In a prepared statement Tuesday, President Donald Trump called his oldest son, Don Jr., a “high-quality person” and added, “I applaud his transparency.” Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read this statement to reporters in the White House briefing room Tuesday afternoon, a few short hours after Trump Jr. disclosed four pages of email exchanges with an acquaintance who helped set up a meeting with high-ranking members of the Trump campaign and a Russian national with ties to the Kremlin.
It was hardly transparent—the New York Times, which has been reporting on the June 9, 2016, meeting since Saturday, was preparing to publish the emails when the younger Trump posted them on his Twitter feed. And Trump Jr. had withheld information about the meeting in his previous statements to the Times. He first claimed the meeting was about Russian adoption policy, then later admitted he had set up the meeting to receive damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. According to the Times, these initial statements were drafted with the assistance of the White House staff and earned the approval of President Trump.
Tuesday’s email release confirmed what the Times had reported the day before but what Trump Jr. had avoided commenting on—that he believed the Russian government would help get the goods on Clinton. After months of suggestions from opponents that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government and dismissals from his supporters and defenders of those claims, Trump Jr. provided definitive proof of something: On at least one occasion, three senior members of the campaign met with someone they believed would provide, on behalf of the Russian government, material useful to the Trump campaign.
As a practical matter, this revelation justifies the multiple investigations into Russian meddling and the Trump campaign’s possible collusion during last year’s election. The congressional committees investigating this issue will likely invite the involved parties to testify or issue subpoenas. And Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation from the Justice Department, is reportedly planning to examine these emails and the meeting as part of their inquiry. That likely means more FBI questions for Trump Jr. and the other Trump team members in the meeting, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, as well as other campaign officials with knowledge of this meeting.
Bottom line: The story, much to the frustration of the Trump administration and Republicans in Washington, is far from over. What Are Pence’s Next Moves?
There’s “rancor” at the White House over the Russian lawyer meeting, according to the New York Times. “eople close to the president and to his legal effort are engaged in a circular firing squad, anonymously blaming one another for the decisions of the last few days,” report Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker. At AxiosJonathan Swan describes a “very tense environment” in the West Wing and “a lot of internal anger” over how this story became public and has been handled.
Vice President Mike Pence, however, has put physical and metaphorical distance between himself and the chaos at the White House. In a Monday statement to THE WEEKLY STANDARD, issued before Donald Trump Jr. released his emails, Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said the vice president was “not aware” of the meeting. “He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket,” said Lotter.
When reached on Tuesday following the disclosure of Trump Jr.’s emails, Lotter referred back to Pence’s original statement. He added that Pence was in meetings all day on Capitol Hill, working hard to advance the White House’s legislative agenda.
Donald Trump Jr. said he was “100 percent” willing to testify under oath about the June 9 meeting in his much anticipated Tuesday night interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
It’s not so simple for Pence to declare himself disentangled from the Russian collusion story. In January, as vice-president-elect, he denied that anyone in the Trump campaign “had any contact with the Russians.” Pence is one of several campaign and/or administration officials who have made such claims, but his explanation that the meeting in question was before his time” doesn’t absolve him of making an incorrect defense of the Trump campaign.
Nevertheless, Pence appears aware of this latest development’s possible implications for any and all of those involved with the campaign, and he’s acting accordingly. It’s true Pence was not on the campaign when Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort met with the Russian lawyer, and it’s long been Pence’s role to serve as the White House’s chief Capitol Hill liaison. Those two facts are now also politically convenient for the vice president.
Junior Runs to Hannity
Donald Trump Jr. said he was “100 percent” willing to testify under oath about the June 9 meeting in his much anticipated Tuesday night interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Over the course of the 30-minute friendly interview, Trump Jr. ran back through his account of the events leading up to the meeting—a narrative not directly contradicted by known facts but marred by his rapidly shifting statements over the last few days. Prompted by Hannity’s questions, Trump Jr. dismissed the whole incident as a “nothing.” Initially, he said he was intrigued by the prospect of new information regarding Hillary Clinton’s underreported scandals.
“My takeaway when all of this was going on is, ‘someone has information on our opponent,’” Trump Jr. said. “I’ve heard about all these things, but maybe he has something. Maybe I should hear him out.”
But Trump Jr. said he ultimately decided to take the meeting simply as a favor to a business acquaintance, Rob Goldstone, who had wanted to put the two in touch and had correspondingly embellished many of the details.
“This was a favor to an acquaintance,” Trump Jr. said. “He goosed it up; there was some puffery in the email…some bait-and-switch.”
Because the meeting took place months before what he called “Russiamania” took off in the media, Trump Jr. said didn’t see any insidious purpose in the exchange.
“In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little different,” Trump Jr. said.
