Donald Trump Jr. was told before his meeting with a Russian lawyer that the damaging information promised about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBernie Sanders: Trump 'so tough' on child separations but not on Putin Anti-Trump protests outside White House continue into fifth night Opera singers perform outside White House during fourth day of protests MORE was part of a Russian government effort to help Donald Trump's presidential campaign, according to a New York Times report. 
 
 Rob Goldstone, the publicist who set up the June 2016 meeting between Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer, told Trump Jr. in an email that the potential information was coming from the Russian government in an attempt to aid his father, three people with knowledge of the message told The New York Times. 
 
 Goldstone told the newspaper that he was not aware of any connection with the Kremlin at the time, saying "never, never ever." 
 
 Trump Jr.'s newly appointed lawyer dismissed the Times's report in a statement to the newspaper. 
 
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 ”In my view, this is much ado about nothing. During this busy period, Robert Goldstone contacted Don Jr. in an email and suggested that people had information concerning alleged wrongdoing by Democratic Party front-runner, Hillary Clinton, in her dealings with Russia,” Alan Futerfas told the newspaper 
 
 “Don Jr.’s takeaway from this communication was that someone had information potentially helpful to the campaign and it was coming from someone he knew. Don Jr. had no knowledge as to what specific information, if any, would be discussed.” 
 
 Several congressional panels, along with special counsel Robert Mueller, are investigating Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential election, including possible links between Moscow and the Trump campaign. 
 
 The meeting touches on a question at the heart of those investigations: whether Trump associates colluded with Russian officials or representatives. 
 
 Investigators are likely to explore the possibility that Trump Jr. tried to obtain damaging information about Clinton from Kremlin associates. Then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, President Trump Donald John TrumpWSJ: Trump ignored advice to confront Putin over indictments Trump hotel charging Sean Spicer ,000 as book party venue Bernie Sanders: Trump 'so tough' on child separations but not on Putin MORE’s son-in-law and now a senior White House adviser, were also present for at least part of the meeting, according to reports. 
 
 Trump Jr. said in a Sunday statement that he had met with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at the request of an acquaintance but denied that he received any information on Clinton at that time. 
 
 “After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton,” he said. 
 
 “Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.” 
 
 He said they then talked about American adoptions of Russian children. 
 
 “It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting,” Trump Jr. told the paper. 
 
 White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the campaign never followed up with Veselnitskaya after the meeting. 
 
 “Don Jr. did not collude with anybody to influence the election,” Sanders said. “Don Jr. took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up.” 
 
 But when first confronted by The New York Times, which first reported the meeting on Saturday, Trump Jr. did not mention it had anything to do with Clinton. 
 
 He then tweeted Monday that the meeting "went nowhere but had to listen." 
 
 Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent... went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017 
 
 The White House defended the actions of Trump’s eldest son, who said he would be “happy” to speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee about the meeting. 
 
 Those at the top of the campaign say they never heard about the meeting because it was inconsequential. The Kremlin has also denied knowledge of the meeting. 
 
 With his father in the White House, Trump Jr. is one of three people running the family’s real estate business. But he advised Trump during the campaign and appeared on cable television as a surrogate. ||||| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email before meeting a Russian lawyer who he thought had material damaging to Hillary Clinton that it was part of a Russian government bid to aid his father’s presidential campaign, the New York Times said on Monday. 
 
 Citing three people with knowledge of the email, the paper said publicist Rob Goldstone indicated in the message to U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son that the Russian government was the source of the potentially damaging information. 
 
 Trump Jr did not indicate in a statement on Sunday that he had been told the lawyer might be a proxy for the Kremlin. 
 
 The email is likely to be of interest to investigators examining whether any Trump associates colluded with the Russian government to sway last year’s election, the Times said. 
 
 Trump Jr. hired a lawyer on Monday to represent him in the Russia-related investigations as prominent Republicans voiced concern about the meeting between the president’s son and a Russian. 
 
