US accuses former Trump 2016 campaign adviser Dimitri Simes of working for sanctioned Russian TV – ABC 6 News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has charged a Russian-born U.S. citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with working for sanctioned Russian state television and laundering money.

The indictments announced Thursday by the Justice Department allege that Dimitri Simes and his wife received more than $1 million and a private car and driver in exchange for work they performed for Russia’s Channel One since June 2022. The network was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Simes, 76, and his wife, Anastasia Simes, have a home in Virginia and are believed to be in Russia.

“The defendants allegedly violated sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s illegal aggression in Ukraine,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said in a statement announcing the indictments. “Such violations harm our national security interests — a fact that Dimitri Simes, with his extensive domestic experience after fleeing the Soviet Union and becoming a U.S. citizen, should have come to appreciate in a unique way.”

The indictments come amid renewed concerns about Russian attempts to interfere in the upcoming U.S. election through online disinformation and propaganda. On Wednesday, federal authorities charged two employees of the Russian media organization RT with secretly funding a Tennessee-based company that produced pro-Russian content.

Simes, who headed the Washington-based think tank Center for the National Interest, played a prominent role in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties to the Trump campaign.

The report details interactions between Simes, who was born in the Soviet Union and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s, and various figures in Trump’s entourage, including Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Before one such meeting, according to Mueller’s report, Simes sent Kushner a letter detailing potential topics Trump might raise regarding Russia and also provided Kushner with unflattering information about Bill Clinton, which was then passed on to other campaign officials.

Simes’ think tank helped organize a foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington where Simes introduced Trump. Among those in attendance was Sergei Kislyak, then Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.

Simes was never charged with any crimes in connection with the investigation.

After the report was released, Simes defended himself in an interview with The Washington Post: “I found nothing in the Mueller report that in any way indicated any suspicious activity on my part or on the part of the center.”

The second indictment alleges that Anastasia Simes, 55, received funds from sanctioned Russian businessman Alexander Udodov. Udodov was sanctioned last year for his support of the Russian government. He is the former brother-in-law of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and has been linked to business dealings with both of them. Udodov has also been investigated for money laundering.

If the charges are found to be true, the couple faces up to 20 years in prison.

Messages left with Simes’ attorney and the Trump campaign were not immediately returned Thursday.

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