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On June 9, 2016, a meeting was held in Trump Tower in New York City between three senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump – Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort – and at least five other people, including Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. The meeting was arranged by publicist Rob Goldstone on behalf of Emin Agalarov;^[1] Goldstone also attended.^[2] The Trumps knew both Goldstone and the Agalarovs from the Miss Universe 2013 pageant in Moscow.^[3] One of the meeting participants has not been identified, but is believed to be a representative of "the Russian family who had asked Goldstone to set up the meeting".^[2] The meeting had not been disclosed to U.S. government officials until Jared Kushner filed a revised version of a security clearance form.^[4] Unlike Kushner, Trump Jr. and Manafort did not subsequently serve in the Trump administration and did not require security clearance, when they would have been required to disclose foreign contacts.^[5][4] Also, none of these participants have been subject to scrutiny as part of a Senate confirmation process.

After knowledge of the meeting became public on July 8, 2017, Donald Trump Jr. released the contents of emails via Twitter, stating: "The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research", which Goldstone's email stated would include "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father."^[6][7][8][9] At the time of the meeting, Clinton was the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for president.^[10] The meeting was regarded by some as evidence of an attempted collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.^[11][12][13]

On June 3, 2016, before the public was made aware of potential Russian interference in the presidential election,^[14] Donald J. Trump Jr. was contacted by Rob Goldstone, a British music publicist whose association with the Trumps dates back to the Miss Universe 2013 pageant held in Moscow; at that time businessman Donald J. Trump had been co-owner of the pageant.^[3] Goldstone's client, Emin Agalarov, an Azerbaijani singer, performed at the Miss Universe event. Aglarov was formerly married to Leyla Aliyeva, the daughter of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.^[15] His father, Aras Agalarov, is a wealthy real estate developer in Moscow.^[16][17][18] In the email, Goldstone said:

Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting.

The Crown prosecutor of Russia^[a] met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton] and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.

This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump – helped along by Aras and Emin.^[9][21][22]

Trump Jr. responded:

Thanks Rob I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I am back?^[23]

In a June 7 email it was agreed that the material would be delivered to Trump Jr. by an intermediary, described by Goldstone as a "Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow for this Thursday." The name of the intermediary was not revealed to Trump Jr. until the woman, Moscow-based attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, was introduced at the meeting. Veselnitskaya has stated that she is not a government official;^[9] however, she is known to have many ties to the Russian government.^[24] According to Goldstone, she was in New York for a court appearance on June 9.^[9] Trump Jr. offered an in-person meeting that afternoon, and three minutes later Goldstone confirmed the appointment.^[25] Trump Jr. forwarded the email thread to Kushner and Manafort.^[1]

On June 9, 2016, Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort met at Trump Tower with Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin, Goldstone, and a translator.^{[26][27][28][4]} According to a CNN source, an unidentified "representative of the Russian family who had asked Goldstone to set up the meeting" was also present.^[2]

At least eight individuals participated in the Trump Tower meeting of June 9, 2016.^[2] Seven of the participants have been publicly named:

• Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and architect of his digital, online and social media campaigns.^[29]

• Paul Manafort, campaign manager for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump from March 2016 to June 2016. He was formerly a lobbyist.^{[30][better source needed]}

• Donald Trump Jr., eldest son of Donald Trump, active in the presidential campaign^[31] as a key political aide and advisor to his father.^[32]

• Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer best known in the United States for lobbying against the Magnitsky Act. In Moscow she is regarded as a "trusted insider" who has argued cases for government agencies and high-profile clients including Pyotr Katsyv, an official in the state-owned Russian Railways, and his son Denis, whom she defended against a money laundering charge in New York.^[33][34]

• Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist. As a teenager in the 1980s, he was drafted to serve in the Soviet military's law enforcement unit that also involved "some counterintelligence matters."^[35] After the fall of the Soviet Union, he immigrated to the United States in 1993 and became a U.S. citizen in 2009.^[36][37]

• Rob Goldstone, the publicist of Emin Agalarov, who said that Agalarov asked him to contact Trump Jr. New York attorney Scott Balber, who was retained by Emin and Aras Agalarov, denied that Goldstone’s emails accurately outlined the origins of the meeting.^[38]
• Anatoli Samochornov, a translator for Veselnitskaya. In the past, Samochornov worked for Meridian International and did contract work for the U.S. State Department as an interpreter. Samochornov is not an employee of the State Department.^[39]
• An unidentified representative for the Agalarovs, who had reportedly asked Goldstone to set up the meeting.^[40][2]

