Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday released in full the email exchange about a meeting he took with a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the campaign.
The New York Times reported Monday that Trump Jr. was informed by email ahead of his meeting with the Russian lawyer, that the material being offered was part of the Russian government’s involvement in the 2016 presidential campaign. The email to Trump Jr. was sent by Rob Goldstone, a publicist who helped set up the meeting, according to reporting by the New York Times.
CGTN’s Jim Spellman reports.
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Following the publication of The New York Times story, Trump Jr. tweeted the email exchange, which he said was in full.
In the tweeted statement, Trump said that the Russian lawyer was “not a government official” and that she “had no information to provide.”
Top Democratic lawmaker Representative Adam Schiff, said that the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the campaign is “a very big deal.”
Schiff is on the committee that is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump Jr. tweeted on Monday that he did, indeed take a meeting to “hear info about an opponent,” but that the meeting “went nowhere” but that he “had to listen.”
Obviously I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent… went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017
Schiff said that if true, the Times report shows “an offer by the Russian government to help interfere in the American election on behalf of one of the candidates.”
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who was also Hillary Clinton’s running mate, told reporters that while nothing is proven, the meeting goes “beyond obstruction of justice”.
“This is moving into perjury, false statements and even potentially treason,” the senator added.
Story includes information from the Associated Press.