The meeting set up with Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort is classic Russian espionage tradecraft, with Putin’s hands being kept “clean.”
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Donald Trump Jr. is a traitor.

Trump Jr. knowingly and admittedly met with a person he believed was working on behalf of the Russian government. He was meeting with a Russian spy with the hope of obtaining information that would be beneficial to his father. This changes the entire game in regards to President Trump and the investigation into his potential collusion with Russia. For months now, the Trump administration has claimed that, though they had these undeclared meetings with Russian officials, they were with Russians of a diplomatic stature and they have not admitted that these meetings were for the purpose of influencing the election. Trump Jr. fully believed that the Russian attorney he met with, had documents and information that would be devastating to the Clinton campaign.

There is no crime in a candidate having the verbal endorsement of another country. Since its inception, the U.S. has endorsed political candidates in elections all over the world. However, the son of a candidate, with whom that candidate admits having an exceptionally close relationship with, actively attempting to obtain information from a foreign country to hopefully influence the outcome of the election, is treason and espionage.

Though I am no fan of Vladimir Putin, he is to his very core, a spy, and an exceptional one. But as a former spy myself, I know that Putin himself is simply too good to be caught. After serving decades in the KGB and its successor, the FSB, he has created a neo-KGB state. The meeting that Trump Jr. had is classic Russian espionage tradecraft, with Putin’s hands being kept “clean.” Natalia Veselnitskaya, the attractive Russian attorney, stated that she does not work for the Russian government, a statement that is entirely false. She is denying this because Putin has an uncanny ability to make people “disappear” who refuse to do his bidding (remember Alexander Litvinenko?). During my training at the CIA, it was no secret that the Russians’ modus operandi was to use attractive women in working with American men. Additionally, in a meeting of this level, Putin is not naïve enough to simply place a person with no credentials in front of Trump Jr.

In Veselnitskaya, Putin simply has the perfect spy.

1. She is not part of the Russian government, rather a powerful Russian attorney; making it easy for Putin to deny direct government involvement.

2. Her known profession makes it easy for her to deny what the meeting was about as she has recently stated that she met with Trump Jr. to discuss the Magnitsky Act. If the meeting was truly about the Act, why was it not initially reported? True, Veselnitskaya has been a critic of this Act, she has been well-documented giving interviews with talking points provided by the Kremlin itself. Thus establishing a link between her and the Kremlin.

3. She has appeared on virtually every major news network today denying that she had damning information to provide to Trump at this meeting. Based on my experience, Putin would have asked her to do this.

4. A famous pop star who was well known by the Trump family acted as an intermediary to set up this meeting. If Veselnitskaya is truly lobbyist, why use this person to set up the meeting?

Putin sent Veselnitskaya to test the waters with the Trump family. They bit. We will never have the proverbial smoking gun, i.e. Putin himself passing information to the Trump administration or members of the Trump family. But we have convicted Americans of crimes with much less evidence. To me, this issue is not political; I would be calling for the resignation of the president regardless of their political affiliation if they had done this. President Trump was undoubtedly aware of the meeting Trump Jr. was having. He has made no secret of the close relationship he has with his family and though he was not present at the meeting, President Trump regularly sends his children to meetings in his place.

Today, many rather liberal media pundits have been shockingly playing down whether or not this was treason and/or espionage, rather stating it is a violation of the Campaign Finance Reform Act. They are making this statement because I do not believe that they truly understand how espionage and the development of human assets work.

Today we have learned that without a doubt, the Trump administration has colluded with Russia.

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