One person who was listening closely in the meeting and is thought to have an unbiased view of events was a man named Anatoli Samochornov, who was there as a translator for Veselnitskaya, who knew very little English.

Samochornov was in the room for the entire meeting and did not remember anyone bringing up Goldstone’s original email promising dirt on Clinton. He did not remember Trump Jr., Manafort, or Kushner asking any of the Russians any questions. He did not remember anyone mentioning that any sort of information might be provided in the future. He did not remember anyone mentioning Hillary Clinton, or negative information on Hillary Clinton. He did not remember anyone discussing a future meeting. (Samochornov also testified about a lunch the Russian participants had before the Trump Tower meeting. He did not remember anyone mentioning providing negative information about Clinton, or anyone mentioning Clinton at all.)

Samochornov did remember one thing that Donald Trump Jr. said during the meeting. At the end, he testified, Trump Jr. said that “if or when my father becomes president, we will revisit this issue.”

Investigators asked what Samochornov thought Trump Jr. meant by that. “Frankly, if you are asking for my reaction, it was a very polite way of saying, ‘Thank you very much. It’s time for you to go. The meeting’s over.'”