WASHINGTON (WASHINGTON POST) - Seeking to frame the bad news before a New York Times article could drop, Donald Trump Jr on Tuesday (July 11) tweeted out a redacted copy of an e-mail chain between himself and a music promoter who was offering to connect the campaign with a Russian official who purportedly had negative information about Hillary Clinton.
Here is a look at who the players are, listed in alphabetical order by first name.
Aras Agalarov
Agalarov is the president of the Crocus Group, a Moscow-based real estate development firm that licensed the Miss Universe pageant from the Trump Organisation in 2013 to host its pageant in the Russian capital.
This is the point at which Agalarov and his son, Emin, became associated with the Trumps. Agalarov is mentioned on Page 4 in an e-mail from Goldstone as having met with the "Crown prosecutor of Russia" who offered to provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump
Trump is mentioned on Page 4 of the e-mail chain when Rob Goldstone, who represents Emin Agalarov, suggests that he wanted to discuss the matter with Trump Jr before the then-candidate. However, in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr said that he never told his father about the meeting. "There was nothing to tell," he said.
Donald Trump Jr
The president's son coordinates the meeting with Goldstone, Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner.
Emin Agalarov
The son of Aras Agalarov. He is a vice-president of the Crocus Group and a pop music star in Russia. In 2013, Trump appeared in one of his videos. Agalarov is mentioned repeatedly in the e-mails. When Goldstone first offers access to the information he has at his disposal, Trump Jr requests a phone call with Emin. On Page 3, Goldstone mentions that Agalarov can't talk at the moment because he's onstage in Moscow. It's not clear whether the two talked, but the next day Goldstone sets up a meeting at Agalarov's request.
Hillary Clinton
Then the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, she's mentioned on Page 4.
Jared Kushner
Trump Jr's brother-in-law is mentioned on Page 2 when Trump Jr explains who he expects to attend the meeting. Kushner does attend. According to an NBC interview with Natalia Veselnitskaya on Tuesday, he leaves after about 10 minutes.
Natalia Veselnitskaya
A lawyer who has reported links to the Kremlin. It's not clear whether Veselnitskaya is the "Russian government attorney" who Goldstone suggests will participate in the meeting, but she is the person that attended. In Tuesday's NBC interview, she denied having ties to the government. Goldstone's
e-mails suggest that the attorney - presumably Veselnitskaya - flew in from Moscow for the meeting and was scheduled to be in court the same afternoon as the meeting.
Paul Manafort
The Trump campaign chairman attended the June 9 meeting. According to the NBC interview with Veselnitskaya on Tuesday, he spent the entire meeting looking at his phone. He's mentioned on Page 2.
Rhona Graff
Trump's longtime assistant. Goldstone suggests that he could contact the candidate through Graff but chose to contact Trump Jr first. She is mentioned on Page 4 of the e-mails.
Rob Goldstone
A British-born promoter who represents Emin Agalarov. Along with the Agalarovs, Goldstone was involved in the 2013 Miss Universe pageant planning, which is how he came into contact with the Trumps. He's the individual driving the conversation with Trump Jr, but, a publicist through-and-through, he reminds Trump Jr that the meeting is a result of the Agalarovs's efforts.
Yuri Yakovlevich Chaika
There is no "Crown prosecutor" in Russia, because Russia isn't a monarchy. The Times reports that the reference on Page 4 is to Chaika, Russia's prosecutor general. Chaika has been in that position since June 2006, when he was first nominated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. (He is in his second term, being renominated by then-President Dmitry Medvedev in 2011.)
Key figures in other probes into whether the Trump team colluded with Russians to swing the election away from Clinton:
Donald Trump
So far, there is nothing directly tying the president to Russian interference, and he has vehemently denied any involvement.
But the actions of his top aides, and his refusal to strongly condemn Russian interference, have fueled lingering suspicions.
Trump is facing allegations that he attempted to obstruct the investigation by firing FBI director James Comey in May and asking members of Congress and the heads of his intelligence agencies to intervene on his behalf.
Michael Flynn
Trump's one-time national security adviser and the former US military intelligence chief was named by Republican activist Peter W. Smith as his main link to the campaign as he sought to obtain damaging Clinton e-mails from Russian hackers.
But Flynn has other troubles: the retired general accepted money from Russian companies for speeches and appearances before the election campaign, possibly violating rules for former military officers on dealings with US adversaries.
And he repeatedly communicated with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before and after the election. His alleged lying about those contacts to investigators puts him at risk of perjury charges.
Jared Kushner
The husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka attended the meeting with the Russian lawyer allegedly offering damaging Clinton materials.
He and Flynn met Kislyak in December, where he reportedly offered to set up a secret communications channel with Moscow using Russian facilities, according to The Washington Post.
Later that month, Kushner also met with Sergey Gorkov, chief of Vnesheconombank and a former member of Russian intelligence. The bank, a key arm of the Russian government, is under tough US sanctions. The topic if their meeting is so far unknown.
Paul Manafort
Manafort managed Trump's campaign until he was forced to resign in August amid reports that he was under investigation over millions of dollars he was allegedly paid by the pro-Russia former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Manafort's private consulting business on behalf of Moscow-linked billionaire oligarchs have fueled concerns about possible collusion. He also took part in Trump Jr's meeting last year with the Russian lawyer who had promised to provide damaging material on Clinton.
Roger Stone
The former political dirty tricks master for president Richard Nixon has been open about pulling out all the stops to get Trump elected.
He communicated during the campaign with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and hacker "Guccifer 2"; both released communications stolen from Clinton and her campaign.
US intelligence links Guccifer 2 to Russian intelligence, and says WikiLeaks acted, perhaps unknowingly, as a front for Russia leaking the damaging Democratic Party materials.
