Trump son plays Russian roulette
EXPOSED: MET RUSSIAN TO GET ‘CAMPAIGN DIRT’
Told info part of effort by Moscow to aid his father’s presidential bid and hurt Clinton.
Washington
Donald Trump’s eldest son admitted on Monday to meeting a Russian lawyer in a bid to get dirt on his father’s 2016 rival. Hillary Clinton, plunging the White House into another Russia-related scandal.
Donald Trump Jnr confirmed reports that he was seeking compromising information on Clinton when he met Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016. “Obviously, I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent,” the president’s son said sardonically in a tweet. He claimed that the meeting “went nowhere” but he “had to listen”.
The FBI and Congress are investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential vote. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a mass effort to tilt the election in Trump’s favour, including hacking and leaking embarrassing e-mails from Democrats.
The New York Times reported that Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner were also at the June 2016 meeting. They were two of Trump’s most trusted campaign officials.
In an even more damaging revelation, the New York Times reported later on Monday that the younger Trump had been informed via e-mail ahead of the meeting that material from the Russian lawyer was part of an effort by Moscow to aid his father’s presidential bid and hurt Clinton.
Trump Jnr’s attorney, Alan Futerfas, said the younger Trump had been contacted by Rob Goldstone, described by the Times as a publicist and former British tabloid reporter. Goldstone said in an e-mail that “people had information concerning alleged wrongdoing by Democratic Party frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, in her dealings with Russia”, Futerfas said.
Futerfas said Trump Jnr did not know what specific information would be discussed during the meeting. “Nothing came of it. His father knew nothing about it. The bottom line is that Don Jnr did nothing wrong,” Futerfas said.
Veselnitskaya is not wellknown in Russia, but represented the son of a senior Russian official involved in a major fraud probe.
In a statement to the Times, Trump Jnr said she “stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs Clinton”. He added: “It quickly became clear she had no meaningful information.” She then began discussing the adoption of Russian children by American couples.”
White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had only learnt of the meeting “in the last couple of days”.
Congressional investigators said Trump Jnr and others who attended the meeting would be interviewed.
The Kremlin said it “did not know” who Veselnitskaya was. –