2LT International News

WASHINGTON, U.S. – The latest in the growing controversy over alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election this week, saw what experts are calling the most concrete piece of evidence in a collusion probe – emails written to President Trump’s son by a publicist Rob Goldstone to fix a meeting with a Russian lawyer, who offered “incriminating” documents about Hillary Clinton “and her dealings with Russia.”

In response, Trump Jr. said, “I love it” and agreed to the meeting. 

While The New York Times made the initial reveal over the weekend, the scandal grew after Trump Jr., in response to the daily exposes by mainstream media, decided to reveal the chain of emails himself on his Twitter account. 

While both Trump and his White House have maintained that the President was unaware of his son’s meeting, with Trump claiming he only learned of it a couple of days ago.

On Wednesday night, CNN revealed a footage from 2013, that features Trump dining with the man at the center of the scandal, Rob Goldstone, who wrote those emails to Trump Jr.    

In the 2013 video, Trump is seen dining in Las Vegas with the British playboy middle man, Rob Goldstone, a music publicist who represents Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star whose Kremlin-connected family has done business with Trump in the past.

Goldstone had claimed the information had been obtained by his client, the pop singer Emin Agalarov, who is seated next to Trump in the video.

Agalarov’s father, billionaire property developer Aras Agalarov is also seen in the footage that was reportedly shot on June 15, 2013 at an event in Las Vegas ahead of the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, which the Trump Organization owned and ran.

The footage comes a day after Donald Trump Jr said in a U.S. TV interview that he kept his father in the dark about his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer.

The President himself said on Tuesday, “I didn’t know until a couple of days ago when I heard about this.”

In an interview with news agency Reuters, Trump also said he did not fault his son for agreeing to the meeting. 

He said, “I think many people would have held that meeting. It was a 20-minute meeting, I guess, from what I’m hearing. Many people, and many political pros, said everybody would do that.”

So far, in the probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller, the emails will prove to be the most concrete evidence yet of the Trump campaign’s link with Russian interests seeking to derail Clinton’s bid for the White House.

According to the network, that described the video as offering “fresh insights into the warm relationship” between Trump and the Azerbaijani-Russian Agalarov family, and points at how close Trump was to the Agalarovs and describes them in the clip as “the most powerful people in all of Russia, the richest men in Russia.”

He reportedly said of Russia, ‘It really is a great country. It’s a very powerful country that we have a relationship with, but I would say not a great relationship, and I would say this can certainly help that relationship. I think it’s very important. I have great respect for Russia.”

Further, Trump expresses hope that the Miss Universe pageant, which he brought to Russia that year under a deal with the Agalarovs, would help bilateral ties.

He said, “And to have the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, in the most important location, the most beautiful building, in your convention center, with such amazing partners, I mean it’s going to be fantastic for detente, or whatever you want to say. I think it’s a great thing for both countries, and honestly they really wanted it in Russia – badly. … Politically they wanted it.”

Meanwhile, Trump Jr said on Wednesday, “In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently. For me, this was opposition research.”

The President too defended his son as “innocent” and said in a statement, “My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency.”

The President wrote on Twitter: “My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!”