Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer in July 2016 after learning she had damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic opponent of now-President Trump. But Trump Jr. and other key figures involved in the meeting downplayed the gathering when questioned by Senate investigators.
Before Trump Jr. was set to meet with the Russian lawyer as his father campaigned for the presidency, Trump Jr. was told Veselnitskaya’s potentially damning information about Clinton was from the Kremlin, according to emails he released. More on this... Who attended the controversial meeting in Trump Tower?
Trump Jr. has maintained that Veselnitskaya did not have any information to share and instead wanted to discuss other matters, such as the Magnitsky Act which enacts sanctions on certain Russian officials as punishment for human rights violations.
arranged to meet with Veselnitskaya during the presidential campaign, two weeks after Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, on June 9, 2016 at Trump Tower, and that Manafort and Kushner also attended the meeting. Trump Jr. releases this statement:
Donald Trump Jr. meets with Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who has ties to the Kremlin, at Trump Tower. Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Mr. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attend the meeting. Veselnitskaya told NBC News that she " never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton ," ...
had been informed that the compromising information the Russian lawyer was going to offer him on Hillary Clinton was part of the Russian government's effort to help President Trump's candidacy.
That speech would have taken place four days after Trump Jr.'s meeting with Veselnitskaya.
Aras Agalarov was responsible for bringing Trump's Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013. Goldstone offers in his email to send the information to Mr. Trump, "but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first," he wrote to Trump Jr.
Swimmer drops out of Paralympics after being denied care assistant. NASA beams back spectacular images of Jupiter and Ganymede. "Aras" is Emin Agalarov's father, a Russian billionaire with apparent connections to the Kremlin. Aras Agalarov was responsible for bringing Trump's Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013.
Trump Jr. tweeted, "Obviously, I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent...went nowhere but had to listen."
Kushner attorney Jamie Gorelick confirmed the meeting but called it brief and said he was asked to attend by Trump Jr. Gorelick said that Kushner left the meeting and other meetings off of a national security questionnaire, the SF-86, that was filed prematurely, and has since provided supplemental information including about ...
President Donald Trump’s eldest son and his son-in-law Jared Kushner met with a Russian lawyer with connections to the Kremlin during the presidential campaign, it was reported Saturday.
Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion. Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia was behind a covert plan to try and interfere in the presidential election to try and help Trump win. Russia has repeatedly denied the claims. Trump and other Republicans have claimed the alleged meddling did not affect the election’s outcome.
Trump Jr. also confirmed the Times ‘ reporting that the meeting was attended by then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.
Veselnitskaya said “she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton,” Trump Jr. said in the statement.
A statement Trump Jr. released on Saturday — before the Times story was published — did not mention Clinton at all.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins also voiced her concerns about Trump Jr.’s meeting, reportedly telling Bloomberg’s Steven Dennis that the president’s son should be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Veselnitskaya, meanwhile, told the Times that “nothing at all about the presidential campaign” was discussed at the meeting. She said she “never acted on behalf of the Russian government” and “never discussed any of these matters with any representative of the Russian government,” the newspaper reported.
Donald Trump, Jr. admitted that he met with a Russian lawyer after she promised damaging information on his father's presidential campaign rival, Hillary Clinton. In a stunning admission that some have said points to treason by members of the Trump campaign, Donald Trump, Jr. has acknowledged that he met with a lawyer connected to ...
addressed the Veselnitskaya meeting in a new statement Sunday but revealed the real reason he, Kushner and Manafort had attended: to obtain information “that would be helpful to the campaign.”
Donald Trump Jr. initially claimed the meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was simply to discuss an adoption program. But after further reporting, the Times discovered that Trump Jr. had been promised the information about Clinton before arranging the meeting. Trump Jr. then released another statement that differed from his original explanation, offering two versions within a 24-hour period.
Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned in February after misleading administration officials about the extent of his own interactions with Russian officials.
Goldstone’s client, singer Emin Agalarov, is the son of a Russian real estate mogul who had planned to partner with Trump to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow. In addition, Agalarov and Trump appeared in a music video for the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which Trump owned at the time and took place in Russia that year.
The Kremlin also denied knowing about the meeting , according to The Associated Press.
In a Sunday statement to several news organizations, including Reuters, Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s outside legal team handling matters related to the Russia probes, said that “the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.”
Prior to the Times reporting that Veselnitskaya had promised damaging information about Clinton, Trump Jr. released a statement to the media on Saturday:
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.