Russian lawyer at heart of Trump Jr. meeting may have been in the US illegally: report

As if the Donald Trump, Jr.-Russian lawyer meeting story couldn't get any weirder, a closer look at the visa record of Natalia Veselnitskaya, the lawyer in question, reveals that she may have been in the U.S. illegally.

According to an investigation by The Daily Beast, Veselnitskaya was initially denied a visa in 2015, but later granted "parole" entry at the end of that year to conduct business in Manhattan -- a visa-less form of temporary entry that allows people to travel to the U.S. for 10 days. That entry would have ended in early 2016, and it was not renewed.

The State Department refuses to confirm or deny whether or not Veselnitskaya even applied for a visa prior to her 2016 meeting in New York with Trump Jr., much less whether that hypothetical visa was granted. As with press most requests for immigration records, the department declined comment for privacy purposes.

According to court transcripts acquired by the Beast, Veselnitskaya came to the states at least once after her meeting with Trump Jr. during a New York trial in early 2017.

Read the entire in-depth investigation into Veselnitskaya's time and work in the United States via The Daily Beast.