Music promoter Rob Goldstone is at the center of brewing political controversy
He was the unlikely matchmaker between the Russians and Trump's inner circle.
— -- Rob Goldstone, a British-born music promoter who has worked for a range of famous pop stars, somehow became the unlikely matchmaker between the Russians and Donald Trump’s inner circle.
More lovable clown than scheming international operative, Goldstone posted goofy videos to Facebook that show him traveling around the world from party to party. But it was emails from Goldstone to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. last June that set up the fateful meeting with the presidential candidate’s son, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his then-campaign manager Paul Manafort at Trump Tower.
Goldstone introduced the trio of Trump associates to Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian Goldstone described as a Russian government lawyer bringing “high level and sensitive information” that would “incriminate Hillary” Clinton.
Goldstone is the president and co-founder of Oui 2 Entertainment, a Manhattan-based music management company. According to the company’s website, he has represented Michael Jackson, B.B. King and Richard Branson.
He came into the Trump orbit when he helped promote and stage manage Trump’s Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013 — working for Emin Agalarov, a pop singer and the son of Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov, both of whom have ties to Trump.
When the Emin made a music video, it featured a cameo from Trump delivering his signature “You're fired!" catchphrase from "The Apprentice."
In 2013, Trump tweeted at Aras, praising his son’s performance at the Miss Universe Pageant and indicating that Trump and Agalarov might be considering a real estate deal.
"I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next. EMIN was WOW!"
Overnight in Moscow, Veselnitskaya denied her purpose was to provide compromising information on Hillary Clinton, further claiming she didn’t even know if Donald Trump was a candidate for president then.
The meeting took place one floor below Trump’s office and Democrats in Congress now wonder how could it be that says he only learned of the meeting in the last few days when he knew Goldstone worked with his billionaire business partner, Aras Agalarov, who is known to be close to Vladimir Putin.
“It doesn’t stand to reason that the President of the United States didn’t know about this meeting,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, told ABC News.
In one of his emails to Don Jr., Goldstone indicated that he had a direct line to then-candidate Trump, writing: “I can also send this info to your father… but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first.”