hampered the election results in several ways.

Three months later, on January 6, U.S. intelligence chiefs released a report citing that they are absolutely sure Vladimir Putin’s administration was behind an effort to damage Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the presidential election.

In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, former FBI Director James Comey affirmed he has “no doubt” that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, adding “they did it with purpose and sophistication,” as reported by CBS News.

It was reported by CNN that Trump’s senior aide, Jared Kushner, and advisor General Michael Flynn sat down at Trump Tower with Sergey Kislyak. According to a senior official, the meeting lasted for 10 minutes and was an “inconsequential hello.”

Following that revelation, Jeff Sessions recused himself from any probe into the election. He said that he had not misled anyone as he did not recall any “specific political discussion” with the Russian ambassador. Instead, he claimed that the meeting in question had been a neutral part of his work on the Senate Armed Series Committee.

Sessions asserted under oath during his confirmation hearings that he “did not have communications with the Russians.” There were reports that the longtime senator from Alabama might have encountered Kislyak a third time, but he adamantly denied that any private meetings between them took place in a sworn testimony this June.

Jared Kushner’s Alleged Contacts With Russians

The 36-year-old real estate developer and husband of Ivanka had a high-level role throughout the presidential campaign. As of this writing, he serves as a senior advisor in the White House.

Since the 2016 election, Kushner was investigated for initially leaving off several contacts he had with the Russians during the campaign on a federal disclosure form.

Kushner sent a deputy to attend a meeting with Kislyak, and in mid-December, he met with Sergey Gorkov, head of Vnesheconombank, as reported by the New York Times. The White House claimed that the meeting took place because of Kislyak’s request for diplomatic reasons. However, the Russian bank, which is currently under U.S. sanctions, says the meeting was for business purposes.

Another report by the New York Times suggests that when President Trump was considering firing FBI Director James Comey, Kushner reportedly encouraged him to do so.

Donald Trump Jr.’s Email Thread And His Alleged Meetings

In June of 2016, Donald Trump Jr. received an email from Rob Goldstone, a British publicist who works in Russia. According to the New York Times, Goldstone stated that he was writing on the behalf of Aras and Emin Agalarov, father-and-son real estate developers who do business with Russia and had also worked with the Trumps on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant.

In the email, Goldstone said that a Russian prosecutor had met with Aras and “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,” according to the New York Times.

Goldstone made clear that the “official documents and information” would be “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump — helped along by Aras and Emin.”

Trump Jr. responded that “if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Rob then helped set up a phone call between Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov and later arranged a meeting between Donald Trump’s son and someone he referred as “the Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow.”

There are no concrete details revealing that any meeting between them actually happened that led to any kind of cooperation between Russia and the Trump campaign. All the parties involved in the recent mayhem are denying that it did. The president’s son has stated that in the meeting, Natalia Veselnitskaya — the woman at the center of the latest Russia-linked scandal to hit Donald Trump’s presidency — proved to have no useful information and quickly changed the subject to discuss other topics she had been lobbying for years.

“To everyone, in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails” about the June 9 meeting, he wrote. “I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn’t work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet.”

As of this writing, no evidence has yet emerged that contradicts Trump Jr.’s statement.

President Trump wrote on Twitter early Wednesday, “My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!”

[Featured Image by Markus Schreiber/AP Images]