Rinat Akhmetshin has ‘ties to Russian intelligence agencies’

A Russian-American lobbyist says he attended a June 2016 meeting with President Donald Trump’s son, marking another shift in the account of a discussion that was billed as part of a Russian government effort to help the Republican’s White House campaign.

Rinat Akhmetshin confirmed his participation to The Associated Press on Friday. Mr. Akhmetshin has been reported to have ties to Russian intelligence agencies, though he denies those links.

The meeting has heightened questions about whether Mr. Trump’s campaign coordinated with the Russian government during the election, which is the focus of federal and congressional investigations. In emails posted by Donald Trump Jr. earlier this week, an associate who arranged the meeting said a Russian lawyer wanted to pass on negative information about Democrat Hillary Clinton and stated that the discussion was part of a Russian government effort to help the GOP candidate.

While Mr. Trump Jr. has confirmed that Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya was in the meeting, he did not disclose Mr. Akhmetshin’s presence. The President’s son has tried to discount the meeting, saying he did not receive the information he was promised.

Illicit money flow

Mr. Akhmetshin said Mr. Trump Jr. asked the attorney for evidence of illicit money flowing to the Democratic National Committee, but Ms. Veselnitskaya said she didn’t have that information. She said the Trump campaign would need to research it more, and after that Mr. Trump Jr. lost interest, according to Mr. Akhmetshin.

“They couldn’t wait for the meeting to end,” Mr. Akhmetshin said.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and current White House senior adviser, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.