As Donald Trump Jr. greeted his Russian-speaking guests in a conference room high atop Trump Tower in June 2016, he cut straight to the chase. 
 
 “I believe you have some information for us,” Trump Jr. said to a Russian lawyer visiting from Moscow, according to one of the attendees. 
 
 Trump Jr. had been expecting dirt on Hillary Clinton, provided as part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s presidential campaign — “potential information about an opponent,” he told congressional investigators, according to documents released Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
 
 Also anticipating damaging information on Clinton was Rob Goldstone, the colorful music promoter for a Russian pop star, who had set up the meeting. 
 
 “I expected there to be something that would make people react,” he told the committee. 
 
 Instead, lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya droned on about a 2012 law known as the Magnitsky Act that had imposed sanctions on Russia for human rights abuses and has been a particular vexation of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. 
 
 [7 big things we just learned from the Trump Tower meeting transcripts] 
 
 The new details of the June 9, 2016, meeting in Trump Tower are drawn from 2,500 pages of congressional testimony and exhibits that paint a vivid picture of how Donald Trump’s erstwhile Russian business partners collided with his presidential campaign in a single 20-minute meeting that has been a key focus of investigations by three congressional committees and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. 
 
 The information in the transcripts is unlikely to shift public perceptions of the meeting. Republicans will point to the hours of testimony to argue Trump Jr. might have been unwise to accept the meeting but that he did not collude with the Russian government or get the dirt he expected. 
 
 Democrats will say that the episode shows Trump Jr. was willing to accept Russian help, prompting deep questions about his father’s election effort that have not been answered. 
 
 But the documents provide the public’s best understanding yet about the events that led up to the meeting, as well as the deep anxiety sparked in President Trump’s orbit a year later, when the meeting’s occurrence became public and contradicted Trump’s claims that no one on his campaign had interacted with Russians. 
 
 The release comes as congressional Republicans look to wrap up their parallel investigations. Already, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have issued a report finding no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia. Democrats fear the Senate Judiciary Committee could be preparing to do the same soon. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s leadership said Wednesday that its investigation has determined that the Kremlin sought to help Trump win the election but that it will be several more months before the committee addresses the question of collusion. 
 
 The roots of the Trump Tower meeting can be found three years earlier, when the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant was held in Moscow, financed by Russian billionaire developer Aras Agalarov and his son, Emin, a pop singer. 
 
 During a boisterous planning meeting in Las Vegas and then over a weekend in Moscow, Trump became friendly with the Russian father-and-son duo, as well as Goldstone, Emin Agalarov’s sharp-tongued British manager. 
 
 Trump pushed repeatedly for the Agalarovs to get him a meeting with Putin in connection with the pageant, Goldstone testified. Trump’s demand, he said, was “the gorilla in the room that had to be addressed, but there seemed to be no answer to address it.” 
 
 An Agalarov employee told the committee that his boss tried to make the meeting happen, “secretly” requesting it through a Russian government employee. 
 
 At first, it looked as though Putin would accommodate Trump. But then the Russian president canceled at the last minute. Instead, he issued an invitation for Trump to attend the Sochi Olympics and a hopeful promise for the future. Putin “said he’d be happy to meet him there or at any future time,” Goldstone testified. 
 
 While in Moscow, Trump attended a reception at an exclusive restaurant, Nobu, where someone asked him his views on Russia, its leader and the economy. “I remember him saying specifically, ‘You have a very strong leader. Our leader is weak,’ ” Goldstone recalled. Asked whom Trump was referring to when he mentioned a weak leader, Goldstone answered: “President Obama.” 
 
 Following the pageant, Trump’s new Russian friends stayed in touch. In May 2015, the month before Trump declared his candidacy for the presidency, Goldstone brought Emin Agalarov to see the celebrity business executive in New York, where the men posed for photos. 
 
 “Maybe next time, I’ll be hosting you guys in the White House,” Goldstone recalled Trump saying. 
 
 A few months later, Goldstone invited Trump to attend a birthday party for Aras Agalarov, also at a Nobu in Moscow. After Trump’s assistant declined, citing his busy campaign schedule, Goldstone tried to sweeten his offer: If Trump attended, perhaps Agalarov could get him that meeting with Putin. Trump did not attend. 
 
 
 
 (Illustration by The Washington Post) 
 
 From Russia, the Agalarovs tracked the campaign. As Super Tuesday approached, Aras Agalarov wrote Trump of his appreciation for the candidate’s campaign trail statement that “the U.S. and Russia should work together more closely.” 
 
