US President Donald Trump's son has been asked to appear before the House Intelligence Committee to answer questions about his meeting last year with a Russian lawyer, who he believed had information damaging to Hillary Clinton.
The highest-ranked Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, told reporters it wanted to interview everyone connected to the June 2016 meeting.
Donald Trump Jr released an email chain via Twitter, ahead of the New York Times' expected publication of them. Photo: AFP
The request came after Donald Trump Jr released an email chain showing he was keen to accept "sensitive" information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian national.
Publicist Rob Goldstone tells Mr Trump Jr that there is information that is "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr Trump".
Mr Trump Jr replies: "If it's what you say, I love it."
The emails led to a meeting in New York with a Russian lawyer.
It appears to be the first confirmation that a Trump associate attended a meeting in the expectation of being handed sensitive information from Russian officials.
"The speculation is about what this could possibly mean in legal terms" - RNZ correspondent Giles Gibson, in Washington
US officials are currently investigating alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
The emails to Mr Trump Jr, which he released on Twitter, say "the crown prosecutor of Russia" (a role that does not exist) had "offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father".
The email chain was also forwarded to President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort.
All three later met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in New York.
It is against US law to accept help from a foreign government.
President Trump issued a brief statement in support of his son, describing him as "a high-quality person" and applauding his transparency.
How the story has developed
Since he was elected, President Trump has been dogged by allegations that Russia tried to sabotage Mrs Clinton's campaign. He has denied any knowledge of this and Russia has also repeatedly denied interfering.
In May, the justice department appointed ex-FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into the Russian matter.
The New York Times first reported on Saturday that a meeting had taken place on 9 June 2016 between Ms Veselnitskaya and the Trump team at Trump Tower.
It later reported that Mr Trump Jr had earlier been offered alleged damaging information on Mrs Clinton.
The Times had been expected to publish emails connected to the meeting, but Mr Trump Jr pre-empted this by posting the email chain on Twitter.
He had earlier admitted meeting Ms Veselnitskaya but insisted she had provided "no meaningful information". He said she had wanted to talk about sanctions against Russian individuals.
Ms Veselnitskaya, who has been linked to the Russian government, has insisted she was never in possession of information that could have damaged Mrs Clinton.
She said Mr Trump Jr and two senior campaign aides may have met her last summer because they were "longing" for such information. She has denied any connection with the Kremlin.
The email chain posted by Mr Trump Jr shows:
- On 3 June last year he received an email from intermediary Mr Goldstone promising documents from Russia that would incriminate Hillary Clinton and her dealings with Russia
- One email from Mr Goldstone said the information they had been promised was "obviously very high-level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr Trump"
- The person who was to meet Mr Trump Jr in New York was described as "a Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow"
- Within the week, a meeting had been arranged which included Mr Trump Jr, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort
Mr Trump Jr also posted a statement saying he was releasing the email chain "to be totally transparent" and reiterated that the Russian lawyer had "no information to provide".
Mr Goldstone has previously denied any knowledge of involvement in the election by the Russian government.
- BBC / Reuters