Russia says lawyer who met Trump's son is a mystery
RUSSIA has denied any links to the mysterious Kremlin lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr during last year’s election campaign.
Russia has denied any involvement
The President’s son allegedly agreed to meet with a woman during the 2016 election campaign in exchange for damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
The President’s then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also attended the meeting at Trump Tower on June 9 last year - two weeks after he won the Republican nomination.
In a statement, Donald Trump Jr acknowledged meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Trump and Putin shake hands after two-hour meeting at G20
Donald Trump was apparently unaware of the meeting
It read: “After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms Clinton.
"Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered.
“It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information."
However, today Russia denied any links to the woman and claimed she has no links to the Kremlin.
According to Mr Trump Jr, the lawyer went on to discuss the Magnitsky act – which blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers, and the adoption of Russian children in the US – which Russia banned following the Magnitsky act.
The President’s son said: “It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.”
Donald Trump Jr held the meeting in Trump Tower
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the president’s lawyer, said on Sunday that “the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting”.
The meeting took place at a critical time in President Trump’s campaign, shortly after he had received the Republican nomination to lead the party to the presidency.
It comes as the President’s links to Russia face closer scrutiny following claims he may have colluded with Vladimir Putin’s government in the run up to the 2016 election.
President Trump is currently under investigation over possible obstruction of justice following the sacking of former FBI director James Comey – who was conducting the initial investigation into Russian involvement in the vote.