Trump son met Russian to get dirt on Clinton

Washington : Donald Trump's eldest son admitted Monday to meeting a Russian lawyer in a bid to get dirt on his father's 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, plunging the White House into another Russia-related scandal.

Donald Trump Jr confirmed reports that he was seeking compromising information on Clinton when he met Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016.

"Obviously, I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent," the president's son said sardonically in a tweet.

He claimed that the meeting "went nowhere" but he "had to listen."

The FBI and Congress are investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential vote.

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a mass effort to tilt the election in Trump's favor, including hacking and leaking embarrassing emails from Democrats.

The New York Times reported that Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner were also at the June 2016 meeting.

The pair were two of Trump's most trusted campaign officials, and Kushner -- also the president's son-in-law -- became part of the White House inner circle after the inauguration. 

In a potentially even more damaging revelation, the New York Times reported later Monday that the younger Trump had been informed via email ahead of the meeting that material from the Russian lawyer was part of an effort by Moscow to aid his father's presidential bid and hurt Clinton.