Donald Trump's eldest son, son-in-law and former campaign chairman met a Russian lawyer with links to the Kremlin shortly after the tycoon won the Republican nomination.

The talks appear to be the earliest known private meeting between key aides to the President and a Russian.

The development comes amid continuing investigations into Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 election campaign and possible collusion with Mr Trump's team.

Russian President Vladimir Putin again denied involvement in his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump at the recent G20 summit in Hamburg.

Image: Former campaign chief Paul Manafort has denied any co-ordination with Russia

Representatives of Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner, who is married to the businessman's daughter Ivanka, confirmed the June 2016 meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower following a report in The New York Times on Saturday.


Then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended, according to a statement from Donald Trump Jr.

He described it as a "short introductory meeting" during which they discussed a defunct programme that had allowed US citizens to adopt Russian children.

A spokesman for President Trump's legal team said the President was "not aware and did not attend" the meeting.

Moscow ended the scheme in response to American sanctions imposed following the 2009 death of a jailed lawyer who spoke about a corruption scandal.

Mr Trump Jr said he had invited the other two Americans.

East meets West: That handshake

He was asked to attend by an acquaintance not named in the statement, and was not told beforehand with whom he would meet.

"It was not a campaign issue at that time and there was no follow up," he said.

Mr Kushner's lawyer Jamie Gorelick said her client had already disclosed the meeting in a revised filing of a form that required him to list contacts with foreign agents.

A spokesman for the President's legal team has argued participants in the June meeting "misrepresented who they were and who they worked for".

However, he would not say specifically who misrepresented themselves or how they did so.

Unlike Mr Kushner, Mr Trump Jr does not serve in the administration and is not required to disclose his foreign contacts.

Trump talks of 'positive things' with Putin

The newspaper reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources, that Mr Manafort disclosed the meeting to congressional investigators questioning his foreign contacts.

He resigned from the campaign last August after it was revealed his firm's covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party.

He is one of several people linked to the Trump campaign who are under scrutiny by a special counsel and congressional committees investigating claims of meddling by Russia in the 2016 election.

Mr Manafort has denied any co-ordination with Russia and has said his work in Ukraine was not related to the campaign.

The New York Times said Ms Veselnitskaya was known for her attempts to undermine sanctions against Russian human rights abusers.

The newspaper also said her clients include state-owned businesses and the son of a senior government official whose company was under investigation in the US at the time of the meeting.