 “We would like to wish you success in winning this major ballot and further reinforcing your undisputed status as the front-runner for Republican nomination for U.S. Presidential Election,” Agalarov wrote. 
 
 Goldstone offered other help, passing along an offer of assistance from an executive at the Russian social media company VKontakte, or VK. 
 
 [Russian lawyer who met with Trump Jr. has long history of fighting sanctions] 
 
 By June 2016, Trump had clinched the Republican nomination. 
 
 That’s when Emin Agalarov asked Goldstone to get the meeting for the Russian lawyer. Repeatedly, Agalarov told Goldstone that she was “well-connected.” He also said she would bring “damaging information” about Democrats and Clinton, Goldstone recalled. 
 
 
 
 (Illustration by The Washington Post) 
 
 Goldstone testified that he immediately told Agalarov that he believed the meeting was a bad idea. But the Russian was insistent. 
 
 “He said, ‘It doesn’t matter. You just have to get the meeting,’ ” Goldstone said. 
 
 So Goldstone wrote Trump Jr. an enticing email. The lawyer, he wrote, had “very high level and sensitive information” that was part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” 
 
 Trump Jr. responded: “If it’s what you say I love it.” And he quickly moved to schedule time and invite Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, to attend. 
 
 It was a motley group that went to Trump Tower that June afternoon. Besides Goldstone, Agalarov sent a U.S.-based employee, Ike Kaveladze. A Clinton supporter, Kaveladze testified that he considered backing out of the meeting when he got wind that it was intended to hurt the Democrat’s campaign. 
 
 Veselnitskaya, who spoke little English, brought a translator, as well as Rinat Akhmetshin, a veteran of a Soviet counterintelligence unit who is now a Russian American lobbyist and who had been assisting her in efforts to change the Magnitsky Act. 
 
 Trump Jr. told the committee he did not remember Akhmetshin’s presence. Others remembered that he showed up wearing hot pink jeans and a hot pink shirt. 
 
 By consensus, the meeting did not go well. Trump Jr. said it was such a waste of time that he never bothered to inform his father. Goldstone quickly informed Emin Agalarov that it was the most embarrassing thing the pop star had ever asked him to do. 
 
 [Music promoter dangled possible Putin meeting for Trump during campaign] 
 
 The Russian speakers decamped to the Trump Bar just off the lobby on the first floor of Trump Tower. As they had a round of drinks, Aras Agalarov called Kaveladze from Moscow. Kaveladze handed his phone to Veselnitskaya so she could offer her thanks. 
 
 But later, when he was alone, Kaveladze spoke to his boss again. “I said it was complete loss of time,” he recalled. 
 
 By June 2017, when Trump was president and Mueller was investigating Russian interference in the election, Trump’s associates became concerned that the year-old meeting would become public. 
 
 The lawyers are “concerned because it links Don Jr. to officials from Russia — which he has always denied meeting,” Goldstone wrote in an email to Emin Agalarov on June 27. 
 
 Soon after, the New York Times reported the meeting, and lawyers and meeting participants scrambled to come up with an explanation for the encounter. 
 
 Trump himself contributed to an initial statement about the meeting released by his son, Trump Jr. told the committee. It misleadingly stated that it had been “primarily” about the adoption of Russian children by Americans. The Kremlin halted adoptions as retaliation for the Magnitsky Act. His statement did not mention the sanctions law or the offer of dirt on Clinton. 
 
 Shortly after the Times piece appeared, Goldstone fielded an unexpected call from The Washington Post while having lunch in Greece. Reporting the call to Trump lawyers, he assured them that he had offered a similar account. 
 
 “I said only that the meeting appeared to have been about adoption issues and was quickly terminated,” he wrote in an email at the time. 
 
 But within days, Trump Jr. released all of the emails Goldstone had sent him, generating intense scrutiny — and tension between Goldstone and his Russian client. 
 
 Goldstone testified that Emin Agalarov told him he should be pleased he had become so famous. 
 
 “You know, Jeffrey Dahmer was famous. I don’t think he got a lot of work out of it,” Goldstone told Agalarov in one phone call, before hanging up. 
 
 Tom Hamburger, Shane Harris, Sari Horwitz, Spencer Hsu, Julie Tate, Greg Miller, Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky, Ellen Nakashima, Jack Gillum, Josh Dawsey and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Who is Rob Goldstone, whose email to Trump Jr. on Russia caused a sensation? 
 
 Russian social media executive sought to help Trump campaign in 2016, emails show ||||| Go deeper: From Rob Goldstone to the Agalarovs, the news surrounding this meeting has introduced a whole host of colorful new characters to the Trump-Russia web, many of whom hadn't been mentioned widely in previous reports. 
 
