Donald Trump Jr met Russian lawyer for dirt on Hillary

Donald Trump Jr

US President Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, agreed to meet a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the 2016 election campaign after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the New York Times has reported, citing three advisers to the White House.

Trump's then campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Trump won the Republican nomination, the Times reported.

In a statement quoted by NYT, Trump Jr acknowledged meeting Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. "After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms Clinton," he said. "Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information."

Clinton was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

Trump Jr said Veselnitskaya then turned the conversation to the adoption of Russian children and a US law blacklisting Russians linked to alleged human rights abuses.

The NYT first reported on the meeting a day prior, after which Trump Jr issued a statement. Allegations of his campaign's ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the President's first five months in office.

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