Pro-Russian lobbyist, former Soviet officer Rinat Akhmetshin was in Trump Jr. meeting
There was a bigger crowd than we knew at that now infamous Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr.
In attendance were the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who reportedly was offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. The publicist who arranged the meeting, Rob Goldstone, told the Associated Press he was there, as well as at least one other Russian, according to reports.
The AP reported on Friday the meeting included Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, who has sought to have U.S. sanctions against the Kremlin lifted.
Akhmetshin was born in the former Soviet Union and served in its military. He has suspected ties to Russian intelligence.
Now a U.S. citizen, Akhmetshin was unavailable for comment today at his Washington, D.C., residence.
Akhmetshin has worked with Veselnitskaya, who secured the meeting with Trump Jr. on the pretense of providing damaging information about Clinton.
Akhmetshin's presence raises more questions about who attended the meeting, and undercuts Trump Jr.'s explanation earlier this week.
"As far as this incident is concerned, this is all of it?" Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Trump Jr.
"This is everything. This is everything," the eldest Trump son said.
CBS News has learned President Trump was briefed about Trump Jr. meeting three days before it was disclosed in the New York Times, though it seems he was not aware there were more people in the room than initially reported.
"It was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast," Mr. Trump said Thursday. "Two other people in the room -- I guess one of them left almost immediately and the other one was not really focused on the meeting."
Mr. Trump was referring to Manafort and Kushner, now a senior White House adviser.
CBS News has confirmed Kushner has revised his paperwork for a White House security clearance twice. The last revision mentioned Veselnitskaya, though Kushner's attorney contends that disclosure was not legally required, and that Kushner was not introduced to others at the June 2016 meeting.
"Going into meetings with people who have Kremlin ties on the part of anybody who's in national politics without thoroughly vetting what they're doing is politically and possibly legally quite dangerous," said Jeffrey Mankoff, a Russian specialist with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Being reached out to by representatives of the Russian government or intelligence services should certainly spark red flag and prompt a call to the FBI," he added.
CBS News has also confirmed President Trump has hired yet another attorney to handle Russia-related matters. His name is Ty Cobb, and he's a descendant of the famous baseball legend. Unlike other attorneys hired by the president, Cobb will work inside the White House to oversee the legal and communications strategy in this matter.
