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?
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.”
“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.
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.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the meeting, along with a translator. 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 ...
Trump Tower meeting transcripts released. 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 ," ...
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 .
More details about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign have surfaced in recent days, in the face of persistent White House denials of any collusion between Trump campaign and Rus sia during the election cycle.
The epicenter of the email scandal, President Donald Trump's eldest son Trump Jr. agreed to meet with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya over emails with music publicist Rob Goldstone. He now serves as trustee of the Trump Organization, leading his father's business as an executive vice president with his brother, Eric Trump.
Natalia Veselnitskaya, who met with Donald Trump Jr. in June 2016, is best known in the US for defending a Russian businessman accused by the US government of laundering millions.
At the time of the meeting, Paul Manafort was Trump's campaign manager. An adviser to Republican presidential candidates since the Nixon era, Manafort repeatedly came into hot water after the election because of his failure to disclose meetings with Russian officials.
A lobbyist against the Magnitsky Act, Akhmetshin has worked closely with Veselnitskaya. Along with being a US citizen, Akhemtshin has served in the Soviet military and worked for a number of high-profile Russian clients.
The younger Trump, Kushner and Manafort met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya last June, according to the New York Times. The Times said Trump Jr. believed the lawyer “would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton.”
On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr.
The Washington Post identified publicist Rob Goldstone as the acquaintance who set up the meeting between Trump and Veselnitskaya. Goldstone said in a statement that the request for the meeting came from his client, Emin Agalarov. “Nothing came of that meeting and there was no follow up between the parties,” Goldstone said.
Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya said she never worked for and has no connections with the Russian government, and that she “never had damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton. It was never my intention to have that.”
Trump has previously denied participating in any meetings with Russian nationals related to his father’s presidential campaign. “Did I meet with people that were Russian? I’m sure, I’m sure I did,” he told the Times in March. “But none that were set up. None that I can think of at the moment.
Trump hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas, who specializes in criminal defense, to represent him in Russia-related investigations, his office and the lawyer said on Monday. Futerfas would not say when he was retained or whether he played any part in the statements Trump made over the weekend about a meeting with a Russian lawyer.