Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:25 PM

Russian Attorney Who Met With Trump Jr. Was Cleared To Enter U.S. At Time Of Visit By Obama State Department

The Russian attorney whose campaign-season meeting with Donald Trump Jr. has caused headaches for the White House was cleared to enter the U.S. at the time of the visit by the Obama State Department, officials confirmed to Fox News late Thursday.

A brief timeline released overnight helps to resolve questions over how Natalia Veselnitskaya even had legal permission to be in the U.S. And it also shows multiple Obama agencies were involved on multiple occasions in granting access to the lawyer after she was initially denied a visa.

According to the timeline released by the Department of Homeland Security, the Obama Justice and Homeland Security departments granted her a special type of “parole” to be in the U.S. from September 2015 through February 2016 to work on a court case in New York.

After that expired, according to DHS, the State Department issued her a B1/B2 non-immigrant visa in June 2016, according to DHS, just in time for her meeting with Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

That newly revealed meeting has revived congressional scrutiny of the campaign’s alleged coordination with Russia, since an intermediary told Trump Jr. the lawyer could have dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government’s bid to help his dad.

While Trump Jr. has since said, in hindsight, he would have done things differently, his father on Thursday took a more defiant tone and seemed to blame the Obama administration for letting the lawyer into the country.

Her unusual entry into the U.S. has sparked a furious round of finger-pointing among federal agencies, and the buck appears to stop at the State Department, with assistance from both DOJ and DHS.

But the timeline released overnight at least clarifies how she had approval to be in the U.S., if not why.

“Ms. Veselnitskaya was subsequently paroled into the U.S. several times between 2015 and 2016, ending in February 2016. In June 2016, she was issued a B1/B2 nonimmigrant visa by the U.S. Department of State,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Thursday night.

DHS officials also said that it was their agency “in concurrence with the U.S. Attorney's Office of Southern District of New York” which paroled Veselnitskaya into the U.S. Fox News confirmed through court documents that Veselnitskaya initially “applied for a visa to enter the United States, but was denied.”

Preet Bharara was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York at the time the parole was granted.


Veselnitskaya was issued a “Significant Public Benefit Parole” document on Sept. 25, 2015, according to DHS, which expired on Jan. 7, 2016. Veselnitskaya requested an extension to continue her work on the case, but the Southern District of New York’s attorneys’ office denied her request.

“She was not granted a second parole by our office,” SDNY spokesman James Margolin told Fox news in an email. “Her case-related immigration parole ended early in 2016, and it was not renewed by us.”

The U.S. attorney’s office told Fox News on Thursday that Veselnitskaya was indeed granted initial parole by their office, but did not know who, specifically, issued the “piece of paper.”

“Somebody said that her visa or passport to come into the country was approved by Attorney General Lynch, now maybe that’s wrong, I just heard that a little while ago…[that] she was here because of Lynch,” Trump said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday in Paris.

Prior to DHS pointing fingers at the Department of State, a State spokesperson told Fox News that they had “no further information to provide.” The State Department told Fox News Wednesday that the Department is prohibited by the Immigration and Nationality Act from discussing individual visa cases, and told Fox News that all visa applications are adjudicated on a case-by-case basis.

The State Department did not respond to Fox News’ request to confirm that they issued Veselnitskaya a B1/B2 non-immigrant visa, or comment on Veselnitskaya’s current immigration status.

It is unclear as to why Veselnitskaya was denied a visa initially by the Obama State Department, and then granted one in later months.

Acting Chief of Media Relations for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Gillian Christensen told Fox News on Thursday that a range of DHS agencies would typically deal with parole requests, but USCIS was not involved in this particular case.

The type of parole Veselnitskaya was granted is given “sparingly” and in “extraordinary circumstances,” including urgent humanitarian reasons, such as medical or family emergency. Broadly speaking, Christensen told Fox News that parole may be requested for a person who “believes his or her presence in the United States will be a significant public benefit,” and cited participation in a civil court case as an example.

“Parole allows an individual to enter the United States and remain for a temporary period corresponding to the reason parole was approved,” Christensen told Fox News. “Parole is not generally authorized for more than one year.”

Veselnitskaya was working as an attorney for a Cyprus-based real estate holdings company called Prevezon, run by Denis Katsyv, son of Pyotr Katsyv, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest advisers, and was given “unlimited resources” by the Kremlin-connected group to run a campaign to get the Magnitsky Act repealed, Fox News reported Wednesday.

The Magnitsky Act enacts sanctions on certain Russian officials as a punishment for human rights violations.

Brooke Singman is a Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.

MORE:

The number of people known to have attended the controversial June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower has grown to include a Russian-American lobbyist who confirmed his attendance, and an unknown, possible seventh participant.

The meeting, which paired Donald Trump Jr. and Kremlin-linked attorney Natalia Veselnitska reportedly lasted just 20 minutes, but has caused massive headaches for the Trump White House by reigniting claims the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort were known to have attended the meeting with Veselnitskaya and music publicist Rob Goldstone, who brokered the get-together promising campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Rinat Akhmetshin, who NBC identified as a Russian-American lobbyist, confirmed his participation to the Associated Press. Akhmetshin denied reports he has ties to Russian intelligence agencies. He told the AP Trump Jr. asked Veselnitskaya for evidence of illicit money flowing to the Democratic National Committee, but Veselnitskaya said she did not have that information.

Akhmetshin also reportedly said that “they couldn’t wait for the meeting to end,” referring to Trump Jr., Manafort and Kushner.

But Trump Jr.’s attorney, Alan Futerfas, confirmed to Fox News that a seventh person attended the meeting.

Futerfas told Fox News he could not confirm the name of the seventh person, but said he was a U.S. citizen. Other reports characterized him as a “former Russian counter-intelligence officer.” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the growing and still mysterious meeting roster “adds another deeply disturbing fact about this secret meeting.”

“Whether the additional party or parties present during the meeting with these top Trump campaign personnel at the time Donald Trump had seized the nomination were connected directly with Russia intelligence or not, it is clear the Kremlin got the message that Donald Trump welcomed the help of the Russian government in providing dirt on Hillary Clinton,” Schiff said.

Neither Kushner's attorney nor spokesperson, have commented on this. Goldstone and Manafort did not respond to Fox News' request to comment.

John Roberts joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in January 2011 as a senior national correspondent and is based in the Atlanta bureau.

Brooke Singman is a Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.