Report: Ex-Congressman Worked as Lobbyist for Russian Attorney at Center of Trump Jr. Emails — A Democrat

Report: Ex-Congressman Worked as Lobbyist for Russian Attorney at Center of Trump Jr. Emails — A Democrat http://ijr.com/the-declaration/2017/07/919924-report-congressman-worked-russian-attorney-center-trump-jr-emails-democrat/?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=morning-newsletter&utm_medium=owned

In the latest flurry of stories about “collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin is a nugget of news about a Democrat who reportedly served as the Russian attorney's wingman during a lobbying blitz.

The Hill reports that former California Rep. Ron Dellums, a socialist former 13-term congressman and then later mayor of Oakland, California, escorted Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya during a lobbying campaign.

The news was contained in the website’s story about how the U.S. Department of Justice under President Barack Obama gave the attorney a visa under “extraordinary circumstances.”

In addition to the optics, there's a possible overlay of trouble for Dellums, who retired from Congress in 1998.

The Daily Caller reports that Dellums was “on the payroll” for Veselnitskaya. A complaint was filed against the former congressman, accusing him of failing to register as a “foreign agent” in order to lobby. But his spokesman disputes that account.

It's the same complaint Democrats alleged against former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, which drummed him out of the administration.

Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr. more than a year ago in a short meeting that the younger Trump thought would yield opposition research on Hillary Clinton. Instead, Trump Jr. said he left the meeting when it turned out that she wanted to talk about Russian adoptions to the U.S. and the Magnitsky Act.

The Hill explains what the Act is:

The Magnitsky Act imposed financial and other sanctions on Russia for alleged human rights violations connected to the death of a Russian lawyer who claimed to uncover fraud during Putin's reign. Russia retaliated after the law was passed in 2012 by suspending Americans' ability to adopt Russian children.

The Washington Post also reports that the Democratic-linked group Fusion GPS also worked with Veselnitskaya on a lawsuit in years past.

Fusion GPS also reportedly commissioned the largely apocryphal “Russian Dossier” — opposition research linking President Donald Trump to Russian hotels, hookers and golden showers.

A group of Democratic operatives, led by David Brock's Media Matters for America, set out to strategically link Trump to Russia after he was elected in order talk up “'impeachment' of Trump, and keeping up the pressure to link Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a 'campaign to stop him [that] must be non stop.'”

The Hill reports that “a source” said Veselnitskaya's lobbying efforts were unprofessional at best:

“Natalia didn't speak a word of English. Don't let anyone tell you this was a sophisticated lobbying effort. It was the least professional campaign I've ever seen. If she's the cream of the Moscow intelligence community then we have nothing to worry about.”

Steve Pruitt, managing partner of Watts Partners, the lobbying company founded by former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts and for which Dellums works, told Independent Journal Review that there was no reason for the former congressman to register as a foreign agent and, in fact, he sought clearance from the Justice Department around the time the complaint was filed against Dellums.

Pruitt said he met Veselnitskaya at a dinner and was introduced to her. She then sought his lobbying services. Pruitt told IJR that Dellums worked only two days for the Russian attorney, through the BakerHostetler law firm, and only on the Russian adoption issue.

Pruitt said Dellums was paid by the law firm.