Trump’s son met Kremlin-linked lawyer after promise of damaging info about Clinton – NYT

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, the New York Times reported on Sunday, 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.

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. 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 Times said Veselnitskaya then turned the conversation to the adoption of Russian children and a U.S. law blackisting Russians linked to alleged human-rights abuses.

President Trump was “not aware of and did not attend” the meeting reported by the Times, Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s legal team, said in an emailed statement.

Trump Jr. was quoted saying he believed information on Clinton was only a pretext for the meeting. The Times said it was unclear whether Veselnitskaya produced the promised compromising information about Clinton.

Trump Jr. told the Times he did not tell Manafort and Kushner what the meeting was about when he asked them to attend.

Representatives for Manafort and Kushner did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

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 U.S. healthcare and tax systems.

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

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion.

The allegations came up during Trump’s meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin but the two agreed to focus on better ties rather than litigating the past.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump accepted Putin’s assertions the allegations of Russian meddling were false.

Trump said on Sunday he and Putin had discussed forming a cyber security unit, an idea harshly criticized by Republicans who said Moscow could not be trusted after its alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

source: interaksyon.com

Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr. in Dubai to open golf club

DUBAI — Two of US President Donald Trump's sons arrived in the United Arab Emirates for an invitation-only ceremony yesterday to formally open the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai.

Photographs shared on social media by real estate brokers showed Eric and Donald Jr. attending a private luncheon yesterday afternoon in Dubai with Hussain Sajwani, the billionaire who runs DAMAC Properties, the developer that partnered with Trump on the golf course.

Trump's two sons gave brief remarks and met with over 80 people gathered at the event, attendee Niraj Masand told The Associated Press.

They were "expressing their gratitude to Mr. Sajwani, who is the chairman of DAMAC, and sort of expressing their happiness to meet with all the partners," said Masand, a director of the real estate firm Banke International.


Both sons are scheduled to attend a gala at the golf course yesterday night, which sits inside a larger villa and apartment building project called DAMAC Hills on the outskirts of Dubai. Some 100 Trump-branded villas also are on the property, selling from 5 million dirhams ($1.3 million) to over 15 million dirhams ($4 million).

Eric and Donald Jr., who now run the Trump Organization, receive Secret Service protection as immediate family members of the president.


It's unclear what additional security protection the two sons will receive while in Dubai as experts already have warned the Trump brand abroad now faces a global terror risk .

The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi has declined to comment about the trip, while Dubai police did not respond to a request for comment.

However, the United Arab Emirates, a staunch US ally in the war against the Islamic State group and host to some 5,000 American military personnel, remains a peaceful corner of the Middle East. Its hereditary rulers hope to see a harder line from America on Iran and its foreign minister even backed Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations earlier this month.

The ceremony in Dubai, home to the world's tallest building and other architectural marvels, marks the first major event abroad that the two Trump sons will attend together since their father's inauguration Jan. 20.

Ties between Trump and Sajwani remain strong. One of the Trump Organization's subsidiaries received from $1 million to $5 million from DAMAC for running the golf club, according to a US Federal Election Committee report submitted in May.

Sajwani and his family also attended a New Year's Eve celebration at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, where Trump referred to them as "the most beautiful people from Dubai."

Trump days later told journalists that DAMAC had offered the Trump Organization $2 billion in deals after his election, something DAMAC later confirmed.

The Dubai golf course marks Trump's first successful venture in the Arab world. Another Trump-managed golf course is planned for another even larger DAMAC project under development and the developer has been putting up billboards around Dubai advertising the newly opened course.

The 18-hole course has raised questions about how the Trump Organization's many international business interests will affect the administration of America's 45th president.

Already, a liberal-funded watchdog group has filed a lawsuit alleging his business violates the so-called emolument act of the US Constitution. Similar questions have been raised by legal experts over Trump's Dubai course.

Trips abroad by Trump's two sons are expected to continue. Before Trump's inauguration, his son Eric visited the Trump Tower Punta del Este in Uruguay to check on the tower's progress and personally greet buyers. A Trump hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, is also expected to soon host Trump's sons.

source: philstar.com