Pence Affirms He Held No Meetings With Russian Officials During 2016 Campaign

US Vice President Mike Pence did not meet with any people connected to the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition period, his spokesperson said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier this week, President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was accused by US media of holding an unreported meeting with a Russian lawyer in 2016. On Tuesday, Trump Jr. released an email chain with UK-born publicist Rob Goldstone about a meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya to allegedly discuss compromising information on then-presidential nominee and Trump rival Hillary Clinton.

"[Pence] had no meetings with any individuals associated with the Russian [government] during the campaign or transition," the spokesman said as quoted by NBC News.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not know who Veselnitskaya is.

Veselnitskaya herself denied any connection to the Kremlin, said she did not request a meeting with Trump Jr. during the 2016 presidential campaign, and noted that she has no information damaging Clinton.

President Trump has frequently called the investigation into his team’s alleged ties with Moscow "a witch hunt." He denied that any kind of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia had happened and stressed that the probe should be concluded with dignity as soon as possible. The Kremlin called the allegations absurd and stressed that it never interferes in foreign affairs of other states.