Trump denies knowing of 2016 meeting with Russia

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has denied knowing in advance of a meeting during the 2016 election campaign in which Russians promised to share dirt on his rival Hillary Clinton – shooting back at an explosive allegation by his longtime lawyer.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, son Donald Jr and top campaign official Paul Manafort met at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had said she was offering information from the Russian government aimed at helping Trump to victory.

The US president has repeatedly denied all knowledge of the encounter, but according to several US media, his former lawyer Michael Cohen – who is under federal investigation – now says he was present when Donald Jr told his father about the Russian offer to meet, and that Trump approved.

“I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don Jr,” Trump fired back in a tweet early yesterday.

“Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam.”

The president, his son, his lawyers and other administration officials have repeatedly said Trump did not know about the meeting until news of it broke in July last year.

Cohen’s assertion is highly important: if he can back it up, it could be a key step toward proving collusion between the Trump campaign and a Russian effort to help Trump win the presidency – a central focus of the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller.

CNN said Cohen lacked evidence such as an audio recording to corroborate his assertion that Trump knew of the meeting.

But both CNN and NBC reported – citing anonymous sources – that Cohen was willing to make his claim to Mueller.