Trump backs son on Russian meeting

US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the media early on Sunday, hours after news that his campaign paid $50,000 in late June to the law firm later revealed to be representing Donald Trump Jr. in the matter of a meeting during 2016 with a Russian lawyer to seek damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

“With all of its phony unnamed sources & highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting, #Fake News is DISTORTING DEMOCRACY in our country,” Trump told his almost 40-million Twitter followers.

Separately, a new ABC-Washington Post poll released on Sunday showed Trump’s approval rating at the six-month mark of his term at 36%, down six points from a survey taken after his first 100 days. The previous president closest to that level after six months into his term was Gerald Ford, at 39%, in February 1975.

About 63% of those polled said it was inappropriate for Trump’s son, son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort to have met with a Russian lawyer offering information on Clinton. Six in 10 also think Russia tried to influence the campaign, and among those who say so, 67% think Trump aides helped.

Trump thanked former campaign adviser Michael Caputo in a tweet “for saying so powerfully that there was no Russian collusion in our winning campaign”. Caputo testified to the House of Representatives intelligence committee on Friday as part of an investigation into Russian meddling in the election.

Trump has been at his New Jersey golf resort since Friday evening and was watching the US Women’s Open golf tournament on Sunday.