Russian lawyer from Trump Tower meeting questions lack of contact from Mueller

A Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. and others at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign said she has not been contacted by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

Natalia Veselnitskaya told The Associated Press that she has met with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but has not heard from Mueller in relation to his probe.

She claimed that Mueller would contact her if he was interested in the truth about the 2016 campaign, the AP reported.

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In addition to Mueller’s probe, multiple congressional committees are investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Veselnitskaya said she met with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in Berlin on March 26, where they spoke for three hours. She told the AP that members “listened very carefully” and asked her “sharp, pin-pointed” questions.

She said they asked mainly about her meeting at Trump Tower, which has come under intense scrutiny in the multiple congressional investigations into Russian election meddling.

Trump Jr. agreed to meet with Veselnitskaya after a British publicist told him the attorney had dirt on then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Rob Goldstone, the publicist behind the meeting, said Veselnitskaya arranged the meeting under the pretext of information about Clinton but instead discussed the Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on Russia for the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky in 2009.

Trump Jr., who has also testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, has downplayed the meeting and called it a “waste of time.”

Veselnitskaya said she also spoke with committee members about the so-called Steele dossier, which contains allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia. She dismissed the contents of the dossier as “absolute nonsense” to the AP. Some of the claims in the dossier have been verified, while other, more salacious claims have not.

Mueller has obtained guilty pleas or filed charges against four former Trump associates. He also announced charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations for allegedly interfering in the 2016 election.

A Dutch lawyer pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI as part of the probe and was sentenced to 30 days in prison earlier this month.

Trump has frequently attacked the investigation as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.”