President Trump administration is facing one of the biggest scandals in history in relation to his campaign staff multiple confirmed connections with Russian Ambassador and Officials during and after the 2016 Presidential election. Increased scrutiny and a possible special investigation committee is being requested by Democrats and Republicans to clear up the smoke and concerns generated after different news outlets exposed those encounters.
We have gathered for you the most relevant news relating President Trump, his Staff and Russian connections through this already controversial administration.
Donald Trump, president. Trump’s connections to Russian business interests are murky, thanks to his decision not to release his tax returns during the campaign. We know that the Miss Universe pageant was hosted in Moscow when Trump owned it and that he earned millions of dollars for doing so. We know, too, that he’s repeatedly explored real estate deals in the country.
It’s not clear whether Trump has met Kislyak, though the ambassador attended a foreign policy speech Trump gave last spring and the reception that preceded it. We know now that Trump has been in communication with Putin — but he also claimed to have been in contact with representatives of the Russian president (and Putin himself) before the campaign.
Source: Washington Post
Jeff Sessions, attorney general. Sessions’s relationship with Kislyak is well-established by now. This is a good point at which to note, though, that the existence of that relationship does not in any way imply wrongdoing by Sessions.
It’s just part of the network we’re establishing.
Source: Washington Post & Image by Yahoo News
Jared Kushner, adviser. Trump’s son-in-law (Ivanka’s husband) also met with Kislyak during the period between Election Day and the inauguration, according to the New York Times. Kushner also has some loose connections to Russian business interests, according to the Times, including an investment from tech investor Yuri Milner in a real estate investment company and a friendship with the wife of oligarch Roman Abramovich.
(She was invited to the inauguration as Ivanka Trump’s guest.)
Source: Washington Post
Michael Flynn, former national security adviser. Flynn had a number of contacts with Kislyak after Election Day, including attending that meeting between the ambassador and Kushner. (Flynn was forced to resign his position after it was revealed that his comments about the content of those meetings to Vice President Pence were falsehoods.) After resigning from the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, Flynn was invited to give a paid speech at a celebration of RT.
He did so and joined Putin’s table for a related banquet.
Source: Washington Post & Image from Fox News
Donald Trump Jr., son. The younger Trump visited France last October to speak to an obscure Russian group.
In 2008, Don Jr., who works for the Trump Organization, famously told a real estate conference that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets” and that “we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
Source: Washington Post
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager. Manafort’s links to Russian interests are well established. New revelations that emerged during the campaign prompted Trump to demand Manafort’s resignation.
Manafort is one of the Trump campaign staffers who reportedly made contact with Russian interests during the campaign.
Source: Washington Post