Story highlights Trump Jr. has come under fire for a meeting with a Russian lawyer

The NYT reports that an email said she would provide information from the Russian government

Washington (CNN) An email sent to Donald Trump Jr. last year stated that a Russian lawyer had "compromising" information about Hillary Clinton as "part of a Russian government effort" to help the Trump campaign, The New York Times reported Monday.

Citing three people with knowledge of the email, the Times reported that Rob Goldstone, who connected Trump Jr. with the Russian lawyer, sent the email to Trump Jr. pointing to the Russian government as a source of potential information that could damage Clinton.

The story that Trump Jr. was offered potential information from the Russian government to aide his father's campaign came after months of staunch denials from President Donald Trump that his campaign had a connection to Russia.

Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr., said in a statement following the story that it was "much ado about nothing." The statement called the period of May to early June 2016 "an intensely busy time" for Trump Jr. The statement said Goldstone had emailed Trump's son about alleged wrongdoing from Clinton regarding Russia.

"The meeting lasted about 20-30 minutes, and nothing came of it," Futerfas said. "His father knew nothing about it. The bottom line is that Don, Jr. did nothing wrong. I have been representing people in investigatory matters for almost 30 years, and I see nothing here."

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