A British publicist who arranged a June 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians sent multiple follow-up emails later that summer to President Trump’s social media director and a Russian who was at the meeting, CNN reported Thursday.
Congressional investigators discovered the emails from publicist Rob Goldstone during a Wednesday hearing behind closed doors with Donald Trump Jr. None of the emails were sent directly to the president’s eldest son, CNN reported.
The emails raise new questions for congressional investigators looking into the details of what was discussed at the Trump Tower meeting.
Goldstone helped set up the meeting between Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who had promised damaging material on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
{mosads}Goldstone, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort were also present for the meeting, which took place at Trump Tower in New York.
After the meeting, Goldstone pitched White House director of social media Dan Scavino on creating an account for then-candidate Trump on the Russian social networking site VK, CNN reported.
CNN did not find any indication such a page was ever created. Scavino did not attend the meeting with the Russian lawyer.
In another email, Goldstone shared a story on Russia’s hacking of Democratic National Committee emails with his client, Emin Agalarov, and Ike Kaveladze, who attended the meeting as well.
Goldstone’s email described the story as “eerily weird,” but a source downplayed the interaction to CNN.
Goldstone, in an interview with The Sunday Times, said Veselnitskaya pulled a “bait-and-switch,” and really wanted to talk about the Magnitsky Act, which punished Moscow with sanctions after the death of a whistleblower in 2009.
Trump Jr. has downplayed the significance of the meeting as well, calling it a “waste of time.”
Trump Jr. on Wednesday declined to tell the House Intelligence Committee details about his conversation with President Trump regarding the meeting, citing client privilege.