 Looks like he needed it: The story exploded this afternoon when Trump Jr. tweeted the full email chain that led to the meeting, which explicitly called the meeting a "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." 
 
 This weekend's report that Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner attended a meeting at Trump Tower last June with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton was another drip in the ever-expanding Russia story — and it led to Trump Jr. lawyering up for the Russia probe last night. 
 
 Natalia Veselnitskaya, the lawyer at the Trump Tower meeting 
 
 Veselnitskaya is known for her lobbying against the Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Obama in 2012 and designed to seize the assets of and deny visas to suspected Russian human rights abusers. The law so enraged Russian President Vladimir Putin that he halted the adoption of Russian children by American families. Veselnitskaya told the NYT that she "never acted on behalf of the Russian government," but her anti-Magnitsky campaign is obviously a cause that's deeply personal for Putin. 
 
 Rob Goldstone, the music publicist who linked up Trump Jr. and Veselnitskaya 
 
 Goldstone is a friend of Trump Jr., often involved in the Miss Universe pageant, who claimed to set up the meeting for Veselnitskaya to discuss the adoption issues caused by the Magnitsky Act, per a WaPo report. His social media pages show him interacting with President Trump as far back as 2013 — and include an Instagram of him wearing a shirt that simply says "Russia" just after Trump won the presidency in November. 
 
 Emin Agalarov, the Russian pop star who asked Goldstone to set up the meeting 
 
 Agalarov is a 37-year-old pop star who became close to Trump following the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. Emin has performed at Trump golf courses, received a videotaped birthday message from Trump in 2013, and even got Trump to cameo in one of his music videos, per Forbes' definitive Agalarov profile. He reportedly exchanged text messages with Trump Jr. around the inauguration, inquiring about the potential for new business deals. 
 
 Aras Agalarov, Emin's father and a billionaire real estate mogul in Moscow 
 
 According to Forbes, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant ended up in the Moscow — hosted at one of the Agalarovs' properties — after Aras and Emin made a concerted effort to reach out to Trump. Aras' bigger goal was a licensing deal with Trump to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, which Emin told Forbes was in the pipeline before Trump announced his campaign, putting the deal on ice. ||||| Rob Goldstone, the man who says he connected Donald Trump Jr. with a Russian lawyer who claimed to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, is a British-born music producer with ties to a Russian billionaire through his pop star son. 
 
 Trump Jr. confirmed in a statement that he and other Trump campaign officials met with Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016. The president’s son on July 11 released an email chain between himself and Goldstone that raised further questions about the meeting. 
 
 In one email, Goldstone, the British-born music producer facilitating the meeting, wrote, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump…” Trump Jr. responded, “If it’s what you say, I love it.” 
 
 The person who asked Trump Jr. to attend the meeting was Goldstone, a music producer with ties to a Russian pop star named Emin Agalarov, according to The Washington Post. 
 
 Rob Goldstone very much likes his hats pic.twitter.com/44yUnMu8CE — Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) July 10, 2017 
 
 The New York Times broke the story that Trump Jr., Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort had attended the meeting, although Trump Jr. says Veselnitskaya never produced information negative to Clinton. 
 
 A special prosecutor is investigating whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election. Goldstone is a colorful addition to the cast of characters in the Trump/Russia controversies. 
 
 Here’s what you need to know: 
 
 1. The Emails Reveal Goldstone Told Trump Jr. That Veselnitskaya Was a Government Lawyer With Information Damaging to Hillary Clinton 
 
 In the statement that he released on the meeting, Trump Jr. did not name the intermediary. However, Rob Goldstone told The Washington Post that “he had arranged the meeting at request of a Russian client and had attended it along with Veselnitskaya.” 
 
 He initially wouldn’t identify the Russian client, according to The Post, but he said that Veselnitskaya wanted to speak with Trump Jr. about Russian adoptions. 
 
 Goldstone later released a statement, in which he alleged Veselnitskaya had said she had information about illegal campaign contributions to the DNC. He has now identified the “client” as Russian pop star Emin Agalarov. 
 
 Just into @CNN, Rob Goldstone, music publicist who set up mtg bw Trump Jr and Veselnitzkaya, says Trump "halted" talk when Magnitzky came up pic.twitter.com/ysDZVMm1Bj — David Shortell (@davidgshortell) July 10, 2017 
 
 The New York Times is now reporting that Goldstone allegedly sent an email to Trump Jr. before the meeting informing him “that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy.” 
 
