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US charges former Trump adviser amid Russian influence crackdown

Updated Sep 5, 2024, 2:07pm EDT
Kremlin.ru via Wikimedia Commons
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The News

The US Department of Justice charged Dimitri Simes, a former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, with working for a sanctioned Russian TV network and, alongside his wife, of laundering his illegal payments.

From June 2022, the US alleges, Simes continued hosting and producing a TV program for Channel One Russia, even after telling a senior employee at the station that US sanctions meant that any work for the station would be considered a criminal offense. In return, Simes received more than $1 million, a stipend for an apartment in Moscow, and business-class travel between the US and Russia.

Simes advised Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner on foreign policy during the 2016 presidential campaign, and helped draft a speech for Trump in which he called for an “easing of tensions” with Russia.

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