Trump denies knowing about 2016 Russian lawyer meeting

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump denied Friday that he knew in advance about a meeting during the 2016 election campaign at which Russians promised to share dirt on his rival Hillary Clinton — shooting back at an explosive allegation by his longtime lawyer. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, son Donald Jr, and top campaign official Paul Manafort met at Trump Tower in New York on June 9, 2016 with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had said she was offering information from the Russian government aimed at helping Trump to victory. The US president has repeatedly denied all knowledge of the encounter, but according to television networks CNN and NBC, his former lawyer Michael Cohen says Donald Jr told his father about the Russian offer and that Trump approved. “I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr,” the president countered in a tweet early Friday. “Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam,” Trump said. The assertion from Cohen, who is under federal investigation in New York, is potentially important. If substantiated, it could be a key step toward proving collusion between the Trump campaign and a Russian effort to help Trump win the presidency — a central focus of a probe by special counsel Robert Mueller. CNN and NBC News reported that Cohen was willing to attest what he knows to Mueller, but CNN said the long-time Trump fixer does not have evidence, such as audio recordings, to corroborate his claim.