President Donald Trump’s company was reportedly trying to develop a Trump Tower in Russia during his campaign for president in late 2015 and early 2016, according to a recent report.
During the discussions, Felix Sater, a Russian-born real-estate agent, urged Trump to come to Moscow to help the project get off the ground and reportedly suggested he could get Russian President Vladimir Putin to say “great things” about then-candidate Trump, the Washington Post reports.
In an email, Sater said he and the Trump Organization would soon be celebrating the massive Trump Tower deal in Moscow and Trump’s election as president. In another email, Sater told a Trump Organization executive “something to the effect of, ‘Can you believe two guys from Brooklyn are going to elect a president?’” the Post reported.
The business deal, which was scrapped in January 2016, is the first evidence that Trump’s business was attempting to deal in Russia as he was campaigning to become president, and ultimately have a significant role in the United States’ relations with the country.
The emails are expected to be turned over to Congress, according to the Post, which is investigating the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia during the 2016 election.
The new building-related contacts with Russia is just the latest in a number of revelations that have been uncovered in recent months.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with former Russian Ambassador Segey Kislyak twice, and Donald Trump Jr. organized a meeting in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer who allegedly promised to deliver damaging information on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and White House adviser, and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.
Last week, an email to a top aide of Trump’s uncovered by congressional investigators referenced an attempt to arrange a meeting between Trump’s campaign officials and Putin. The alleged attempt happened around the same time as the meeting between Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer in Trump Tower in New York.
In the past Trump has called the investigation into Russian meddling a “witch hunt” and denied having any business ties with the country.
You can read all of the Washington Post’s story here.
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