 Trump Jr. then released all of the emails himself. On June 3, in one key exchange, Goldstone wrote, “Good morning. Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting. The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father. This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump – helped along by Aras and Emin. What do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly?” 
 
 In his own statement, Donald Trump Jr. wrote that he was “asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign.” The Times reported that Trump Jr. accused the lawyer of being a “Kremlin proxy.” 
 
 Veselnitskaya told The New York Times in a statement to the newspaper that “nothing at all about the presidential campaign” was discussed at the meeting and said she has “never acted on behalf of the Russian government” and “never discussed any of these matters with any representative of the Russian government.” 
 
 Trump Jr. also says in the statement that he was told that Veselnitskaya “had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton.” 
 
 You can release the Trump Jr. emails with Goldstone here: 
 
 2. Goldstone Works With a Russian Pop Star Whose Father Is a Wealthy Developer in Moscow 
 
 According to The Post, Goldstone “works as a manager for Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star whose father is a wealthy Moscow developer who sponsored the pageant in the Russian capital in 2013.” 
 
 Trump was featured in a music video with Emin Agalarov. 
 
 Emin’s father is Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire. Forbes says Aras is worth almost $2 billion, a fortune he made from real estate, and added that he brought the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. According to Bloomberg, “The last time Donald Trump made an appearance in Moscow was November 2013 for the Miss Universe contest he famously owned.” 
 
 According to The New York Times, “The elder Agalarov boasts close ties to Mr. Putin: his company has won several large state building contracts, and Mr. Putin awarded him the “Order of Honor of the Russian Federation.” 
 
 The son has boasted of the family’s ties to Trump. 
 
 Ermin Agalarov told Forbes in an interview that “he and his billionaire developer father, Aras, had plans to build a Trump Tower in Russia that would now likely be under construction had Trump not run for office; that he has maintained contact with the Trump family since the election, and has exchanged messages with Donald Trump Jr. as recently as January; and that President Trump himself sent a handwritten note to the Agalarovs in November after they congratulated him on his victory.” 
 
 Politico has called Aras Agalarov “a billionaire Russian real estate mogul with ties to Putin,” and described Emin as “a dance-pop singer with ambitions to international stardom who got Trump to appear in one of his music videos.” 
 
 Bloomberg reported that, while Trump was in Moscow, he was invited to meet with “more than a dozen of Russia’s top businessmen, including Herman Gref, the chief executive officer of state-controlled Sberbank PJSC, Russia’s biggest bank.” Gref, “who was President Vladimir Putin’s economy minister from 2000 to 2007, organized the meeting together with Aras Agalarov, the founder of Crocus Group, one of the country’s largest real-estate companies, which was hosting the beauty pageant at one of its concert halls,” reported Bloomberg. 
 
 3. Goldstone Is a Former Journalist From the UK & Has Represented Many Famous Clients 
 
 Goldstone got his start in journalism and runs a PR firm. He has a penchant for profane and colorful hats that he displays frequently on social media. 
 
 “Oui 2 PR founder, Rob Goldstone is a former journalist, publicist and international marketing director, whose previous clients include Michael Jackson, BB King, HMV Record Stores, Richard Branson, The Hard Rock Cafe and Oscar-winning lyricist Tim Rice,” his bio says. 
 
 “Born in the United Kingdom, Rob studied as a journalist and by his early 20’s worked for daily newspapers and radio stations. In 1985, The Band Aid Relief Fund invited Rob to accompany Bob Geldof to Ethiopia.” 
 
 The New York Times referred to Goldstone as a former “tabloid journalist,” writing that he is “a former British tabloid journalist and the president of a company called Oui 2 Entertainment who has worked with the Miss Universe pageant.” 
 
 The bio continues, “In 1986, Rob moved to Australia, first as a journalist – as the only journalist chosen by Michael Jackson to accompany him on his tour “down under” – and later as a publicist and co-president of his own PR company, Crawford Goldstone Publicity. For six years, Sydney-based Rob represented almost every major international artist touring Australia; from Cyndi Lauper to Julio Iglesias, James Taylor, Tracy Chapman, BB King, Marianne Faithful and Poison! Among his corporate clients were Saatchi and Saatchi, The Hard Rock Cafe, Chess: The Musical, Richard Branson’s Virgin Megastores, and HMV Music Stores.” 
 
 The Oui 2 company bio for Goldstone says he founded Oui 2 Entertainment with David Wilson in 1998. 
 