 Allegations of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the Republican president’s first months in office and sparked investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel, Robert Mueller, into whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign. 
 
 Moscow denies interfering and Trump, who became president on Jan. 20, says there was no collusion. 
 
 “It’s a very serious development,” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC of the Times report. “It all warrants thorough investigation. Everyone who was in that meeting ought to come before our committee.” 
 
 Trump Jr. hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas, who specializes in criminal defense and whose clients have included alleged organized crime figures, a Russian computer hacker and white-collar criminals. 
 
 “I look forward to assisting Donald Jr. and, quite frankly, there is nothing to all of the media buzz about the June 9th, 2016 meeting,” Futerfas told Reuters. “That will be proven to be the case.” 
 
 FILE PHOTO: Donald Trump Jr. gives a television interview at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio U.S. July 19, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich/File photo 
 
 Futerfas would not say when he was retained or whether he played any part in the statements Trump Jr. made during the weekend about his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, during the presidential election campaign. 
 
 Trump Jr. said he agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, described by the New York Times as having links to the Kremlin, after being promised damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump’s then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended, the Times said. It called the encounter the first confirmed private meeting of members of Donald Trump’s inner circle with a Russian national during the campaign. 
 
 A Republican member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Susan Collins, called on Trump Jr. to testify before the panel, which is looking into accusations of Russian meddling in the election. 
 
 “Our intelligence committee needs to interview him and others who attended the meeting,” she told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. 
 
 PANEL MAY SPEAK TO TRUMP JR. 
 
 Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said it “absolutely” wanted to speak to Trump Jr. about the meeting. Warner said he and the Republican committee chairman, Richard Burr, would decide later whether to ask Trump Jr. to testify in public or in a classified setting. 
 
 Burr would not say if the committee would talk to Trump Jr., but he told reporters the panel would look into the purpose of the meeting, who set it up and how the process unfolded before making a decision on who to interview. 
 
 “The committee will see everybody we think has value,” Burr said. 
 
 White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting with lawyer Veselnitskaya. “Don Junior took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up,” Sanders told reporters. 
 
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 In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday the Kremlin did not know the identity of the Russian lawyer. 
 
 “No, we don’t know who it is and, certainly, we cannot track down all movements of all Russian lawyers both within Russia and abroad,” Peskov said. 
 
 Goldstone said he arranged the meeting at the request of singer and businessman Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based client of his. He told Trump Jr. the meeting was with a Russian lawyer who apparently claimed to have information regarding illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee. ||||| The increased financial focus hasn't gone unnoticed by Trump, who warned Mueller, via an interview with The New York Times , that his financial dealings were a red line that investigators shouldn't cross. But the order establishing the special counsel makes clear Mueller is authorized to investigate any matters that "arose or may arise directly from the investigation." 
 
 In response to this CNN story, the President's attorney, Jay Sekulow, said, "President's outside counsel has not received any requests for documentation or information about this. Any inquiry from the special counsel that goes beyond the mandate specified in the appointment we would object to." 
 
 In 2015, the FBI began investigating cyber breaches targeting US political organizations, including the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 In the summer of 2016, US intelligence agencies noticed a spate of curious contacts between Trump campaign associates and suspected Russian intelligence, according to current and former US officials briefed on the investigation. James Comey, in his Senate testimony, said the FBI opened an investigation into Trump campaign-Russia connections in July 2016. The strands of the two investigations began to merge. 
 
 In the months that followed, investigators turned up intercepted communications appearing to show efforts by Russian operatives to coordinate with Trump associates on damaging Hillary Clinton's election prospects, officials said. CNN has learned those communications included references to campaign chairman Paul Manafort. 
 
 A year later, the FBI is reviewing financial records related to the Trump Organization, as well as Trump, his family members, including Donald Trump Jr., and campaign associates. They've combed through the list of shell companies and buyers of Trump-branded real estate properties and scrutinized the roster of tenants at Trump Tower reaching back more than a half-dozen years. They've looked at the backgrounds of Russian business associates connected to Trump surrounding the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. CNN could not determine whether the review has included his tax returns. 
 
