Story highlights Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya denied having worked for the Russian government

Veselnitskaya gave a vague explanation of why Trump Jr. thought she had damaging information

(CNN) The Russian lawyer embroiled in controversy over her meeting with Donald Trump Jr. last year denied Tuesday that she's worked for the Russian government.

"When it was suggested that I meet with Donald Trump Jr., I met him in a private situation, it was a private meeting, not related at all to the fact that he was the son of the candidate," Natalia Veselnitskaya told CNN's Matthew Chance.

But Veselnitskaya, interviewed on NBC's "Today" show, added that Trump Jr. and others at the meeting wanted damaging information about Hillary Clinton "so badly."

Veselnitskaya was asked specifically how the Trump aides that attended the meeting -- including President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort -- had gotten the impression that she had potentially damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

"It's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information, they wanted it so badly," Veselnitskaya said through a translator to NBC.

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