In July 2016 , just prior to the Republicans ' 2016 Convention in Cleveland , Gordon successfully advocated with elected delegates to soften a proposed amendment to the Republican National Committee 's policy platform that called for providing " lethal defensive weapons " to the government of Ukraine . At the time , many Republican foreign policy leaders favored stronger support of Ukraine than the Obama administration had offered . In January 2017 , Gordon told '' Business Insider '' that he had " never left " his " assigned side table , nor spoke publicly at the meeting of delegates during the platform meeting , " but in March 2017 he acknowledged to CNN that , in CNN 's words , " Gordon had advocated for language in the GOP platform that the Ukrainians not be armed in their battle against pro-Russian separatists . " Gordon has said of his advice to soften the proposed amendment on Ukraine that " this was the language Donald Trump himself wanted , " though he has denied that Trump was aware at the time of the " details . " After the election , media outlets reported that Gordon had encountered Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak on July 20 , a week after the platform amendment controversy , while serving as a guest speaker to over 50 ambassadors to the United States as part of the U.S. State Department 's Global Partners in Diplomacy Program ( GPD ) . Previously , the Trump campaign had denied any contacts with Russian diplomats . In August 2018 the '' Washington Post '' reported that Gordon had socialized with Mariia Butina in the weeks before the 2016 Presidential Election . Butina , who presented herself for years as a Russian gun rights advocate and graduate student at American University , was arrested and charged in July 2018 for failing to register with the Department of Justice for her pro-Russia activities
2016 Convention in Cleveland
2016 Republican National Convention
J. D. Gordon