Today marked another break in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the links between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. This is a big one—one that edges us excruciatingly closer to the Truth.
They got him! Except...I don’t know who He is.
Konstantin Kilimnik may sound like a comic book villain, or maybe a character from the new Bill Clinton/James Patterson collab The President Is Missing, but I assure you he’s very real and is just one of approximately 40 million people involved in the Russia probe who I had no idea existed until now. So what does Kilimnik (no association with Erik Killmonger) do?
According to a lengthy Atlantic profile that I also had no idea existed (because I didn’t know people knew who this person who apparently exists is), Kilimnik is a short, Ukranian-born translator, and a confidante and something of an adviser to Paul Manafort. He ran Manafort’s office in Kiev and came to be known as “Manafort’s Manafort”—something I read in this in-depth Politico profile on Kilimnik from last year that I was also unaware of, because I didn’t know who this guy was until an hour ago.
Another big thing to know is that Kilimnik has a background in Russian military intelligence and is suspected to be a Russian spy, according to a New York Times article I also didn’t know about. He was apparently directly in touch with Rick Gates, Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016 (who is currently facing over 30 charges in the probe), as reported by the Washington Post in a story I did not see or know about.
Anyway, I guess this Konstantin Kilimnik indictment is a very big deal. Even though I didn’t know who he is.