US President Donald Trump accepted a gift from a Russian oligarch not long after his son Donald Jr met with a Russian informant ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
“I’m rarely at a loss for words, but right now I can only say how much I appreciate your friendship and to thank you for this fantastic gift,” Trump wrote to Aras Agalarov in a thank-you note sent a week later. “This is one birthday that I will always remember.”
The son of the Azerbaijani-Russian oligarch had helped arrange the meeting for “dirt” on Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The latest details emerged from a report released Friday by Democrats on the House intelligence committee about Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election.
“The committee is in receipt of extensive documentary evidence — including text messages, voice messages, and email correspondence — outlining extensive efforts by the Trump campaign meeting participants, at least one Trump organization lawyer, and the Agalarovs, to control the public narrative surrounding the meeting,” read their report.
Republicans also released a similar report on the same day, in which they lightly censured Trump.
“The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between members of the Trump campaign and a Russian lawyer who falsely purported to have damaging information on the Clinton campaign demonstrated poor judgement,” the Republican document said.
Donald Jr had initially dismissed the meeting he arranged with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, as having to do with adopting children, but then offered shifting explanations as more details emerged.
US intelligence agencies claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a mass effort to tilt the election in Trump's favor, including hacking and leaking embarrassing emails from Democrats.
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