 In recent weeks, investigators have also started looking into the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower and how the White House responded to news of that meeting. The session included Trump Jr., Manafort, Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and a Russian attorney. 
 
 Trump has denied any collusion and maintains that his business empire has "no involvement with Russia" and that he has "no loans, no nothing" from Russia. His lawyers have detailed a few exceptions, including the Miss Universe pageant he held in Moscow and the Florida mansion he sold to a Russian oligarch in 2008. Trump earned more than $100 million from those deals, according to his lawyers. 
 
 "This is like any investigation," says one person briefed on the probe. "You start at the core and then move to the periphery. You have to explore the finances. Where this is going is no different from any investigation." 
 
 The Mueller Team 
 
 Since his appointment in May, Mueller has quietly gathered a team of more than three dozen attorneys, investigators and other staff in a nondescript office in Washington. Officials familiar with the probe describe it as akin to a small US attorney's office, with FBI agents and prosecutors assigned to separate groups looking into various aspects of the investigation. 
 
 These include groups of investigators and lawyers focused separately on Russian collusion and obstruction of justice, as well as the investigations focused on Manafort and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to a US official briefed on the investigation. Some of the investigators have been pulled from field offices across the country to join the Mueller team in Washington. Others left high-paying jobs at law firms. Many of the investigators have backgrounds in investigating fraud and financial crimes. There are 16 attorneys assigned to the probe, according to a spokesman for Mueller. 
 
 Mueller reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, but there's a measure of separation from Justice Department headquarters to keep the probe independent. 
 
 CNN has learned some of the investigators involved in the probe are buying liability insurance out of concern they could become targets of lawsuits from those who are being investigated, according to one of the people familiar with the probe. The Justice Department covers legal fees for employees sued in the course of their duties, but some of the lawyers want extra protection. 
 
 The Justice Department and special counsel's office both declined to comment on the liability concerns. 
 
 Bait and Switch 
 
 The possible financial ties between Trump and Russia were part of the concerns for US intelligence and law enforcement officials from the beginning, according to one current law enforcement official and one former US intelligence official. 
 
 In some cases, the FBI was pursuing others who did business with the Trump organization, including alleged mobsters who controlled key contractors used by many real estate developers in New York during the 1980s. The flow of Russian money in real estate -- and concerns that some buyers were making the purchases to illegally launder money -- had also drawn some attention by US authorities to the Trump business. 
 
 The international real estate business is a part of the global economy where foreigners can still use cash with fewer questions asked about the sources of money. Terrorism financing concerns long ago put more stringent rules on banking and other businesses. But the rules are looser in the business of buying and selling high-end real estate, US officials say. 
 
 Investigators are looking both at whether financial laws were broken and whether there are any dealings that could put the President or his associates in a compromising position. 
 
 "There's always been a concern about his exposure to blackmail in his financial dealings," says the person briefed on the investigation. 
 
 Trump has repeatedly insisted that he has no enduring financial ties to Russian interests. 
 
 But some of the people who are now under scrutiny by Mueller see a bait and switch. Instead of collusion, many believe the Mueller probe will instead end up being about past financial troubles. 
 
 "They launch an investigation into collusion in the election," says one person whose client is among those being scrutinized by the Mueller investigators. "Then they go after people because of old business matters that have nothing to do with collusion." 
 
 Missing Links 
 
 Even at the FBI, there's a measure of frustration over the investigation. 
 
 After a highly contentious year investigating Hillary Clinton's private email servers and being accused of swinging the election against her, the FBI finds itself again where officials tried not to be: amid a politically treacherous investigation that has hobbled a new President. 
 
 Worse yet, some FBI officials fear the question of whether there was any criminal coordination or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia may never be answered. 
 
 One challenge is that tantalizing pieces of intelligence are missing key links because they did not develop long enough for investigators to determine their significance. These include intercepts monitored by US intelligence that showed suggestions of illegal coordination but nothing overt. 
 
