With these connections to the Kremlin in mind, it appears that Alferova announced on Twitter in January, 2015 that Donald Trump was running for President:

“Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump is going to run for the Presidency United States!”

US media reports at the time were downplaying Trump’s (and Palin’s) purported interest in running for President. It is unclear how Alferova knew that Trump was indeed running for President approximately five months before he officially announced his candidacy. She did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This revelation adds another layer to the Agalarov aspect of the Trump-Russia story. The two men were mentioned in the emails to Don Jr before the now infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Rob Goldstone, Emin Agalarov’s publicist, wrote to then-candidate Trump’s son promising damaging information on Hillary Clinton saying, “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.” Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner met with the lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and other Kremlin-connected Russians.

Alferova, according to a source, was sent pictures directly from Emin Agalarov of the June 2013 meeting with Trump to post on her blog. That meeting in Las Vegas culminated in the agreement for Trump to bring Miss Universe to Moscow.

Alferova’s tweet raises new questions about who Donald Trump was in contact with in the run up to the election. If she was indeed privy to Trump’s decision to run for President, it casts doubt on Trump’s claim that, “[t]his Russian connection is nonsense.”

Contact the Writer: @ScottMStedman