Senate investigators speaks to Russians who met Trump’s son

Washington, Oct 21 (IANS) Senate intelligence committee investigators have spoken with several Russians who attended a June 2016 meeting with US President Donald Trump’s son, the media reported.

Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, told CNN on Friday that the panel has interviewed some of the Russians who were at the meeting in New York, which Donald Trump Jr. attended after being promised dirt on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and being informed that the Russian government wanted his father to win the presidency.

Paul Manafort, who was the Trump campaign chairman then, along with the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting.

The intelligence committee has previously met with both Kushner and Manafort, but has not yet brought in Trump Jr.

Burr said the committee is "sequencing" its interviews to speak with everyone else "involved in the meeting before we know exactly what we want from Don Jr".

However, the Republican Senator declined to provide details on how many or which Russians were interviewed, reports CNN.

Meanwhile, the Senate judiciary committee, which met privately with Donald Trump Jr. last month, is trying to finalise plans to bring the President’s son in for a public hearing.

Eight people had attended the June 2016 meeting at the Trump Tower, including British music publicist Rob Goldstone, as well as four people present as part of the Russian contingent: Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, translator Anatoli Samochornov and Ike Kaveladze, who works for the Russian oligarch who initiated the meeting.