Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, Russian Lawyer Trump Jr. Met With, Admits to Being Russian Informant

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Read our announcement | See the 10 Best Games of 2025 (So Far)

Just when things couldn’t seem worse for President Trump and the Russia investigation, the sinkhole grows wider, as Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, the lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. about dirt on Hillary Clinton, may be a Russian informant as reported by the New York Times.

Despite her earlier denial, Veselnitskaya admitted in an email obtained by NBC News that she worked closely with Kremlin-affiliated prosecutor general Yuri Y. Chaika. “I am a lawyer, and I am an informant,” she said. “Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.”

The revelation has come to the surface as Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, a leading opponent of President Vladimir V. Putin, obtained the emails and forwarded them to NBC News’ Richard Engel. Veselnitskaya admitted to being hacked and told Russian news agency Interfax that people are trying to discredit her, and that she will be reporting the hack to Russian authorities.

The emails paint the much-talked-about lawyer as a liar and informant, as she seems to have helped the Russian government cover up a civil fraud case between the U.S. Justice Department and Denis P. Katsyv, a well-connected Russian businessman.

In one in a series of emails, she informally addressed a senior prosecutor on Chaika’s staff, Sergei A. Bochkaryov, about the Russian government’s response. From The NYT:

“Dear Sergei Aleksandrovich!” Ms. Veselnitskaya wrote on Aug. 2, 2014, in one of at least 11 emails exchanged. “I am sending you the edits in the draft response, as per instructions. I am ready to answer any questions that arise, at any time convenient for you.”