By Bob Levey/Getty Images.
The mystery of Donald Trump Jr.’s cell-phone records surrounding his infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians peddling “dirt” on Hillary Clinton appeared to resolve in Junior’s favor on Thursday, when it was revealed that the calls were not made to his father, as some Democrats had long suspected. According to CNN, records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee showed that the calls were instead to two business associates: NASCAR chairman Brian France and Vector Group C.E.O. Howard Lorber. It was a rare moment of vindication for Russia probe skeptics and a black eye for House Democrat Adam Schiff, who’d made a big show of getting to the bottom of those blocked calls. “Has anyone heard from Adam Schiff? I imagine he’s busy leaking other confidential info from the House Intelligence Committee to change the subject?!?” Don Jr. gloated Thursday night, adding the hashtag “#FullOfSchiff.” Trump senior also took a victory lap:
Still, as with all things Russia-related, there are mysteries within mysteries. Lorber is indeed a “longtime family friend.” He was also a longtime Trump family connection to the Russian real-estate market. According to The New Yorker, Lorber traveled with Trump to Moscow in 1996 to look at properties for potential licensing deals. “Howard has major investments in Russia,” Trump reportedly boasted. As journalist Craig Unger reported in his book House of Trump, House of Putin, Lorber also had indirect ties to seedier elements within the Russian business community via his business partner and fellow real-estate investor Bennett LeBow. At the time, LeBow bragged about this connection to Trump, telling the Moscow Times that “Donald is the preeminent marketeer and developer in the world . . . We want the best for Moscow—and Donald’s it.” Though the deal never materialized, Lorber remained close to Trump for the next several decades.
Whether you find that suspicious will surely depend on your prior political leanings. The Russia Affair, after all, has become a national Rorschach test. Where some see conspiracy, others see a witch hunt. Certainly, there is a universe in which Don Jr.’s call to Lorber was perfectly innocent, and entirely unrelated to his meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer, a former Soviet counter-intelligence officer, the publicist for a Russian-Azerbaijani singer, and a Georgian-American real-estate developer. Perhaps Lorber moved in some of the same circles, and Don Jr. wanted his advice. Would a recording of that conversation be exonerating? Incriminating? Does it mean anything at all? The only thing that is clear from this latest twist is that we know less than we think—and that Robert Mueller surely knows more.
More Great Stories from Vanity Fair
— The leaking, gossiping, and infighting that made Kellyanne Conway a formidable White House player
— Why old news habits must die—so that real journalism can live
— Nancy Pelosi is America’s most powerful power-suit boss
— Is Kamala Harris the 2020 candidate to beat?
— Your passport to Vanity Fair’s 25th Hollywood Issue with Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Chadwick Boseman, and more
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story.
This story was originally published by Vanity Fair
via USAHint.com
No comments:
Post a Comment