Donald Trump Jr ditches Secret Service and travels to Canada after Russian-Canadian hacker is indicted
Sometimes a coincidence is just that and nothing more. But as Donald Trump’s Russia scandal has played out, we’ve come to learn that most of the “coincidences” in this scandal have later proven to have been anything but coincidental. That leads us to the matter of Donald Trump Jr’s trip to Canada this week, which he took without his Secret Service detail, after a Canadian hacker working for the Russians was indicted. Let’s take a look at what we know.
Early last week, it was revealed that Donald Trump Jr had given up his Secret Service protection entirely, in what was reported as being a permanent move. One week later, Junior reinstated his Secret Service protection. It’s since been revealed that during that week, he traveled to Canada. More specifically, a New York Times reporter tracked him down in Yukon Territory (link), fresh off a supposed hunting trip. We say “supposed” because that’s where the story gets weird.
It’s a reasonable premise that Donald Trump Jr didn’t want Secret Service agents going around with him while he was murdering animals in the wilderness for fun. But it’s far less reasonable that he would go to the trouble to formally revoke his own status as a protectee. Why not just let the agents travel with him to Yukon, but make them hang back at the lodge? Then there’s the matter of Junior’s history of meeting with Russian government representatives – and the fact that a Russian government hacker from Canada was indicted in the United States last month (link). Let’s see if we can try to piece this together.
Karim Baratov lives in Hamilton, Canada but was born in Kazakhstan, part of the former Soviet Union. He was arrested in Hamilton and extradited to the United States last month, to face charges for having allegedly hacked Yahoo! on behalf of the Russian FSB. He is not known to have been involved in any Russian election hacking, but there has long been suspicion that there were connections between the Yahoo hackers and the election hackers.
Hamilton and Yukon are on opposite sides of Canada. But if someone were traveling from New York City to Yukon, they’d fly right over Hamilton on the way. Considering the clandestine manner in which Donald Trump Jr had already participated in his father’s Russia scandal, and that he was clearly trying to hide something by ditching the Secret Service during this trip, the question is at least worth asking: was his trip connected to the Russian hacker who lives in Canada and was just indicted in the United States?
