U.S. Homeland Security confirms Russian lawyer was granted special entry

United States' Homeland Security Department has confirmed that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was granted special entry to the United States on multiple occasions in 2015 and 2016 at the request of the Justice Department.

It said Veselnitskaya was given a special non-immigrant work visa around the time she met President Donald Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. in New York last summer, reports the Hill.

Donald Trump Jr. is presently at the centre of the controversy surrounding Russian meddling in 2016 election after reports emerged saying he was told before his meeting with Veselnitskaya that he would be offered compromising information about Hillary Clinton.

Though, it is still unclear whether Veselnitskaya actually fulfilled the promised compromising information about Clinton or not.

Donald Trump Jr. later said in a statement that he had met the Russian lawyer at the request of an acquaintance, adding he turned the conversation to adoption of Russian children and the Magnitsky Act.

The department said that Veselnitskaya was allowed to enter the United States on multiple occasions between September 2015 and February 2016 under a "Significant Public Benefit Parole" document requested by the Justice Department so she could participate in a court case for a client.

The request was done "in concurrence" with the U.S. attorney's office in New York City, which was enforcing a civil asset forfeiture case against Prevezon Holdings, a company owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, whom Veselnitskaya represented as a private attorney in their home country.

Homeland said Veselnitskaya first got her immigration parole letter on September 25, 2015 and it was last used in February 2016.

-ANI