 Those missing links mean that the FBI and Mueller's prosecution team may not have enough evidence to bring charges related to possible illegal coordination with a foreign intelligence service. Instead, prosecutors could pursue financial crime charges unrelated to the election. 
 
 Investigators also face a big hurdle: those participating in the intercepted communications were foreigners, outside the reach of the FBI, who may be exaggerating or lying about events. 
 
 Some FBI officials also blame media coverage dating back to last summer for prompting some communications to cease, and making it more difficult for investigators to monitor the interactions of Russians and campaign associates. 
 
 Scrambling to react 
 
 By last July when Russian intelligence began releasing troves of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, the FBI had been aware of the DNC intrusion about a year. 
 
 Until the stolen emails were weaponized in their release via WikiLeaks and the Russian intelligence's own site DCLeaks, intelligence and law enforcement officials believed the cyber-intrusion was an intelligence-gathering effort, like many of those that occurred before past elections. 
 
 Over the next four months, the Obama administration officials and law enforcement and intelligence agencies debated how to respond. 
 
 "You had an administration that didn't want to look heavy-handed" in favor of Hillary Clinton, one senior former US official involved in investigation said. 
 
 At the White House, Obama officials scrambled last summer for a strategy on how to respond to what they already knew were Russian actions, well before the administration was willing to point the finger publicly. 
 
 Michael Daniel, the White House cyber-security coordinator, ordered staff in August to draw up a list of possible retaliatory measures, according to a former administration official briefed on the matter. These included planting malware in Russian infrastructure that could be activated if the Russian actions escalated, according to the former official. 
 
 But shortly after Daniel gave the order, White House officials raised other concerns. Top officials including Susan Rice, national security adviser, and Lisa Monaco, homeland security adviser, led efforts by the White House to make sure the government could prevent any move by Russian intelligence to tamper with the voting infrastructure and sow chaos on Election Day. 
 
 Daniel, in an interview, declined to discuss specifics about measures considered in response, because much of the information remains classified. But he said one top concern for White House officials was "it not appear we were trying to be partisan in what we were doing." 
 
 The partisan concerns were exacerbated by interactions between the White House and congressional leaders. Monaco traveled to Capitol Hill to try to get top leaders of both parties to send a letter to state governors to urge shoring up of their defenses of election infrastructure. But they were rebuffed by Republican leaders, who viewed the request as partisan, according to current and former officials briefed on the discussions. 
 
 Daniel told CNN he and his cyber-response group worked quietly, reducing the number of people allowed in meetings to avoid leaks. "We didn't need to do the Russians work for them," Daniel said. "We needed to develop diplomatic options first, and we [put] the other options on the back-burner." 
 
 After the election, the Obama administration unveiled a series of measures , including expulsion of diplomats and seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds allegedly used for espionage. The technical staff also released a trove of information on Russian cyber-intrusion techniques and malware that current and former officials say forced the Russians to spend time and money coming up with new methods. 
 
 Four Targets 
 
 The approach to the Manafort and Flynn probes may offer a template for how investigators' focus on possible financial crimes could help gain leverage and cooperation in the investigation. 
 
 CNN has learned that investigators became more suspicious when they turned up intercepted communications that US intelligence agencies collected among suspected Russian operatives discussing their efforts to work with Manafort, who served as campaign chairman for three months, to coordinate information that could damage Hillary Clinton's election prospects, the US officials say. The suspected operatives relayed what they claimed were conversations with Manafort, encouraging help from the Russians. 
 
 Manafort faces potential real troubles in the probe, according to current and former officials. Decades of doing business with foreign regimes with reputations for corruption, from the Philippines to Ukraine, had led to messy finances 
 
 The focus now for investigators is whether Manafort was involved in money laundering or tax violations in his business dealings with pro-Russia parties in Ukraine. He's also been drawn into a related investigation of his son-in-law's real estate business dealings, some of which he invested in. 
 
