WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between
the president's son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign.
Donald Trump
Jr. has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia
Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his
father's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"Well,
I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service
allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that
point, and that raised a question with me," Jay Sekulow, a member of the
president's legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program "This
Week."
In an
emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, Secret Service
spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service
protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump's son and two
senior campaign officials.
"Donald
Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not
have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time," the statement
said.
According to
emails released by Trump Jr. last week, he eagerly agreed to meet
Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya
has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties.
On Friday,
NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence
officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump's
son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president's former campaign manager, Paul
Manafort.
The meeting
appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's
election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by
congressional committees and a federal special counsel.
Moscow has
denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr. have denied any
collusion.
Sekulow's
comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances
Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W. Bush on homeland
security.
"Ok
let's try to deflect blame & throw those in @SecretService who protect
@POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS & family under the bus," she said on
Twitter.
The Secret
Service's mission is to provide physical protection for the U.S. president. The
agency also protects major presidential candidates. But its role in vetting
people who meet with a U.S. president or candidates is limited to ensuring
physical safety.
Lawyer:
Trump Unaware of Meeting
Trump
himself has said he was unaware of the meeting between his son and the Russian
lawyer until a few days ago.
"The
president was not aware about this meeting, did not participate in this
meeting," Sekulow told the CBS program "Face the Nation."
Sekulow
added that Trump was not aware of any meetings between his campaign staff and
Russians.
A federal
special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations
by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential
election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. They are also investigating potential
connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
Senator Mark
Warner, the top Democrat on one of the panels investigating the matter, the
Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN: "The level of credibility from
the senior level of this administration really is suspect."
Warner said
he wanted to hear from everyone who attended the June 2016 meeting.
"Whether
we will be able to get the Russian nationals to come over and testify is an
open question, (but) those people that our committee has jurisdiction over, the
Americans, I sure as heck want to talk to all of them," Warner said.
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