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.
Rob Goldstone, a music publicist who set up the meeting, was also in attendance, as well as Rinat Akhmetshin, a prominent Russian-American lobbyist, Ike Kaveladze, a business associate of a Moscow-based developer and a translator. A spokesperson for Trump’s outside legal team said Trump “was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.”
Bradley A. Smith, a former Bill Clinton-appointed Republican Federal Election Commission member, said based on what's known about the meeting, Trump Jr.'s actions are unlikely to be considered illegal solicitation. "It's not illegal to meet with someone to find out what they have to offer," Smith said.
“The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton] and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” Goldstone said.
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. The New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr., Kushner, and Trump's campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, met with the lawyer at Trump tower on June 9, ...
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 ...
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.
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.
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.
The White House says the president didn't know about his son's meeting with the Russian lawyer in June 2016 even though Mr. Trump was in New York that same day. Asked when the president learned about the meeting, deputy spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "I believe in the last couple of days is my understanding.".
Kellyanne Conway is asked in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" if anyone involved in Mr. Trump's campaign have any contact with Russians trying to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Conway says, "Absolutely not. And I discussed that with the president-elect just last night.
A few days after the election, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, is quoted as telling the Interfax news agency that "there were contacts" with influential people connected to Mr. Trump. But his spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, denies that ever happened. "It never happened," she said, according to NBC News. "There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign," a statement that was later proved wrong .