 “Manhattan-based Oui 2 and has since gone on to represent some of the biggest music brands and entertainment events in the country, including a decade relationship with EMI Music Publishing (then the world’s largest music publisher), Best Buy (handling their PR and creating events to introduce them into New York and San Francisco including Sting in Central Park), The Friars Club (handling media for their Roasts and tributes),” the bio says. 
 
 4. Goldstone Was in Moscow Two Weeks Before the Meeting 
 
 Goldstone has since privatized his Instagram account, but a July 27, 2016 post read, “It’s the last full day in Russia today and it’s been a 3 week whirlwind between Baku, St. Petersburg and Moscow.” 
 
 Trump Jr. associate Rob Goldstone was in Moscow less than 2 weeks before the June 9 meeting at Trump Tower, then went back for most of July: pic.twitter.com/GxLRiDwK9I — Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) July 10, 2017 
 
 He also posted from Red Square in May 2016. He visited Russia in July and May 2016, according to various social media posts he made. 
 
 Goldstone has written about Hillary Clinton on social media. 
 
 Also Rob Goldstone, one day prior pic.twitter.com/JAyRSNJvOx — Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) July 10, 2017 
 
 He didn’t hide the Trump meeting – he checked in at Trump Tower on Facebook on the day in question. 
 
 Rob Goldstone on June 9, 2016 — day of the Trump Tower meeting with Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, and Veselnitskaya pic.twitter.com/7toeAYMxzi — Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) July 10, 2017 
 
 On June 23, 2016, Goldstone wrote on Facebook, “To my friends who doubt Donald Trump will ever be President – they also thought Britain would never vote to leave the EU and as I go bed, it looks like the UK has voted to leave the European Union. I rest my case.” 
 
 On Facebook, Goldstone says that he is single, lives in New York, New York, and is from Manchester, United Kingdom. His most recent public Facebook posts show travels to Greece, Croatia, and Italy. 
 
 5. Trump Jr. Admits Meeting With Veselnitskaya but Says She Had ‘No Meaningful Information’ 
 
 According to a statement released by Trump Jr., he was not told the lawyer’s name before the meeting and asked Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort to attend “but told them nothing of the substance.” 
 
 The meeting occurred in June 2016, and Veselnitskaya “stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton. Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense.” 
 
 JUST IN: Donald Trump Jr. responds to reports that he met with Kremlin-linked lawyer during campaign pic.twitter.com/5mqRX38Wio — NBC News (@NBCNews) July 9, 2017 
 
 She didn’t provide details or supporting information and “it quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information. She then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of Russian children and mentioned the Magnitsky Act.” 
 
 Trump Jr. said it became clear to him that “this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.” 
 
 Trump Jr. released another statement on July 11. It reads, 
 
 To everyone, in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails with Rob Goldstone about the meeting on June 9, 2016. The first email on June 3, 2016 was from Rob, who was relating a request from Emin, a person I knew from the 2013 Ms. Universe Pageant near Moscow. Emin and his father have a very highly respected company in Moscow. The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research. I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn’t work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet. I decided to take the meeting. The woman, as she has said publicly, was not a government official. And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act. To put this in context, this occurred before the current Russian fever was in vogue. As Rob Goldstone said just today in the press, the entire meeting was the “most inane nonsense I ever heard. And I was actually agitated by it.” 
 
 Trump Jr. originally said only that the meeting dealt with adoptions, according to The New York Times. 
 
 In a statement, a spokesman for President Trump’s outside counsel said Veselnitskaya misrepresented herself and alluded to ties to Democrats. 
 
 “We have learned from both our own investigation and public reports that the participants in the meeting misrepresented who they were and who they worked for,” Mark Corallo, spokesperson for Trump’s outside counsel, said in a statement. “Specifically, we have learned that the person who sought the meeting is associated with Fusion GPS, a firm which according to public reports, was retained by Democratic operatives to develop opposition research on the president and which commissioned the phony Steele dossier.”
– "These materials, taken in their entirety, provide the most complete public picture of the events surrounding the meeting to date," said Sen. Chuck Grassley in a statement Wednesday morning, per the BBC. Their entirety is a substantial one: The Senate Judiciary Committee released 2,500 pages of testimony and exhibits related to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump's son and others with a Russian attorney—a meeting that's been a focus of Robert Mueller's probe. Music promoter Rob Goldstone testified that he told Donald Trump Jr. via email that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya had dirt on Hillary Clinton because his client, Russian pop star and developer Emin Agalarov, had been adamant about securing the meeting and because he was told Veselnitskaya was both "well connected" and had "damaging material," reports the Washington Post. Some initial takeaways: