Russian-American lobbyist also met Trump Jr.

NBC News and other news media reported on last Friday that a pro-Russian lobbyist and former Soviet military officer attended a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump’s oldest son in June 2016 when he met with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. The Associated Press said Rinat Akhmetshin, one of famous lobbyists in Washington, also joined the meeting.

Akhmetshin confirmed his involvement and said that he attended the meeting at the request of Veselnitskaya in June 2016. He is now lobbying to repeal the Magnitsky Act along with Veselnitskaya. In an interview with the Associated Press, he said that Veselnitskaya brought the documents but he did not know if her documents were provided by the Russian government. He also explained that he did not expect that the meeting would bring a big problem.

President Trump denounced the Trump-Russia controversy calling it a nonsense. Trump tweeted, “Stock market hit another all-time high yesterday – despite the Russian hoax story!” and “Working on new trade deals that will be great for U.S. and its workers,” emphasizing that he is making efforts to revive the U.S. economy regardless of allegations surrounding him.

wizi@donga.com