Donald Trump Jr. has said he did not tell his father about a meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who said she could help his election campaign.
President Trump’s son told Fox News the meeting was “just a nothing” but he should have handled it differently.
He released emails showing he had welcomed an offer to meet Natalia Veselnitskaya, who allegedly had Kremlin ties and material damaging to Hillary Clinton.
US officials are investigating alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
Since he was elected, Donald Trump has been dogged by allegations that Russia tried to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
President Trump has denied any knowledge of this and Russia has also repeatedly denied interfering.
Asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity if he had told his father about last year’s meeting, Donald Trump Jr. said: “No. It was such a nothing. There was nothing to tell.
“I mean, I wouldn’t have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.”
Donald Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort met Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York in June 2016.
Donald Trump Jr.’s Email Chain on Russia Meeting in Full
Donald Trump’s son received an email from an intermediary, British music publicist Rob Goldstone, promising documents from Russia that would incriminate Hillary Clinton.
At that time, Donald Trump was the presumptive Republican nominee and heading towards an election fight against his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
The meeting was reportedly arranged by Russian businessman Aras Agalarov and his son Emin, a pop star who was managed for a time by Rob Goldstone.
Russia Threatens to Expel 30 US Diplomats in Retaliation for Washington’s Sanctions
One email from Rob Goldstone said the information they had been promised was “obviously very high-level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump”.
Donald Trump Jr.’s response to it was: “If it’s what you say I love it.”
The meeting took place, but Donald Trump Jr. told Fox News Natalia Veselnitskaya had provided them with nothing of use and it only lasted 20 minutes.
