Mueller Exposes Putin’s Use of Tycoons as Trump Emissaries
- Kremlin allies sought out Trump on Putin’s behalf, report said
- Aven saw Putin’s remarks as implicit directives, Mueller said
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Shortly after news emerged that Hillary Clinton had phoned Donald Trump to concede the presidential election early on November 9, 2016, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund received a message from New York: “Putin has won.”
The exchange recorded in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, in which the name of Kirill Dmitriev’s contact has been redacted, captures the jubilation among Kremlin insiders over Trump’s victory following what U.S. intelligence said was a campaign of Russian interference designed to help the underdog. The win set in motion what the report called a “flurry of Russian activity” among businessmen to establish contact with the president-elect’s team.