Donald Trump Jr. has acknowledged he was promised information about Hillary Clinton that might be helpful to his father’s presidential campaign in a meeting with a Russian lawyer. The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, gave “no meaningful information,” Trump Jr. said, adding that his father, President Donald Trump, had no knowledge of the meeting.
Donald Trump Jr. asked a Russian lawyer at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting whether she had evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation, the lawyer told the Senate Judiciary Committee in answers to written questions obtained exclusively by NBC News.
The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, told the committee that she didn't have any such evidence, and that she believes Trump misunderstood the nature of the meeting after receiving emails from a music promoter promising incriminating information on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's Democratic opponent.
Once it became apparent that she did not have meaningful information about Clinton, Trump seemed to lose interest, Veselnitskaya said, and the meeting petered out.
A lawyer for Trump Jr. declined to comment, but referred NBC News to the statement his client released in September, which said Trump Jr. wanted to "hear (the Russians) out" if they had information concerning Clinton's "fitness, character or qualifications."
