US President Donald Trump defended his son Donald Jr on Thursday after he was criticised for accepted a meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the US election campaign last year.

"As far as my son is concerned, my son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer. Not a government lawyer, but a Russian lawyer. It was a short meeting," he said.

"From a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting,"Trump added.

The purported purpose behind taking the meeting was to gather damaging information on Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent.