Russian lawyer: Trump campaign 'badly' wanted dirt on Hillary Clinton
Natalia Veselnitskaya offered more details about her 2016 meeting with top members of the Trump campaign on the Today show.
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The Russian lawyer at the center of a controversy involving a June 2016 meeting with key members of President Trump campaign offered details on what she said was an effort to obtain negative information about then-Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
"It's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information," Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer who reportedly has ties to the Kremlin, told NBC's Keir Simmons through a translator. "They wanted it so badly."
Veselnitskaya denied have any connection to the Kremlin and insisted to Simmons that her only motivation in meeting with Donald Trump Jr. was to press him on the Magnitsky Act, which allows the United States impose sanctions on Russians deemed to be human rights violators. Russia responded to the law by banning Americans from adopting Russian children.
"I never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton. It was never my intention to have that," Veselnitskaya said.
Veselnitskaya has a history of advocating for the Russian government, and according to the New York Times, her clients include "state-owned businesses and a senior government official's son." She also was married to a former deputy transportation minister in the Moscow region.
NBC plans to air additional segments from the full interview throughout the day.
The Times reports that Trump Jr. was informed prior to the meeting through email "that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy," a revelation that has put the spotlight back on the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia.
Music publicist Rob Goldstone told the Associated Press on Monday that he had set up the meeting on the behalf of his client, Emin Agalarov. In a statement, Trump Jr.'s New York-based attorney Alan Futerfas acknowledged his client received an email from Goldstone and does not dispute the Times report, simply calling it "much ado about nothing."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.