(Donald Trump Jr.Getty Images/Joe Corrigan)
In preparing to meet with a Kremlin-linked attorney during the 2016 US presidential campaign, Donald Trump Jr. was reportedly told in an email that damaging information he was expecting to receive about Hillary Clinton was part of a Russian effort to help his father's campaign.
A report from The New York Times on Monday night cited three people who had knowledge of the email, which the paper said was sent by Rob Goldstone, a music publicist who represents the son of a wealthy Azerbaijani-Russian developer and is friendly with the Trump family.
The Times' sources said Goldstone's message indicated Russia was the source of the damaging information.
Alan Futerfas, Trump's attorney, said the new report was "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," Futerfas said in a statement. "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."
The Times reported over the weekend that Trump met with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, last year, weeks after his father had won enough delegates to secure the Republican presidential nomination. Trump was joined at the meeting by Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law, and by Paul Manafort, the campaign manager at the time. Veselnitskaya has strong ties to the Kremlin. She was married to a former deputy transportation minister of the Moscow region, and her clients have included Russian state-owned businesses.
If the information in The Times' latest report is true, it "indicates that the Trump campaign certainly knew that the Russian government was working to help elect Donald Trump," said Jens David Ohlin, an associate dean at Cornell Law School who is an expert on criminal law.
In Ohlin's view, the development meant Trump and his associates could no longer credibly deny that Russia meddled in the election.
"They knew it and hoped to benefit from it," Ohlin said. "And they did."
Susan Hennessey, a contributor to the website Lawfare who previously served as general counsel at the National Security Agency, said on Twitter that the latest reports on Trump's meeting with Veselnitskaya constituted a smoking gun.
The meeting occurred before a series of hacked Democratic National Committee emails were released as part of Russia's efforts to interfere in the election.