A year ago Rob Goldstone, a British music publicist and former journalist orchestrated a meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Daily Beast says that,

“Goldstone emailed Trump Jr., promising

‘information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.’

‘part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump—helped along by Aras and Emin,’

Goldstone wrote. Aras and Emin Agalarov are a Russian billionaire and his aspiring popstar son, whose career Goldstone managed.

The Agalarovs have boasted of their relationship with Trump —they hosted his Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013. Emin’s music career—which saw pre-President Trump appear in one of his music videos —also helped bankroll Goldstone’s life in New York’s club scene.

Around 2013, he associated with a crowd of New York men, “largely in their twenties, a lot of expats, all CW-series-regular attractive, and everyone pretty vaguely moneyed,” one former member of the scene, who requested anonymity to avoid reprisals, told The Daily Beast.

‘The kind of crowd where an apartment party in a loft on Madison Square Park turned into a limo ride turned into illicit substances in the bathrooms at Boom Boom Room, all of it getting paid for… somehow. One of the fixtures in this scene was Rob, who was always the only old guy in the group.’”

Michael Musto told The Daily Beast that Goldstone used to invite him to events at the New York Friars Club, a private venue in Midtown known for hosting celebrity roasts.

“I always enjoyed it because I love Borscht Belt humor and am not ashamed to admit it. I also found Rob pretty affable —he’s a friendly, outgoing figure who reminds me a bit of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady—and he would always give me entree to his stuff.”

After he invited me to one Friars event in 2013 —a roast for Padma Lakshmi, cookbook writer and ex of Salman Rushdie— I showed up and he informed me that the event didn’t actually want journalists there, only photographers. To make it up to me, he set me and my friend up with dinner that night at the Russian Tea Room (which he also handled). I now find that extremely amusing.”

Asked what he thought when he saw Goldstone making headlines over the last few days, Musto said,

“I almost spit out my borscht.”

Goldstone’s social media is shows him in collection of colorful hats and humorous videos, including a Facebook post from April in which he wrote beside a photo of him wearing a gold hat with the word “CUNTY” in license-plate font.

“It’s very me!”

Shortly after Trump’s victory in November, Goldstone posted a picture to his now-private Instagram account depicting him in a T-shirt with the word “RUSSIA” written on it.

Goldstone’s Russian money also apparently funded his expenses on the NYC party circuit. Goldstone’s former acquaintance said,

“Nobody knew a ton about his background, but a friend from the region explained once that he was a Lou Pearlman-esque manager for the untalented son of a Russian billionaire, a kid who wanted a pop-star career and had his daddy buy it for him.”

That kid was Emin Agalarov, whom Goldstone represented under his management label Oui 2 Entertainment. Like Goldstone, Emin presented himself as something of a playboy, appearing in a music video featuring the Miss Universe contestants and Donald Trump himself. (see below)

While the company was promoting Emin’s music career, Goldstone was acting as an intermediary for the wannabe pop star. Goldstone emailed Trump Jr. on June 3, 2016.

“Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting,” Russia’s prosecutor general “met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.

This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump—helped along by Aras and Emin.”

Trump Jr. replied that,

‘if it’s what you say I love it,‘

He forward the messages to Kushner and Manafort, who attended the June 9 meeting in Trump Tower. Goldstone wrote of the two people with whom Trump Jr. was scheduled to meet.

“I won’t sit in on the meeting, but will bring them in at 3pm and introduce you etc…”

Goldstone checked into Trump Tower and the Trump Organization on Facebook in the hours before the discussions, whether he was in that meeting or not.

Stay tuned for the next shit storm on the soap opera that is our country.

(Photos, Facebook, YouTube; via The Daily Beast)