When news broke that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was charged with obstruction of justice, all that Western media outlets and the #Resistance could hear was ‘Trump Tower,’ even though the case had nothing to do with it.

Veselnitskaya famously met with several members of then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign in July 2016, including his son Donald Trump Jr, supposedly offering “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Proponents of the conspiracy theory that Trump “colluded” with Russia to somehow steal the presidency from Hillary Clinton have long claimed this meeting at Trump Tower is key evidence against the current US president.

Major media outlets – not just in the US – therefore made sure to include a “Trump Tower” reference in reporting on Veselnitskaya’s indictment, which was filed on December 20 in the Southern District of New York and made public on Tuesday. Only a few bothered to note that the indictment has to do with a totally unrelated case.

#BREAKING: US indicts Russian lawyer who joined 2016 Trump Tower meeting pic.twitter.com/FvRcOlSVVx — AFP news agency (@AFP) January 8, 2019

JUST IN: : The Russian attorney who attended the much-discussed Trump Tower meeting with Trump campaign leaders in 2016 has been charged with obstruction of justice in a New York money laundering case. — NPR (@NPR) January 8, 2019

Russian lawyer in Trump Tower meeting charged with obstruction https://t.co/95Ru2IcmiD — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 8, 2019

BREAKING: Russian lawyer at center of 2016 Trump Tower meeting charged with criminal obstruction of justice in a federal civil case in Manhattan; prosecutors allege she worked “in secret cooperation with a senior Russian prosecutor.” https://t.co/pWk0UWiMNx — MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 8, 2019

Natalya Veselnitskaya, who attended a 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, was charged Tuesday with obstruction of justice in an unrelated case. https://t.co/doXnwaxAT1 — The Associated Press (@AP) January 8, 2019

The actual complaint against Veselnitskaya alleges that she “well knew but concealed from the court” that she had a hand in drafting a report on the case she was litigating in the US, “in secret cooperation with a senior Russian prosecutor” who was not named. This report, submitted by Russia under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with the US, was then cited by Veselnitskaya in defending the real estate company Prevezon Holdings Ltd. from claims of money laundering by “Investment Company-1.”

That company was Hermitage Capital, whose owner Bill Browder gave up his US citizenship in 1998 to avoid paying taxes on billions he was making on shadowy business dealings in Russia. Browder was convicted of tax fraud in Russia, but has avoided extradition by campaigning in the West to brand Moscow a human rights violator over the death of his accountant, Sergey Magnitsky – after whom the far-reaching US sanctions legislation was dubbed the Magnitsky Act.

Also on rt.com ‘Skripal, Hague!’ Browder full of ideas about why Russia suspects him of ordering Magnitsky’s death

The indictment does not say where the evidence of email exchanges between Veselnitskaya and the unnamed Russian prosecutor came from. In April 2018, however – just over a year after the Prevezon case was settled and closed – US government propaganda outlet RFE/RL reported the existence of the emails, sourcing them to Dossier, an outfit run by Browder's fellow ex-oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky. A search of Dossier turns up a series of articles under the title that can be roughly translated as “How Veselnitskaya controlled the prosecutor.”

Also on rt.com 'Wasting taxpayers’ money': Lawyer Veselnitskaya talks Trump’s dossier & Fusion GPS

Although the indictment against Veselnitskaya – suspiciously unsealed on the eve of Trump’s first-ever primetime national address – has absolutely nothing to do with the July 2016 Trump Tower meeting, that has not stopped the US president’s critics on social media and in Congress from declaring that Trump is finished, this time for sure, yet again.

To the Russian Bots & Trump Supporters:Natalia Veselnitskaya, an alleged criminal working w/ the Kremlin, met with Don Jr., Kushner & Manafort at Trump Tower to provide 'dirt on Hillary Clinton'You can try and discredit me all you want, but you can't discredit FACTS! — Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) January 8, 2019

Affidavit from Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya Don Jr. met with in Trump Tower proves she was lawyer for Kremlin front company that laundered money in US via real estate. Uncovered by @TheDemCoalition in 7/13/2017. She was charged with obstruction of justice today. https://t.co/8plnbVlqsF — Scott Dworkin (@funder) January 8, 2019

Two thoughts about the Russian lawyer in the Trump Tower meeting getting indicted.1. Prosecutors take the felony of Obstruction of Justice seriously.2. No one is above the law: not Russian operatives, friends of @realDonaldTrump, family members of Trump, or @POTUS himself. https://t.co/Fgq5t2zYtp — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 8, 2019

Indictment of Russian lawyer at infamous Trump Tower meeting portends peril for Trump Jr. & Kushner—much more to come. https://t.co/HX4iq4WoSe — Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) January 8, 2019

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!