McFaul, ambassador in Moscow from 2012 to 2014, said he had learned of the ban when applying for a visa to Russia to help defeated presidential candidate Hillary Clinton prepare for what he thought would be her transition to the White House.
He was not banned because of his support for Obama, a foreign ministry source told the TASS and RIA news agencies, ...
Russia has banned Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Moscow under Barack Obama, from entering the country, McFaul and Russian foreign ministry sources said.
The Russian foreign ministry did not publicly confirm the ban, but ministry sources told Russian news agencies McFaul had been added to a sanctions list in 2014.
McFaul's concern was picked up by Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who was fired earlier this year by President Trump. Bharara "seconded" McFaul in the retweet, adding in a subsequent tweet that Russia's allegation that Browder may have killed Magnitsky is a "farce.".
Recently, however, Russian prosecutors have taken that effort to a remarkable new level, claiming that Mr. Magnitsky was actually murdered by Mr. Browder, " according to The New York Times. Browder, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, was once the largest private foreign investor in Russia.
The Magnitsky Act, which freezes the assets and bans visas for certain Russians, including those close to Vladimir Putin, " touched off a nasty confrontation with the Kremlin, and the two sides have been trying ever since to undermine the credibility of the other.
His lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in custody in Russia. Bill Browder, shown in Davos, Switzerland, in 2011, was a hedge fund manager. His lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in custody in Russia. The State Department has reportedly revoked a visa for British citizen Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager turned human rights activist responsible for ...
State Department Reportedly Revokes Visa Of Magnitsky Act Campaigner : The Two-Way Bill Browder lobbied Congress for passage of the 2012 law that targets Russian officials close to Vladimir Putin who are thought to be responsible for the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
DHS officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Thursday night it was the State Department who had issued a visa to Veselnitskaya in June 2016, before she met with Trump Jr.
Veselnitskaya was representing Prevezon — a Cyprus company owned by a Russian national that is accused in the US of laundering money — at the same time Fusion GPS was doing work for a law firm that did work for Prevezon , according to the Washington Post.
The hearing was public, and its topic was US policy toward Russia, an issue that Veselnitskaya would have likely been interested in given her reported ties to the Kremlin and her public outreach against the Magnitsky Act, which was signed by President Obama and reportedly infuriated President Vladimir Putin. The act punishes Russian officials accused of human rights abuses.
The photo was taken on June 14, 2016 — just a few days after Trump Jr.'s meeting with Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016 — when she was at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington about “U.S. Policy Toward Putin’s Russia.”
Grassley said Veselnitskaya had been allowed entry to the US in 2015, but her "parole" entry would have expired in January 2016, months before the meeting in Trump Tower.
McFaul told BuzzFeed News that he does not know Veselnitskaya.
Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher's press secretary, said in an email, "The hearing was a public meeting, and we’re guessing she was among the first in line and took the seat on her own volition."