Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email of Russian government connection, NYT reports

The New York Times reported Monday that Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email before he met with a Russian lawyer that the Russian government was ready to help his father’s candidacy for president of the United States.

The meeting between President Donald Trump’s eldest son and a Russian lawyer during the presidential campaign occurred at the invitation of a Moscow-based singer with family ties to Trump’s businesses, according to a participant in the talks.

Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged Monday he made time for the meeting hoping to get information about Democrat Hillary Clinton but did not acknowledge having been told the information came from the Russian government, as the New York Times sources say.

Donald Trump Jr. hires attorney

Earlier Monday, it was reported that Trump Jr. had hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas to represent him in connection with the investigations into possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Futerfas released a statement Monday night calling the June 2016 meeting "much ado about nothing," according to Reuters. 

Futerfas said his client’s "takeaway from this (email) communication was that someone had information potentially helpful to the campaign and it was coming from someone he knew,” Reuters reported

Futerfas said in the statement reported by Reuters that the lawyer Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and the chairman of the Trump campaign at the time, Paul Manafort, “was not a government official and had not been a prosecutor since 2001."

Democratic National Committee comments

The circumstances surrounding the meeting fueled new questions about the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia, and some election law experts told The Associated Press a discussion of potentially damaging information on Clinton could prompt scrutiny from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in light of federal laws barring foreign contributions to campaigns.

The Democratic National Committee tweeted a statement Monday night saying, "This isn't just smoke anymore. Donald Jr. was willing to accept the help of a hostile foreign government to sway the election."