Michael Smith - The Anatomy of a Spy: A History of Espionage and Betrayal

First published 2019

The History Press

97 St Georges Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Michael Smith, 2019

The right of Michael Smith to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-0-75099-358-6

Typesetting and origination by Geethik Technologies

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

For my mother,
Joyce Marguerite Smith

Index

Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin was a bit of a showman, an idiosyncratic lobbyist for Russian oligarchs known for riding around Washington DC on a gaudy orange bicycle and his supposed ties to Russian spies, including a spell with military intelligence and a claim that half his family had worked for the FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service, all of which he was happy to admit before the 2016 presidential elections.

Akhmetshin arrived in New York on the morning of 9 June 2016 supposedly intent only on watching the beautiful Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova appear that night in a play at the New York City Center.

So casual was his visit that he was wearing pink jeans, fashionably ripped at the knees with a matching pink T-shirt. It was, of course, pure coincidence that Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer with close ties to the Russian Prosecutor-General, heard he was in town and invited him to lunch at Nello, a fashionable Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side, popular with movie stars and other celebrities.

Veselnitskaya needed his advice. She had a meeting that afternoon with Donald Trump Jr, the son of the would-be president, ostensibly to talk about the Magnitsky Act, which froze the assets of Russian oligarchs seen as being in breach of human rights and prevented them entering the US. The Putin government was determined to try to get the act overturned and, as a lobbyist for some of Russias richest oligarchs, Akhmetshin was as much of an expert on the subject as she was.

She had her own briefing paper on what she wanted to say at the meeting but that was not all she was expected to discuss. She also had an additional four pages in Russian focusing on money-laundering and tax evasion by key supporters of both the Magnitsky Act and the Democratic Party. How did Rinat Rafkatovitch think she should handle the meeting?

Akhmetshin was relaxed and reassuring. She shouldnt rush into the Magnitsky Act. Start with stuff theyd be interested in the Democratic donors involved in tax evasion. Theyd love any dirt they could throw at Hillary. That would grab their attention. Then she could start talking about how, with Trump Senior so keen to improve relations with Russia, getting rid of the Magnitsky Act would be a good way forward. Akhmetshin agreed to come with her to give her support.

After arriving at the glitzy, glass-fronted Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, they were shown up to Donald Jrs offices on the twenty-fifth floor and ushered into a conference room with stunning views out over Manhattan. The room seemed to be the size of a basketball court, dominated by a large wooden table, the walls lined with stylish framed photographs of Trump trophy properties. Paul Manafort, Trumps newly appointed campaign manager, was sat at one end of the table concentrating on something he was tapping into his phone. Akhmetshin seemed to recognise him and walked over to him.

Right before the meeting started, Mr Akhmetshin approached Mr Manafort and suggested that theyd met previously at some kind of meeting in Washington DC, one of those present recalled. There was no response from Mr Manafort. I dont think he even lifted his eyes off his phone.

Akhmetshin just smiled and sat down. He had been right at lunch. Donald Jr and his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner, were looking for dirt on Hillary. It was the only reason they were there. A contact linked to the Russians who helped Trump stage a Miss Universe contest in Moscow three years earlier had emailed Donald Jr to suggest the meeting with Veselnitskaya, claiming that she had official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary. The email from the contact said the information on offer was part of Russia and its governments support for Mr Trump.

Kushner arrived a few minutes late and after some brief introductions, Donald Jr sat down opposite Veselnitskaya. I believe you have some information for us, he said. Yes, indeed I do, she replied, launching into a spiel about how key supporters of the Magnitsky Act had evaded tax on hundreds of millions of dollars of bad money that had made its way into the US, with a large chunk of it donated to the Democratic Party and no doubt used to fund the Clinton campaign.

So, can you show us how this money goes to Hillary? Donald Jr asked. Do you have paperwork?

Veselnitskaya replied that she had traced it as far as America, and it was clear the people involved had donated large sums to the Democratic National Committee. Donald Jr and his colleagues were in a far better position to track how much of it went to Hillary. I dont have that capacity to track it down, she said. But I can tell you that bad money from criminal money came back to New York.

The disappointment on the other side of the table was tangible. Donald Jr was clearly frustrated with the lack of any evidence that would make such charges stick. Veselnitskaya launched into her brief on the Magnitsky Act, but she had lost the room before she even began. Donald Jr nodded politely but was clearly no longer interested. Kushner couldnt hide his irritation, tapping into his phone to have an aide call him to give him an excuse to leave. Akhmetshin intervened to point out how repealing the Act would help Mr Trump show his commitment to better ties with Russia, but no one was listening.

Kushner had already left, not even making his excuses. Manafort was still head down tapping away on his phone. When Veselnitskaya tailed off, Donald Jr politely explained that at this point his father was just a private citizen with no influence over the situation. Once he was elected president, they could revisit the issue. A sense of embarrassment hung in the air. Everyone made their excuses and left.

Donald Jr later dismissed the idea of official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary as just a pretext to get Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin through the door, and in a way he was right, but he was wrong to imagine that the real purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Magnitsky Act. The real purpose of the meeting, so far as the Russian intelligence operatives who had engineered it were concerned, was to find out how amenable the Trump Campaign was to taking dirt on Clinton from Moscow, which would have been illegal under US election law.