(CNN) President Donald Trump suggested Saturday night that Russian President Vladimir Putin might have directed a Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign associates in 2016 to disclose ties to Moscow recently in order to sow chaos for him in retaliation for aggressive actions he has taken against Russia. At a rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump said, "I guarantee you, I'm tougher on Russia. If she did that, because Putin and the groups said, 'you know this Trump is killing us. In June 2016, Veselnitskaya met at Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, among others. Instead, Veselnitskaya focused on the repeal of the Magnitsky Act, the 2012 Russian sanctions the US enacted over human rights abuses.

Source: CNN April 29, 2018 03:33 UTC