OH REALLY

Russian Lawyer’s Trump Jr. Meeting Talking Points Were Shared With Kremlin

Natalia Veselnitskaya has repeatedly denied any suggestion she was acting at Putin’s behest.

The talking points that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya brought to a Trump Tower meeting with top campaign officials, including Donald Trump Jr., in June 2016 were shared with the Kremlin in advance, according to a new report in The New York Times. Veselnitskaya has repeatedly called any suggestion that she was acting on behalf of the Kremlin that day anti-Russia “hysteria,” but interviews and records reportedly obtained by the Times show that Veselnitskaya had shown the information—allegedly damaging to the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton—to one of Russia’s most powerful officials, the prosecutor general, Yuri Y. Chaika. The now-infamous meeting is of particular interest to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is currently investigating Russian efforts to help President Trump’s campaign.