Jul 12, 2017 · Federal investigators might have reason to examine whether Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the president, broke campaign finance law when he attended a meeting with a Russian lawyer who he ...
Jul 12, 2017 · Did Donald Trump's eldest son break US law in meeting a Russian lawyer he hoped would dish compromising dirt on the woman standing between his father and the White House? ... This is what legal experts say about what is known so far of the June 2016 meeting in New York between Don Jr. and Natalia Veselnitskaya. What law might he have broken ...
Jul 11, 2017 · Trump Jr. was told by email before the meeting that the “information” was part of a Russian government attempt to aid Donald Trump’s presidential bid, the …
When it came to light last week that Donald Trump Jr. met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in June 2016, the president's son …
It's worth noting Veselnitskaya said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss U.S. sanctions on Russia, telling NBC News that she "never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton." What's more, there has been no suggestion that Veselnitskaya offered financial support to the Trump campaign.
Richard Briffault, a law professor at Columbia University who specializes in campaign finance, appeared to fall somewhere in the middle. He said it's an "open question" whether information about Clinton qualified as a "contribution" — but the statute itself, he went on to say, is "clearly not limited to money.".
"There's a strong case that Donald Trump Jr. violated the prohibition on knowingly soliciting a contribution from a foreign national," said Brendan Fischer of Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group.
Natalia Veselnitskaya is a managing partner in Kamerton Consulting, a Moscow law firm. She has represented Denis Katsyv, a Russian national accused of laundering millions in tax-fraud proceeds into US real estate last year in a case brought in the southern district of New York. Katsyv’s case was settled in May for $6 million.
Trump Jr. said he was asked by a person he knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, held in a Moscow suburb, to meet with someone who might have information that would be “helpful” to the Trump campaign. He did not name the acquaintance. When they met, Veselnitskaya told Trump Jr.
Legal experts told Quartz they see a wide scope for criminal investigation. Here are laws they cited, in interviews and in public statements, that could warrant examination:
Trump Jr’s explanation shocked US political pundits, in part, because of its apparent naiveté. He said he didn’t know who he was meeting before he went, and his Sunday statement refuted an earlier one to the Times, in which he said the meeting was just about adoptions of Russian children by Americans.
Trump Jr. and the other attendees of the meeting are expected to be grilled by both FBI and congressional investigators. Adam Schiff, a Democrat with the House Intelligence Committee, and Susan Collins, a Republican from the Senate Intelligence Committee, said their panels intend to question everyone who attended the meeting.