Trump and Putin, behind the scenes

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So even if Trump Jr. version of events is correct, they would have cooperated with the Russians given a chance, that much is now crystal clear..

President Donald Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was promised damaging information about then-candidate Hillary Clinton when he agreed to meet with a Russian lawyer with connections to the Kremlin in June 2016, The New York Times reported on Sunday. The article cited three advisers to the White House who were briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.

The Times first reported on the meeting with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, on Saturday. It was arranged by Donald Trump Jr., and was attended by him, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. It is the first confirmed meeting between a Russian citizen and the Trump campaign. Veselnitskaya has strong ties to the Kremlin and is known for waging a harsh campaign against the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which blacklisted Russians suspected of human-rights abuses. Putin has called the Magnitsky Act "outrageous" and retaliated by barring Americans from adopting Russian children. 

Veselnitskaya was also married to a former deputy transportation minister of the Moscow region, and  her clients have included Russian state-owned businesses. Trump Jr. said in a statement to The Times on Sunday that in the meeting, "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 statement continued, "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."

Trump Jr. said she steered the conversation to the adoption program Putin had cut off and the Magnitsky Act. "It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting," he said, implying his primary interest in accepting the meeting was to obtain damning information on Clinton from the Russians. 

When Trump Jr. was first reached for comment about the meeting on Saturday, he did not mention the meeting was arranged after he was promised compromising information on Clinton. In his initial statement to The Times, Trump Jr. said it was a "short introductory meeting," and that he had "asked Jared and Paul to stop by."

Donald Trump Jr. was promised damaging info on Clinton before meeting with a Russian lawyer - Business Insider