US President 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 Trump and a Russian.
Representatives of Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner confirmed the meeting in June last year after the New York Times on Saturday reported on the gathering of the men and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower.
Then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended, the statement from Trump Jr said.
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 US 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, 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’s 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.
Unlike Kushner, Trump Jr does not serve in the administration and is not required to disclose his foreign contacts.
The newspaper, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported that Manafort disclosed the meeting to congressional investigators questioning his foreign contacts.
Manafort helmed Trump’s campaign for about five months until August last year and resigned from the campaign immediately after an Associated Press report on his firm’s covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine’s ruling political party.
He is one of several people linked to the Trump campaign who are under scrutiny by a special counsel and congressional committees investigating Russian meddling in last year’s campaign and potential coordination with Trump associates.
Manafort has denied any coordination with Russia and has said his work in Ukraine was not related to the campaign.
The newspaper said Veselnitskaya is known for her attempts to undercut sanctions against Russian human rights abusers.
The Times also said her clients include state-owned businesses and the son of a senior government official whose company was under investigation in the US at the time of the meeting.
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