Donald Trump Jr met Russian lawyer after promise of information on Hillary Clinton

US President Donald Trump's son agreed to meet a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer last year after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported

Mr Trump Jr said
Mr Trump Jr said "no meaningful information" on Mrs Clinton was shared during the meeting

Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, agreed to meet with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the 2016 campaign after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing three advisers to the White House.

Trump’s then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting, the Times reported.

Donald Trump Jr said he met Natalia Veselnitskaya but that "no meaningful information" on Clinton was shared.

“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,” the Times quoted Donald Trump Jr as saying. Clinton was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

“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.”

Donald Trump was “not aware of and did not attend” the meeting, a spokesman for his legal team said.

Veselnitskaya, whose clients reportedly include Russian state-owned businesses and a senior government official’s son, said in a statement on Saturday that “nothing at all about the presidential campaign” was discussed. She had “never acted on behalf of the Russian government” and “never discussed any of these matters with any representative of the Russian government”, according to the Times.

Veselnitskaya has strong ties to the Kremlin and is known for waging a harsh campaign against the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which blacklisted Russians suspected of human-rights abuses. Putin has called the Magnitsky Act "outrageous" and retaliated by barring Americans from adopting Russian children. 

US officials are investigating alleged Russian meddling in the US election. The FBI and Congress are both looking at whether Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot. The inquiries have yet to show evidence of collusion.

The meeting with Ms Veselnitskaya took place on 9 June 2016 at New York's Trump Tower, just two weeks after Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination.

It is thought to be the first confirmed private meeting between a Russian national and a member of US President Donald Trump's inner circle.

The Kremlin has denied US intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Moscow tried to tilt the election in Trump’s favour, using such means as hacking into the emails of senior Democrats.

Trump has also repeatedly denied any collusion, and has said contradictory things about whether he believes Russia was responsible.