 Manafort has not been accused of any wrongdoing. 
 
 In response to questions about CNN's reporting, his spokesman, Jason Maloni, says it "is becoming increasingly apparent that there was no collusion between the campaign and the Russian government." 
 
 Maloni offered further comment to CNN after the initial publication of this story, saying: "Paul Manafort did not collude with the Russian government to undermine the 2016 election or to hack the DNC. Other than that comment, we aren't going to respond to anonymous officials illegally peddling second hand conspiracy theories. But the Justice Department, and the courts if necessary, should hold someone to account for the flood of unlawful government leaks targeting Mr. Manafort." 
 
 Flynn drew suspicions in late 2016 when US spy agencies collecting the communications of Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak found Flynn, the incoming national security adviser, discussing the subject of US sanctions on Russia. That appeared to contradict White House claims that Flynn had not discussed sanctions in his talks with Kislyak. 
 
 On January 24, Andrew McCabe, then the deputy FBI director, called Flynn at his White House office. He told the retired lieutenant general that he was sending a couple of FBI agents to discuss a matter with him, according to people familiar with what unfolded. Flynn spoke to McCabe without his lawyer present. 
 
 At the FBI, the decision to approach Flynn was debated at the highest levels, including by Comey, according to sources familiar with those discussions. FBI officials considered the visit by agents a "duty to warn" matter, a not-uncommon effort by the FBI to warn a US official that foreign spies may be trying to target them. 
 
 The agents asked Flynn about the Kislyak calls, in part out of concern that Flynn could be vulnerable to blackmail over the content of the conversations. Flynn gave a wobbly explanation of events. He initially denied the sanctions discussions, then later claimed he couldn't remember. 
 
 Despite the conflicting accounts, FBI investigators have leaned against seeking charges over the Kislyak discussions. The investigators don't consider Flynn's answers to be intentionally dishonest. 
 
 Flynn's lawyers have criticized media reports about his connection to the Russia investigation as peddling "unfounded allegations" and "outrageous claims." 
 
 More troublesome for Flynn, investigators have focused on his lobbying work for the Turkish government , which the former Defense Intelligence Agency chief didn't initially disclose as required by law. Flynn's lawyers have since retroactively registered his lobbying. 
 
 Page had been the subject of a secret intelligence surveillance warrant since 2014, earlier than had been previously reported, US officials briefed on the probe told CNN. 
 
 When information emerged last summer suggesting that the Russians were attempting to cultivate Page as a way to gain an entrée into the Trump campaign , the FBI renewed its interest in him. Initially, FBI counterintelligence investigators saw the campaign as possible victims being targeted by Russian intelligence. 
 
 Page denies working with any Russians as part of the Kremlin's election meddling, though he admits interacting with some Russians during the campaign. 
 
 Stone denies collusion and says his conversations with Guccifer 2.0, which he since posted online, were innocuous. 
 
 Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments from Manafort's spokesman, Jason Maloni, that were given to CNN after the initial publication.
– Investigators are re-examining overheard conversations in which Russian government officials discuss dealings with Donald Trump's associates, given confirmation of Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer, US officials say. Though the conversations were recorded by US intelligence in early 2015, months before Trump announced his campaign for the presidency, investigators are interested in mentions of meetings between Russian officials and Trump associates, some of which reportedly occurred outside of the US, the Wall Street Journal reports. It isn't clear if the associates referred to were involved in Trump's business interests in Russia or later became part of his presidential campaign. Officials say it's commonplace for Russian officials to discuss players with major business interests in the country, Trump among them. Indeed, intelligence agencies initially took little from the conversations. But Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton has since renewed interest. President Trump said Wednesday he only became aware of the meeting with the lawyer "a couple of days ago," per Reuters. Hours after Trump Jr. confirmed the meeting on June 7, 2016, however, Trump promised in a speech to address Clinton's "corrupt dealings" to give "favorable treatment" to "the Russians," in what the White House is calling a coincidence, reports the New York Times.