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| Senate Evidence Clarifies Mystery Call Around Trump Tower Meeting | Senate Evidence Clarifies Mystery Call Around Trump Tower Meeting |
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| WASHINGTON — Democrats have long stoked suspicions about whether President Trump knew his son met with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, pointing to phone calls that Donald Trump Jr. received from a blocked number around the time of the meeting. | WASHINGTON — Democrats have long stoked suspicions about whether President Trump knew his son met with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, pointing to phone calls that Donald Trump Jr. received from a blocked number around the time of the meeting. |
| New evidence obtained by Senate investigators appears to have refuted that claim, according to two people briefed on the matter. The investigators have phone records showing that Donald Trump Jr. spoke with two family friends who used blocked numbers — Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar, and the investor Howard Lorber — as the meeting was being set up, according to the people. | New evidence obtained by Senate investigators appears to have refuted that claim, according to two people briefed on the matter. The investigators have phone records showing that Donald Trump Jr. spoke with two family friends who used blocked numbers — Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar, and the investor Howard Lorber — as the meeting was being set up, according to the people. |
| Mr. Lorber had significant investments in Russia and traveled to Moscow in 1996 with President Trump as they considered building a Trump Tower there. | Mr. Lorber had significant investments in Russia and traveled to Moscow in 1996 with President Trump as they considered building a Trump Tower there. |
| For the younger Mr. Trump, the revelation that he had not called his father was seen among Trump allies as a victory over Democrats at a crucial moment in the investigation, according to people close to the White House. | For the younger Mr. Trump, the revelation that he had not called his father was seen among Trump allies as a victory over Democrats at a crucial moment in the investigation, according to people close to the White House. |
| In a statement, Donald Trump Jr. said, “After a year of hearing about this one ad nauseam, yet another left-wing narrative officially bites the dust.” | In a statement, Donald Trump Jr. said, “After a year of hearing about this one ad nauseam, yet another left-wing narrative officially bites the dust.” |
| A Nascar spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment, and attempts to reach Mr. Lorber were unsuccessful. CNN first reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee had obtained the new phone records, and ABC News first reported the names of the Trump family friends. | |
| Donald Trump Jr. has testified privately that he could not recall who had used blocked numbers, and Democrats have long expressed incredulity that President Trump would not have been told that his son and top campaign advisers attended such a meeting, given that his aides have said he was often briefed on the inner workings of his campaign. | Donald Trump Jr. has testified privately that he could not recall who had used blocked numbers, and Democrats have long expressed incredulity that President Trump would not have been told that his son and top campaign advisers attended such a meeting, given that his aides have said he was often briefed on the inner workings of his campaign. |
| Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee held up the mystery calls as an obvious lead that Republicans who controlled the panel until January refused to follow. | Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee held up the mystery calls as an obvious lead that Republicans who controlled the panel until January refused to follow. |
| “To me as a former prosecutor, that looks like he may very well have been trying to call his father to talk to his father about taking this meeting with the Agalarovs, who are friends with Donald Trump,” Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California and a member of the Intelligence Committee, said in an interview with MSNBC in April. “So, it would blow up the whole story that Donald Trump the candidate had no idea that this meeting took place.” | “To me as a former prosecutor, that looks like he may very well have been trying to call his father to talk to his father about taking this meeting with the Agalarovs, who are friends with Donald Trump,” Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California and a member of the Intelligence Committee, said in an interview with MSNBC in April. “So, it would blow up the whole story that Donald Trump the candidate had no idea that this meeting took place.” |
| The panel’s new chairman, Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, has repeatedly said that getting a hold of relevant phone records was one of his top priorities. In an interview on Thursday night on MSNBC, Mr. Schiff said he would still pursue the records and indicated that they might not be exculpatory. | |
| “Those conversations could have taken place over the phone or they could have taken place by Don Jr. walking down the hall to talk to Dad,” Mr. Schiff said, referring to other possible scenarios in which the younger Mr. Trump could have informed his father of the meeting. Mr. Schiff pledged to find out “what the president’s role was in all of this.” | |
| Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Lorber demonstrates that despite the president’s claims that he has no ties to Russia, he has sought to do business there for at least three decades. The chief executive of the holding company Vector Group, Mr. Lorber was an early supporter of Mr. Trump, served as an economic adviser to the campaign and accompanied Mr. Trump to Moscow in November 1996. On that trip, they worked on a plan to create a large building and made a trip to a company tied to Mr. Lober’s holding company, which held stakes in cigarette companies. | Mr. Trump’s relationship with Mr. Lorber demonstrates that despite the president’s claims that he has no ties to Russia, he has sought to do business there for at least three decades. The chief executive of the holding company Vector Group, Mr. Lorber was an early supporter of Mr. Trump, served as an economic adviser to the campaign and accompanied Mr. Trump to Moscow in November 1996. On that trip, they worked on a plan to create a large building and made a trip to a company tied to Mr. Lober’s holding company, which held stakes in cigarette companies. |
| As recently as the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump tried to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to documents obtained by investigators examining Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia. Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer and lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, pursued the deal until at least June 2016, the documents showed. Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to congressional investigators about the length of the negotiations, falsely saying they ended in January 2016, before the Republican primaries began. Mr. Cohen also pleaded guilty to committing campaign finance violations and financial crimes and is to begin a three-year prison sentence in March. | As recently as the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump tried to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to documents obtained by investigators examining Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia. Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer and lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, pursued the deal until at least June 2016, the documents showed. Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to congressional investigators about the length of the negotiations, falsely saying they ended in January 2016, before the Republican primaries began. Mr. Cohen also pleaded guilty to committing campaign finance violations and financial crimes and is to begin a three-year prison sentence in March. |
| The calls in question occurred in June 2016, before and after Donald Trump Jr. spoke with Emin Agalarov, a Russia-based singer and Trump family friend, who was helping to set up the meeting. Within days, the younger Mr. Trump met at Trump Tower with a producer who worked for Mr. Agalarov and a Russian lawyer close to the Kremlin. The meeting was set up on the promise that the Russians had damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. | The calls in question occurred in June 2016, before and after Donald Trump Jr. spoke with Emin Agalarov, a Russia-based singer and Trump family friend, who was helping to set up the meeting. Within days, the younger Mr. Trump met at Trump Tower with a producer who worked for Mr. Agalarov and a Russian lawyer close to the Kremlin. The meeting was set up on the promise that the Russians had damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. |
| Donald Trump Jr. later said in interviews that the meeting was disappointing because it was “mainly about adoption” and easing Russian sanctions. He was presented with phone records from that time in interviews with congressional investigators and testified that he could not recall whom he spoke with. | Donald Trump Jr. later said in interviews that the meeting was disappointing because it was “mainly about adoption” and easing Russian sanctions. He was presented with phone records from that time in interviews with congressional investigators and testified that he could not recall whom he spoke with. |
| When investigators in one session with the Senate Judiciary Committee asked him if he had informed his father about the meeting or the meeting’s original promise, Mr. Trump replied, “No, I did not.” | When investigators in one session with the Senate Judiciary Committee asked him if he had informed his father about the meeting or the meeting’s original promise, Mr. Trump replied, “No, I did not.” |