Trump defends son as pressure on Donald Jr grows

US President Donald Trump has defended the actions of his son Donald Jr after he admitted meeting a Russian lawyer to gain information about Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Trump Jr appeared on Fox News in order to explain his meeting with Kremlin-associated lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya last year, following months of reports of attempts by Russia to influence the result of the presidential election.

President Trump tweeted his backing for his son on Wednesday, and called the media scandal surrounding the meeting as the 'greatest witch-hunt in political history'.

Trump tweeted: "My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!"

It emerged last weekend that Trump Jr met with Veselnitskaya along with campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in New York after being promised damaging information related to Clinton’s campaign.

Emails were released by Trump Jr in response to the emergence of the news, including a statement from British journalist Rob Goldstone which recognised that the information was part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr Trump.

While Trump Jr protested his innocence, he did add that he "probably would have done things differently".

The FBI is still conducting an investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.

Democrats in the US have lined up to condemn the meeting, with key senate intelligence committee member Adam Schiff describing the latest developments as 'deeply disturbing'.