US lobbyist for Russian oligarch visited Julian Assange nine times last year

[DonViejo]

It is unclear whether Adam Waldman’s 2017 visits had connection to Oleg Deripaska

Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Luke Harding

Wed 20 Jun 2018 06.08 EDT Last modified on Wed 20 Jun 2018 08.09 EDT

A longtime US lobbyist for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska visited Julian Assange nine times at the Ecuadorian embassy in London last year, according to visitor logs seen by the Guardian.

Adam Waldman, who has worked as a Washington lobbyist for the metals tycoon since 2009, had more meetings with Assange in 2017 than almost anyone else, the records show.

It is not clear why Waldman went to the WikiLeaks founder or whether the meetings had any connection to the Russian billionaire, who is now subject to US sanctions. But the disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the extent and nature of Assange’s alleged ties to Russia.

US intelligence agencies concluded with “high confidence” last year, in an unclassified intelligence assessment, that the Kremlin shared hacked emails with WikiLeaks that undermined Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign as part of its effort to sway the 2016 election in favour of Donald Trump.

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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jun/20/us-lobbyist-for-russian-oligarch-visited-julian-assange-nine-times-last-year?CMP=share_btn_tw