Mr Trump’s reported meeting with Moscow officials in 1995 and the newly-unearthed footage does not show any clear wrongdoing on the part of the president. It does, however, refute the notion that he had zero dealings in Russia before assuming the White House in 2016 — a frequent claim made by Mr Trump and his inner circle.
“I know nothing about Russia,” Mr Trump said during the second presidential debate against
Hillary Clinton. “I don’t deal there.”
He also previously
told CBS4 in 2016, “I have nothing to do with Russia. I don’t have any jobs in Russia. I’m all over the world but we’re not involved in Russia.”
And again, in 2017, the president reiterated those claims in a tweet: “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me.
I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”