Trump Pal, Roger Stone Implicated in Another Sketchy Russian Connection

More Russians, more questionable dealings between they and Trump associates.

So – just another day ending with a “y.”

The buzz this Sunday morning is about longtime Trump pal and former campaign aide, Roger Stone, and a May 2016 meeting with a Russian man offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

The gentleman’s name was Henry Greenberg. The meeting was set up by Michael Caputo, a campaign communications official for the Trump campaign.

The story is a bit complicated, but apparently, what went down involved a meeting with Greenberg, an offer of dirt to aid Trump’s campaign – for the hefty sum of $2 million, and accusations that the meeting was an FBI setup.

“You don’t understand Donald Trump,” Stone recalled saying before rejecting the offer at a restaurant in the Russian-expat magnet of Sunny Isles, Fla. “He doesn’t pay for anything.”

Later, Stone got a text message from Michael Caputo, a Trump campaign communications official who’d arranged the meeting after Greenberg had approached Caputo’s Russian-immigrant business partner.

“How crazy is the Russian?” Caputo wrote according to a text message reviewed by The Post. Noting that Greenberg wanted “big” money, Stone replied: “waste of time.”

I don’t want it to be missed that Stone’s name has popped in several uncomfortable scenarios for the Trump team since the investigation into Russian interference began.

Roger Stone has previously suggested that he knew about the leaks of the DNC emails during the 2016 election season before they happened. While appearing on Alex Jones’ Infowars, he made several references to Hillary’s “time in the barrel.” He connected himself to the hacker responsible for the leaks, Guccifer 2.0, first believed to be a lone, random hacker, but later determined to be part of the intelligence office from the Kremlin.

Now this contact with Greenberg, for what appears to be the purpose of getting information from a foreign national to aid Trump’s campaign.

Stone and Caputo, who did not previously disclose the meeting to congressional investigators, now say they believe they were the targets of a setup by U.S. law enforcement officials hostile to Trump.

They cite records — independently examined by The Post — showing that the man who approached Stone is actually a Russian national who has claimed to work as an FBI informant.

Interviews and additional documents show that Greenberg has at times used the name Henry Oknyansky. Under that name, he claimed in a 2015 court filing related to his immigration status that he had provided information to the FBI for 17 years. He attached records showing that the government had granted him special permission to enter the United States because his presence represented a “significant public benefit.”

There is no evidence that Greenberg was working with the FBI in his interactions with Stone, and in his court filing, Greenberg said that he had stopped his FBI cooperation sometime after 2013.

Well, there’s that, and of course, it is going to cause a lot of chatter, depending on what side of the debate you’re on.

Those who support Trump and want this investigation stopped are going to start screaming near-intelligibly about a crooked FBI and the Deep State. They won’t get anything else out of this report. Guaranteed.

Greenberg, himself, denies any involvement with the FBI at the time he had the meeting with Stone.

In fact, Greenberg is claiming he didn’t even speak with Stone. He called the meeting, but he was accompanied by a Ukrainian friend, only giving the name “Alexei,” who had worked for the Clinton Foundation and who wanted to tell what he knew.

The meeting took place two months earlier than federal officials have said a counterintelligence operation was officially opened and before WikiLeaks began releasing hacked Democratic emails.

It came in the same time period as other episodes in which Russian interests approached the Trump campaign. A few weeks earlier, Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was told in London that the Russians had dirt on Clinton. And it was two weeks before the sit-down between Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer who he had been told could offer information that would hurt Clinton as part of a Russian government effort to help his father.

I keep saying it: You can’t shake a tree around a Trump associate and a Russian not fall out. This latest business with Greenberg and whoever his friend, “Alexei” is, by WaPo’s count, brings the number of Trump associates, campaign officials, or family members up to 11.

And yes, if you’re one of those who puts party above country, and are squealing: “This has gone on long enough! This Russia investigation needs to end!” I’m absolutely saying you need to get your priorities straight. This may be absolutely nothing, other than just another loose thread, but when there are this many “loose threads,” along with the confessions of wrongdoing and a mountain of really sketchy behaviors, for the good of our nation, we press on.

Smoke, fire, whatnot.

Greenberg, when contacted, initially denied Stone’s account of the meeting.

Later, in text messages to a Post reporter, Greenberg changed his story, acknowledging that he’d met with Stone and providing a skeletal account of the encounter that matched Stone’s in some ways. Unprompted, Greenberg used essentially the same language as Stone to describe Stone’s reaction: “Trump will never pay for anything.”

He also denies he asked for money, saying that this mysterious “Alexei” is the one who actually spoke with Stone.

Now, both Caputo and Stone are using the angle of an FBI sting – piggybacking on the outrage over FBI informant, Stefan A. Halper as proof – to blow off this latest revelation.

“If you believe that [Greenberg] took time off from his long career as an FBI informant to reach out to us in his spare time, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I want to sell you,” Caputo said in an interview.

In a separate interview, Stone said: “I didn’t realize it was an FBI sting operation at the time, but it sure looks like one now.”

But you still agreed to a meeting, under the premise that there was dirt to be had.

Stone has said it’s possible he will be indicted, speculating that Mueller might charge him with a crime unrelated to the election in order to silence him. He said he anticipates that his meeting with Greenberg could be used in an attempt to pressure him to testify against President Trump — something he says he would never do.

Lying to an investigator is a crime, certainly.

Stone has previously maintained that he had no dealings with Russians, on any level.

“I’ve never been to Russia. I didn’t talk to anybody who was identifiably Russian during the two-year run-up to this campaign,” he said. “I very definitely can’t think of anybody who might have been a Russian without my knowledge. It’s a canard.”

Now we know he spoke with a Russian intelligence officer (Guccifer 2.0), Wikileaks’ Julian Assange (named a nonstate propaganda arm for the Kremlin), and Greenberg.

You can’t make this stuff up, and depending on who you talk to, this either comes down hard on Trump’s team, or on the FBI.

Perception.

*UPDATE*

I just had to point out here that when this WaPo article was released this morning, President Trump furiously ranted on Twitter that, among other things, WaPo writers should go on strike and demand more money, thus, shutting down the Washington Post for a time.

Washington Post employees want to go on strike because Bezos isn’t paying them enough. I think a really long strike would be a great idea. Employees would get more money and we would get rid of Fake News for an extended period of time! Is @WaPo a registered lobbyist?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2018

WITCH HUNT! There was no Russian Collusion. Oh, I see, there was no Russian Collusion, so now they look for obstruction on the no Russian Collusion. The phony Russian Collusion was a made up Hoax. Too bad they didn’t look at Crooked Hillary like this. Double Standard!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2018

You might be trying too hard, Sir.