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Trump’s son promised dirt on Clinton at Russian meeting: report

US President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, agreed to meet with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the 2016 campaign after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump’s then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting, The New York Times reported, citing three White House advisors.

The Times quoted a statement from Donald Trump Jr. in which he acknowledged meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

“After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms Clinton,” the Times quoted Donald Trump Jr as saying. Ms Clinton was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

“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.”

The Trump Tower meeting – which occurred two weeks after Mr Trump clinched the Republican nomination – represents the first public indication of a campaign willing to accept Russian help, the Times reported.

It is unclear whether Russian lawyer, Ms Veselnitskaya, produced the promised information about Ms Clinton, but it was likely she would have done so, according to the Times’ sources.

When first asked about the meeting on Saturday, Mr Trump Jr said the conversation was largely about adoption of Russian children, which Russian President Vladimir Putin halted, after the introduction of the Magnitsky Act, a US law that blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for the President’s lawyers, said on Sunday that “the President was not aware of and did not attend the meeting”.

However, leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee Adam Schiff – one of the panels investigating potential Russian election interference – said he wants to question “everyone that was at that meeting”.

“There’s no reason for this Russian government advocate to be meeting with Paul Manafort or with Mr Kushner or the President’s son if it wasn’t about the campaign and Russia policy,” Mr Schiff said

Allegations of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia have cast a shadow over Donald Trump’s first five months in office, distracting from attempts by his fellow Republicans in Congress to overhaul the US healthcare and tax systems.

The Kremlin has denied the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Moscow tried to tilt the election in Mr Trump’s favour, using such means as hacking into the emails of senior Democrats.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion and at the recently concluded G20 summit, the President said he “strongly pressed” Mr Putin twice over the alleged meddling.

Mr Trump has declined whether he believed Mr Putin, tweeting that he’s “already given my opinion”, and later heralding a fresh start with the Russians.

“It is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!” he tweeted after the meeting with Mr Putin.

– with AAP

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