The infamous meeting between Donald Trump Jr., former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and now-senior advisor Jared Kushner with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya (which was not vetted by the Secret Service) added four more people to its attendees list last week. Three of them were Russian. The mysterious eighth person to take part, however, was only just identified as Ike Kaveladze — an America-based senior vice president at Crocus Group, the Russian real estate company started by Trump (and Vladimir Putin) associate Aras Agalarov, who initiated the June 2016 meeting.
Kaveladze has worked with Agalarov since 2004, which means he worked at Crocus Group when it partnered with the Trump Organization to host the 2013 Miss Universe contest in Moscow. According to Kaveladze’s lawyer, Scott Balber, his client is a Russian-speaking U.S. citizen who has “never had any engagement with the Russian government in any capacity.” As for Trump Jr.’s controversial meeting, Kaveladze reportedly attended as Agalarov’s representative. He also served as Natalia Veselnitskaya’s translator, but later realized the Russian lawyer had brought her own.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is aware of Kaveladze’s identity and attendance, and Balber insists his client is cooperating with the investigation. However, neither Kaveladze nor Emin and Aras Agalarov — both of whom the lawyer also represents — have been interviewed by Mueller’s team, yet.
(Via CNN and Washington Post)