The British publicist who facilitated a Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives last year apparently stayed in touch with the Trump campaign, sending multiple emails to a senior official and pitching an idea to launch a Trump campaign profile on a Russian social network site, according to a report.
A cache of emails obtained by CNN reignites questions over what was actually discussed during the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which was hosted by Donald Trump Jr. and attended by at least two Russians with ties to the Kremlin. Trump Jr. has spent months saying that, even though he was promised dirt on Hillary Clinton, the Trump Tower meeting focused mostly on Russian adoptions. He has also denied that there was any more communication between the campaign and the Russians in attendance.
The newly uncovered emails sent by the publicist, Rob Goldstone, appear to contradict Trump Jr.'s claims.
In one email to Trump official Dan Scavino, Goldstone suggested that the campaign should launch a profile on the Russian social networking site VK, adding that Trump Jr. and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort were on board with the idea. One of the Russians who attended the Trump Tower meeting was looped in on the correspondence. It was not immediately clear if Scavino, who has gone on to become the White House social media director, responded to the email.
Trump Jr.'s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment from the New York Daily News. The White House declined to comment.
A few days after the Trump Tower rendezvous, Goldstone forwarded a news story about Russia hacking the Democratic National Committee to one of the Russians who attended the meeting, describing the revelations as "eerily weird" considering what they had discussed a few days earlier.
Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September that the secretive Trump Tower meeting only lasted about 20 minutes and that Russian hacking wasn't discussed. He also said there was no follow-up after the meeting.
"I do not recall ever discussing it with Jared, Paul or anyone else. In short, I gave it no further thought," Trump Jr. said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, referring to Manafort and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Goldstone's emails were uncovered by congressional committees investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The contents of the emails are expected to come up when Goldstone sits down for closed-door meetings with the Senate and House intelligence committees later this month.
