Kremlin says has nothing to do with Trump Jr's meeting with Russian lawyer

The Kremlin today insisted it was in no way linked to a meeting between US President Donald Trump's son and a Russian lawyer at the heart of a political firestorm.

"We have already said that we are absolutely not familiar with this whole story," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"We never had any contact with this lawyer, that is why we are not in the loop and have nothing to say. She doesn't have even the slightest relation to us."

The Kremlin had on Monday denied links to the lawyer.

The June 2016 meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya has thrust Donald Trump Jr into the centre of a growing scandal over whether Trump's associates colluded with Moscow to tilt the 2016 election in the Republican's favour.

A string of emails Trump Jr released yesterday showed he agreed to the meeting after claims from a British music promoter that a senior official in Moscow had offered to pass on dirt on Hillary Clinton and Veselnitskaya was a "Russian government attorney".

Peskov ridiculed claims that Veselnitskaya was working for the Russian government as "inappropriate and absurd".

Veselnitskaya herself has also denied she had any damaging information on Hillary Clinton or that she is tied to the Russian authorities.

READ MORE

Trump's son, Kushner met Kremlin-linked lawyer during prez campaign: Report

Donald Trump's eldest son, son-in-law and then-campaign chairman met with a Russian lawyer shortly after Trump won the Republican nomination, in what appears to be the earliest known private meeting between key aides to the president and a Russian.

Representatives of Donald Trump Jr. And Jared Kushner confirmed the June 2016 meeting to The Associated Press after The New York Times reported yesterday on the gathering of the men and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower.

Then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended, according to the statement from Donald Trump Jr.

He described it as a "short introductory meeting" during which the three discussed a disbanded program that used to allow US citizens to adopt Russian children. Russia ended the adoptions in response to American sanctions brought against the nation following the 2009 death of an imprisoned lawyer who spoke about a corruption scandal.

Trump Jr. Said he invited the other two Americans, was asked to attend by an acquaintance not named in the statement, and was not told beforehand with whom he would meet.

"It was not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow up," he said.

Kushner lawyer Jamie Gorelick said her client already disclosed the meeting in a revised filing of a form that requires him to list meetings with foreign agents.

"Mr. Kushner has submitted additional updates and included, out of an abundance of caution, this meeting with a Russian person, which he briefly attended at the request of his brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. As Mr. Kushner has consistently stated, he is eager to cooperate and share what he knows," she said.
READ MORE