Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin told the news agency AP Friday that he was at a June 2016 meeting in which Donald Trump Jr. was promised information about Hillary Clinton, BBC reported.

He said the meeting was "not substantive" and he "actually expected more serious" discussion. "I never thought this would be such a big deal to be honest," he told AP.

As emails posted by Trump Jr. this week show, the meeting was attended by Donald Trump's election campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Akhmetshin - who denies he has ties to Russian intelligence - said Trump Jr. had asked Veselnitskaya at the meeting for evidence of illicit money coming into the Democratic National Committee, but when Veselnitskaya said she didn't have any, Trump Jr. lost interest.

"They couldn't wait for the meeting to end," he reportedly said.

The Russian government has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the June 2016 meeting. Asked on Friday about Akhmetshin, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, told reporters: "We don't know anything about this person."