Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, reportedly met with a Russian lawyer who promised him damaging information on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in June 2016 at Trump Tower, according to the New York Times.
The Times, which cited sources that included “three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it,” reported that Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, also met with the lawyer who reportedly has ties to the Kremlin.
There have been multiple reports that suggested those in Trump’s camp colluded with Russia to help sway the presidential election—and there are multiple federal investigations under way at the moment trying to ascertain whether that’s true—but as the Times writes, “The accounts of [this] meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help.”
More from the Times:
It is unclear whether the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, actually produced the promised compromising information about Mrs. Clinton. But the people interviewed by the Times about the meeting said the expectation was that she would do so.
In a statement on Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. said he had met with the Russian lawyer at the request of an acquaintance. “After pleasantries were exchanged,” he said, “the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton. 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 Jr. had previously told the newspaper that the meeting was solely to talk about the adoption of Russian children but didn’t mention anything about Clinton.
A president’s spokesman said the president did not attend the meeting.
Click here to read the entire Times story.