After the meeting became public knowledge in 2017, Akhmetshin stated that Veselnitskaya had claimed to have evidence of "violations of Russian law by a Democratic donor". He added that she "described her findings at the meeting and left a document about them with Trump Jr. and the others."^[35]

Veselnitskaya told The Wall Street Journal that she intended to provide allegations to the Trump campaign about a firm connected to William Browder, a financier who lobbied for the Magnitsky Act. She said that the firm committed tax evasion in Russia and donated to Democrats.^[41] She told MSNBC, "I never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton. It was never my intention to have that."^[42] She initially denied the allegation that she was or is connected to the Russian government. At a later date she disclosed that she was in regular contact with the Russian Prosecutor General's office and with Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, in regards to sharing information she acquired in her investigation relating to the Magnitsky Act.^[41][42][43]

On July 8, 2017, The New York Times reported on the existence of the meeting and the attendance of Kushner, Manafort, Trump Jr., and Veselnitskaya. In the article, Trump Jr. was quoted explaining that the meeting was "primarily about adoptions".^[4][44]

On July 9, The New York Times further reported that emails proposing the meeting did not mention Russian adoptions or the Magnitsky Act, rather Goldstone stated the meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with "documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father" and further stated that it is "high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin" - to which Trump Jr. responded "if it's what you say I love it".^[6][7][8] Trump Jr. acknowledged that he went into the meeting expecting to receive opposition research from Veselnitskaya that could hurt Clinton's campaign, and stated that none was presented. Instead, the conversation focused on the Magnitsky Act and the adoption of Russian children.^[45] The New York Times later reported that Trump Jr.'s initial statement to The New York Times was "drafted aboard Air Force One by advisers" and ultimately signed off by President Trump.^[46]

On July 11, The New York Times informed Donald Trump Jr. that they were planning to publish the email chain, and asked if he would like to comment for the article. Donald Trump Jr. then posted the full email chain on Twitter, along with a new statement,^[47] which said in part, "To everyone, in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails with Rob Goldstone about the meeting on June 9, 2016. [...] The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research. I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn't work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet. I decided to take the meeting."^[9]

On July 14, Akhmetshin stated in an interview that Veselnitskaya had claimed to have evidence of "violations of Russian law by a Democratic donor", and added that she "described her findings at the meeting and left a document about them with Trump Jr. and the others."^[35]

On July 10, 2017, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president had learned of the meeting only "in the last couple of days".^[48] On July 12, President Trump gave an interview with Reuters where he reiterated that he had only known about the meeting for "a couple of days" and that "many people would have held that meeting".^[49] Trump Jr. gave an interview to Fox News's Sean Hannity in which he denied having told his father about the meeting.^[50]

Robert Mueller, the special counsel of the Department of Justice in charge of Russia-related investigations, is investigating the emails.^[51]

The Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Senator Mark Warner, stated that "This is the first time that the public has seen clear evidence of senior level members of the Trump campaign meeting Russians to try to obtain information that might hurt the campaign of Hillary Clinton".^[52] Warner also stated that the incident was part of a "continuing pattern" in which Trump officials and members of the Trump campaign have "conveniently forgotten meetings with Russians only when they are then presented with evidence, they have to recant and acknowledge those kind of meetings".^[53] Another member of the committee, the Republican Susan Collins, stated that Donald Trump Jr. and others who attended the meeting should testify before the committee.^[54]

Democratic Representatives Brad Sherman and Al Green sponsored a resolution for impeachment; Sherman argued that Trump Jr.'s emails "add credibility" to the theory that Trump dismissed James Comey as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as way of attempting to derail the ongoing investigation.^[55]

Scott Balber, attorney for the Agalarovs, said in a July 14, 2017 interview that while Aras Agalarov knew Natalia Veselnitskaya "There is no evidence anywhere from anybody that she has any association with the Russian government."^[56] Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin didn't know Akhmetshin or Veselnitskaya, or anything about the meeting.^[57][58][35] For his part, Akhmetshin‎ denied having ties to Russian intelligence, and said that the efforts by Natalia Veselnitskaya and him "were not coordinated with the Russian government."^[35]