Trump Jr went to Russia meeting on offer of Hillary Clinton details

Bloomberg

Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer acknowledged his client received an email last year offering a meeting with someone who had potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton, hours after a report that the younger Trump had been told it was part of a Russian effort to help his father’s campaign.
The entreaty to President Donald Trump’s eldest son came via email from Rob Goldstone, a former British tabloid journalist and marketing executive linked to Trump through the Miss Universe Pageant. He suggested the information concerned Clinton’s dealings with Russia, according to Alan Futerfas, an attorney for the younger Trump.
The New York Times reported earlier Monday that Goldstone told Donald Trump Jr. in the email the information was coming from a Russian lawyer as part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s White House bid. The newspaper cited three people familiar with the content of the email.
The younger Trump met with the Russian lawyer, a woman named Natalia Veselnitskaya, in June 2016, days after his father secured the Republican nomination. Futerfas, a New York criminal defense attorney retained by the younger Trump, called the newspaper’s report “much ado about nothing.”
“Don Jr. had no knowledge as to what specific information, if any, would be discussed,” Futerfas said in an email. He said there was no commitment made about accepting or using the information and that after a 20- to 30-minute meeting “nothing came of it.’’
Veselnitskaya told NBC News in an interview that aired on Tuesday that she never worked for the Russian government and had no damaging information about Clinton.
“It’s quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information, they wanted it so badly,” Veselnitskaya said. “I did not have Clinton info they wanted.”
But that short encounter—which also included then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner—now may draw the president’s son into special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. He also is facing two complaints from watchdog groups of possible violation of election laws that prohibit campaigns from knowingly accepting from a foreign national money, contributions or any “other thing of value.” That could include information or opposition research, election lawyers said.
Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said the panel should interview the younger Trump as part of its investigation of Russian interference in the campaign.
“This is the first time that the public has seen clear evidence of senior level members of the Trump campaign meeting with Russians to try to obtain information that might hurt the campaign of Hillary Clinton,” said Senator Mark Warner, the top-ranking Democrat on the intelligence panel. “Rest assured, Donald Trump Jr. will be somebody that we want to talk to.”
Trump Jr. has said he is open to speaking with the intelligence panel and Futerfas said, “We will work with any committee or office to convey what he knows.”
“The bottom line is that Don, Jr. did nothing wrong,” Futerfas said. “I have been representing people in investigatory matters for almost 30 years, and I see nothing here.’’
Attempts to contact Veselnitskaya and Goldstone were unsuccessful. Goldstone represented Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijani singer who is popular in Russia. Scott Balber, a lawyer for Agalarov, confirmed that Agalarov facilitated the meeting with Veselnitskaya, “an acquaintance” of the singer.

Previous Denials
The president and his top lieutenants, including Vice President Mike Pence, have previously denied there were any meetings between his campaign and Russians. Their argument now is that the meetings weren’t out of the ordinary. The younger Trump responded with a sarcastic Twitter post earlier Monday, before the New York Times report.
“Obviously I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent,” Donald Trump Jr. said in the post. “Went nowhere but had to listen.”
Lawyers and Republican campaign operatives say there is nothing routine about foreigners meeting with a campaign on such matters—and in particular with top campaign officials.