Former 2016 Trump Campaign Adviser Is Charged Over His Work For Sanctioned Russian TV | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged a Russian-born U.S. citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign with working for a sanctioned Russian state tv community and laundering the proceeds.

Indictments introduced Thursday allege that Dimitri Simes and his spouse obtained over $1 million {dollars} and a private automobile and driver in change for work they did for Russia’s Channel One since June 2022. The community was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Simes, 76, and his spouse, Anastasia Simes, have a house in Huntly, Virginia, and are believed to be in Russia.

“These defendants allegedly violated sanctions that were put in place in response to Russia’s illegal aggression in Ukraine,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves mentioned in a press release asserting the fees. “Such violations harm our national security interests — a fact that Dimitri Simes, with the deep experience he gained in national affairs after fleeing the Soviet Union and becoming a U.S. citizen, should have uniquely appreciated.”

The indictments come at a time of renewed concern about Russian efforts to meddle with the upcoming U.S. election utilizing on-line disinformation and propaganda. On Wednesday federal authorities introduced costs towards two workers of the Russian media group RT accused of covertly funding a Tennessee firm that produced pro-Russian content material.

Simes and the Washington suppose tank he led, the Center for the National Interest, figured prominently in particular counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference within the 2016 presidential election and potential ties to the Trump marketing campaign.

The report chronicles interactions that the Soviet-born Simes, who immigrated to the U.S. within the Nineteen Seventies, had with assorted figures in Trump’s orbit, together with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Before one such assembly, in keeping with the Mueller report, Simes despatched Kushner a letter detailing potential speaking factors for Trump about Russia and in addition handed alongside derogatory details about Bill Clinton that was then forwarded to different representatives of the marketing campaign.

Simes’s suppose tank, which was based by former President Richard Nixon, helped organize a international coverage speech on the Mayflower Hotel in Washington at which Simes launched Trump, in keeping with the report. Among these current was Sergei Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

Simes was by no means charged with any crime in relation to the investigation.

After the report was launched, Simes defended himself in an interview in The Washington Post: “I did not see anything in the Mueller report that in any way that would indicate any questionable activity on my part or on the center’s part.”

A second indictment alleges that Anastasia Simes, 55, obtained funds from sanctioned Russian businessman Alexander Udodov. Udodov was sanctioned final 12 months for his help for the Russian authorities. He is the previous brother-in-law of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and has been linked to enterprise dealings with each of them. Udodov additionally has been investigated for cash laundering.

It was not instantly clear if both defendant had a lawyer who might communicate on their behalf. An legal professional who beforehand represented Simes mentioned he was now not representing him. The Trump marketing campaign didn’t instantly return a message in search of remark Thursday.

In an interview with The New York Times earlier than the fees have been introduced, Simes, who seems often on Channel One, defended the work he was doing.

“I assumed that what I was saying on Russian TV would not be to the liking of the Biden administration, but I also assumed that as long as it was just my opinion and was presented as such, it was not something for which I could be prosecuted,” he advised the newspaper.