Russiagate’s Collateral Victims I was smeared because I’m a Soviet émigré with GOP connections. By Yuri Vanetik
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russiagates-collateral-victims-11555022432
The Mueller report has exonerated President Trump and his campaign of Russian collusion. What about others who were smeared alongside him? Last year some reporters investigated me as a possible colluder. It has damaged my reputation and my business.
I’m a private real-estate and energy investor in California, a donor to Republican political candidates and sometime lobbyist. On Feb. 1, 2018, McClatchy Newspapers published the first of four big stories on me—four parts!—with the opening headline: “Master of selfies with GOP pols, Soviet émigré has a confounding past.”
The stories suggested I have a “checkered past” and mix with “shady characters” and “controversial” foreign politicians. One noted that I have a limited liability corporation, which can be “used for a wide array of nefarious purposes.” McClatchy also falsely claimed I have had “run-ins with the law” (later softened to “legal troubles”). Others in the media picked up the smears, retweeting and speculating without asking me for comment.
McClatchy is right that I am a Soviet émigré. I was born in Ukraine and brought to America as a child in the 1970s by my parents, Jewish immigrants fleeing communism.
I never met President Trump. I never raised money for his campaign, as the McClatchy stories implied. I did raise money for Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio—and even contributed to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In the general election, I voted for someone else. CONTINUE AT SITE
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