U.S. Department of Justice
Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)
- a. Outreach from the Russian Government
At approximately 3 a.m. on election night, Trump Campaign press secretary Hope Hicks received a telephone call on her personal cell phone from a person who sounded foreign but was calling from a number with a DC area code.[1] Although Hicks had a hard time understanding the person, she could make out the words "Putin call."[2] Hicks told the caller to send her an email.[3]
The following morning, on November 9, 2016, Sergey Kuznetsov, an official at the Russian Embassy to the United States, emailed Hicks from his Gmail address with the subject line, "Message from Putin."[4] Attached to the email was a message from Putin, in both English and Russian, which Kuznetsov asked Hicks to convey to the President-Elect.[5] In the message, Putin offered his congratulations to Trump for his electoral victory, stating he "look[ed] forward to working with [Trump] on leading Russian-American relations out of crisis."[6]
Hicks forwarded the email to Kushner, asking, "Can you look into this? Don't want to get duped but don't want to blow off Putin!"[7] Kushner stated in Congressional testimony that he believed that it would be possible to verify the authenticity of the forwarded email through the Russian Ambassador, whom Kushner had previously met in April 2016.[8] Unable to recall the Russian Ambassador's name, Kushner emailed Dimitri Simes of CNI, whom he had consulted previously about Russia, see Volume 1, Section IV.A.4, supra, and asked, "What is the name of Russian ambassador?"[9] Kushner forwarded Simes's response—which identified Kislyak by name—to Hicks.[10] After checking with Kushner to see what he had learned, Hicks conveyed Putin's letter to transition officials.[11] Five days later, on November 14, 2016, Trump and Putin spoke by phone in the presence of Transition Team members, including incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.[12]
- ↑ Hicks 12/8/17 302, at 3.
- ↑ Hicks 12/8/17 302, at 3.
- ↑ Hicks 12/8/17 302, at 3.
- ↑ NOSC00044381 (11/9/16 Email, Kuznetsov to Hicks (5:27 a.m.)).
- ↑ NOSC00044381–82 (11/9/16 Email, Kuznetsov to Hicks (5:27 a.m.)).
- ↑ NOSC00044382 (11/9/16 Letter from Putin to President-Elect Trump (Nov. 9, 2016) (translation)).
- ↑ NOSC00044381 (11/9/16 Email, Hicks to Kushner (10:26 a.m.)).
- ↑ Statement of Jared C. Kushner to Congressional Committees, at 4 (Jul. 24, 2017).
- ↑ NOSC00000058 (11/9/16 Email, Kushner to Simes (10:28 a.m.)); Statement of Jared Kushner to Congressional Committees, at 4 (Jul. 24, 2017).
- ↑ NOSCO00000S8 (11/9/16 Email, Kushner to Hicks (11:05:44 a.m.)).
- ↑ Hicks 12/8/17 302, at 3–4.
- ↑ Flynn 11/16/17 302, at 8–10; see Doug G. Ware, Trump, Russia's Putin Talk about Syria, Icy Relations in Phone Call, UPI (Nov. 14, 2016).
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