The Russian Lawyer in the Trump Tower Meeting Demonstrates the Liar’s Paradox

Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya speaks to journalists in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 11, 2017. Veselnitskaya admits she met with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 presidential campaign, but insists that she had no compromising information on Hillary Clinton to offer in contrast to what the email exchange released by Trump’s eldest son suggested. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Yesterday, the written answers given by Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump, Jr., and others at Trump Tower in June 2016, to the Senate Judiciary Committee were leaked to NBC News. The one answer that is getting the buzz is this:

i) Was any information specific to Hillary Clinton provided in the meeting? If yes, by whom and what information was provided?

No, it was not.

j) Did anyone in the meeting ask for information specific to Hillary Clinton? If so,
please explain.

As far as I can remember, when I was saying that the adoption of the Magnitsky Act, which might have been sponsored by Ziff brothers, as well known and active donors of the Democratic Party
(see explanations in Paragraph “h”), coincided in time with the presidential campaign, Donald Trump, Jr. asked if I had any financial documents proving that what may have been illegally obtained funds were also being donated to Mrs. Clinton’s foundation. I said that I did not and that it was not my issue. The meeting, essentially, ended there.

It has generated these kinds of moronic comments:

Yep. Because when you want to use a person as a witness in a criminal case you always have him plead guilty to lying beforehand.

Taken at its worst, you can claim Donald Trump, Jr., was getting played by the Russians, but, as yet, there has been no evidence that the lawyer was at the meeting at the behest of the Russian government and there is less evidence that she gave Trump anything useful.

What makes this all so meaningless is that Veselnitskaya is a liar. Yeah, she’s both Russian and a lawyer so that goes without saying, but in this case, we can demonstrate that fact.

For instance, in early November, Veselnitskaya gave this account of what Trump, Jr., told her about Magnitsky Act sanctions:

“Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,’’ Trump Jr. said of the 2012 law, she recalled. “I understand our side may have messed up, but it’ll take a long time to get to the bottom of it,” he added, according to her.

Her testimony says:

Mr. Trump, Jr. politely wound up the meeting with meaningless phrases about somewhat as follows: can do nothing about it, “if” or “when” we come to power, we may return to this strange and
confusing story. I personally regarded this as an elegant, but final farewell. That’s all about it.

The most interesting part is the discrepancy. It is established that Glenn Simpson, one of the founders of Fusion GPS and the moving force behind the Trump Dossier, met with Veselnitskaya both before and after she met with Donald Trump, Jr.

In her Senate testimony she says:

86. Did you have contact with Glenn Simpson on June 8, 9, or 10, 2016? If so, please describe the contact.

No, there had been no contacts with him on specified dates. Last week Fox News 38 referring to a confidential source reported that I met with Glenn Simpson before and after the meeting with Trump’s son, and that “but hours before the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, Fusion co-founder and ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson was with Veselnitskaya in a Manhattan federal courtroom, in a hearing on the DOJ’s claim against Prevezon Holdings, a Cyprus company owned by a Russian businessman Denis Katsyv.” This statement does not reflect the reality.

a) Did you inform him of the meeting at Trump Tower?

No.

b) Do you otherwise have reason to believe he was aware of the meeting at that time?

No.

Except it wasn’t just Fox. Reuters also reported on the meeting independently of Fox.

Glenn Simpson, one of Fusion GPS’ founders, met with Veselnitskaya about that litigation before and after her meeting with Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Fox, in particular, indicates there is actual physical evidence that puts Simpson and Natasha Fatale together after the Trump Tower meeting.

Making the usefulness of Veselnitskaya more problematic is that she submitted written answers from her perch in Russia. So she has no real fear of prosecution or sanctions for perjury, I mean, she was already banned from traveling to the United States when she showed up in New York.

And then you have the Liar’s Paradox. If you are dealing with someone who is a liar, and they say they are telling the truth, are they telling the truth or lying? In fact, if they say they are lying, are they telling the truth or are they lying?

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