Assange urged Trump Jr to publish Russia emails via WikiLeaks

Instead, the US President's eldest son did so via Twitter, igniting a firestorm of criticism around his apparent willingness to work with the Russian government against his father's Democratic rival, the Guardian reported. "Contacted Trump Jr this morning on why he should publish his emails (i.e with us)," tweeted Assange, who is based at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. "Two hours later, does it himself." Trump Jr released the emails on Tuesday after The New York Times told him they had the documents and would be reporting on them.

Assange said he told Trump Jr to release the documents "because his enemies have it — so why not the public?"

"Better to be transparent and have the full context," he continued, "but would have been safer for us to publish it anonymously sourced. By publishing it himself it is easier to submit as evidence."

It was not clear whether Assange's use of the word "enemies" was the reference to the media or political rivals, the report said. The emails reveal correspondence between Trump Jr and his acquaintance Rob Goldstone as they set up a meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who promised to share incriminating evidence on Clinton to help the Trump campaign.

"This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Trump," Goldstone wrote in one email.

"If it's what you say I love it," Trump Jr said in one reply, referring to the information about Clinton.

Trump Jr said that nothing came out of the meeting and that Veselnitskaya only wanted to talk about a US policy on Russian adoptions. He denied any wrongdoing in taking the meeting, but lawmakers were vying to get him to testify before House and Senate committees. US President Trump said in a statement that Trump Jr "is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency".

Trump Jr never told his father about Russia meeting: 'It was just a nothing'. He has said he never told his father about a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer who promised him compromising information on rival Hillary Clinton.

The President's oldest son told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannitythat, "It was just a nothing. There was nothing to tell." The messages reveal that Trump Jr was told the Russian government had information that could "incriminate" Clinton and her dealings with Russia. The developments provoked sharp criticism by Democrats and even some Republicans. "Nothing's proven yet, but we're now beyond obstruction of justice in terms of what's being investigated," Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia and Clinton's running mate last year, said on Tuesday. "This is moving into perjury, false statements and even potentially treason."

Republicans in Congress made little effort to defend the White House, and some expressed concern.

The Kremlin on Wednesday insisted it was in no way linked to a meeting between US President Donald Trump's son and a Russian lawyer at the heart of a political firestorm.

"We have already said that we are absolutely not familiar with this whole story," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "We never had any contact with this lawyer, that is why we are not in the loop and have nothing to say. She doesn't have even the slightest relation to us." The Kremlin had on Monday denied links to the lawyer.

The June 2016 meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya has thrust Donald Trump Jr into the centre of a growing scandal over whether Trump's associates colluded with Moscow to tilt the 2016 election in the Republican's favour.

A string of emails Trump Jr released on Tuesday showed he agreed to the meeting after claims from a British music promoter that a senior official in Moscow had offered to pass on dirt on Hillary Clinton and Veselnitskaya was a "Russian government attorney". Peskov ridiculed claims that Veselnitskaya was working for the Russian government as "inappropriate and absurd".

After initially holding back, President Trump jumped to the defense of his son on Wednesday morning, denouncing reports about Trump Jr's meeting with a Russian lawyer to gain incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as part of "the greatest witch hunt in political history." The president fired off posts on Twitter insisting that his son was "innocent" of wrongdoing and embracing the theory that he may even have been "the victim" in the case. He assailed the use of anonymous sources in the reports, although in this instance the story was confirmed by emails released by Donald Trump Jr "My son Donald did a good job last night," Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to his son's appearance on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News. "He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!"