Donald Trump Jr 'was told Clinton information was linked to the Russian government and might help father's campaign'

Donald Trump Jr. was reportedly told before meeting a Russian lawyer, whom he believed had information damaging to Hillary Clinton, that the material was connected to the Russian government and might help his father's presidential campaign.

Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who helped broker the June 2016 meeting, sent an email to President Donald Trump's eldest son, in which he allegedly indicated a connection between the Russian government and the potentially damaging information, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The message does not elaborate on any alleged wider effort by Moscow to help the Trump campaign, the Times reported, citing three people with knowledge of the email. Nor is there evidence to suggest the promised damaging information was related to Russian hack attacks that led to the release of thousands of Democratic National Committee emails.

Allegations of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the Republican president's first months in office and sparked investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel, Robert Mueller, into whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign.

Mr Trump Jr. has hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas to represent him in Russia-related investigations, his office and the lawyer said on Monday.

Mr Futerfas, who specialises in criminal defence and whose clients have included reputed organised crime figures, computer hackers and white-collar criminals, told the newspaper his client had done nothing wrong but pledged to work with investigators if contacted.

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”In my view, this is much ado about nothing. During this busy period, Robert Goldstone contacted Don Jr. in an email and suggested that people had information concerning alleged wrongdoing by Democratic Party front-runner, Hillary Clinton, in her dealings with Russia,” he said.

“Don Jr.’s takeaway from this communication was that someone had information potentially helpful to the campaign and it was coming from someone he knew. Don Jr. had no knowledge as to what specific information, if any, would be discussed.”

Before the Times report was published, Mr Goldstone, who wrote the email more than a year ago, denied any knowledge of involvement by the Russian government in the matter. “Never, never ever,” he told the paper. He has yet to respond to the latest report.  

Sarah Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, said there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting with the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. "Don Junior took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up," Ms Sanders said.

“The president’s campaign did not collude in any way. Don Jr. did not collude with anybody to influence the election. No one within the Trump campaign colluded in order to influence the election.”

Mr Trump Jr. admitted on Monday he agreed to meet Ms Veselnitskaya after being promised damaging information about Mrs Clinton.

"Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent... went nowhere but had to listen," he tweeted.

Donald Trump’s Russia connections

Ms Veselnitskaya, who is married to a Moscow government official, has denied that she works for the Kremlin.

Mr Goldstone explained the meeting to the Telegraph on Monday.

"I was asked by my client in Moscow - Emin Agalarov - to help facilitate a meeting between a Russian attorney (Natalia Veselnitzkaya) and Donald Trump Jr,” said Mr Goldstone.

“The lawyer had apparently stated she had some information regarding illegal campaign contributions to the DNC which she believed Mr Trump Jr. might find important. I reached out to Donald Trump Jr. and he agreed to squeeze us into a very tight meeting schedule.

“At the meeting, the Russian attorney presented a few very general remarks regarding campaign funding and then quickly turned the topic to that of the Magnitsky Act and the banned US adoption of Russian children - at which point the meeting was halted by Don Jr. and we left. Nothing came of that meeting and there was no follow up between the parties."

His client, Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop singer, is the son of Aras Agalarov, a billionaire tycoon who sponsored the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was owned by Mr Trump.

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Susan Collins, a Republican member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, called on Mr Trump Jr. to testify before the panel, which is looking into accusations of Russian meddling in the election.

"Our intelligence committee needs to interview him and others who attended the meeting," Ms Collins said.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the panel "absolutely" wants to speak to Mr Trump Jr. about the meeting. Mr Warner said he and the Republican committee chairman, Richard Burr, will decide later whether to ask Mr Trump Jr. to testify in public or in a classified setting.

"This is the first time that the public has seen clear evidence of senior level members of the Trump campaign meeting with Russians," Mr Warner said.

Mr Trump Jr said he was "happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know".