Trump team met Kremlin-linked lawyer during 2016 election campaign

Two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump won the Republican nomination last year, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. arranged a meeting with a Russian lawyer who has connections to the Kremlin.

As per a report published by The New York Times, the unreported meeting, which took place on June 9, 2016 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, was attended by Trump's campaign chairman, Paul J. Manafort and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

This was the first confirmed private meeting between Trump's team and person linked with Russian Government during the campaign.

As per reports, this was the first time when Trump Jr. is known to have been involved in such meeting.

Moreover, officials of Trump Jr. and Kushner confirmed the meeting, in which the former described the meeting as primarily about an adoption program.

Representatives On June 11, former FBI Director James Comey had accused Trump of firing him to try to undermine the FBI's investigation of possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia in alleged efforts to influence last year's presidential election.

Comey told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that the Trump administration had lied and defamed him and the FBI after the President dismissed him on May 9.

The more than two hour-long-testimony saw Comey further informing that Trump had directed him to drop an FBI probe against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey said it should be special counsel Robert Mueller's task to determine whether Trump had obstructed justice, and therefore, had opened himself up to possible impeachment proceedings, keeping the allegations on Russia in mind.

He, however, said that whatever Trump did was "a very disturbing thing, very concerning."

Comey painted a picture of an overbearing president he did not trust and who pressured him to stop the FBI probe of Flynn. Russia has denied interfering in last year's presidential elections, as has the White House.

-ANI