Day 232: Trump Jr.’s Senate Testimony Goes Disastrously
His answers raise more questions regarding his father’s involvement and knowledge of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives.
Donald Trump, Jr. testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for five hours behind closed doors yesterday regarding his meeting with Russian nationals at Trump Tower in June 2016.
Junior, according to The New York Times — regardless of what he thinks — all but admitted to collusion.
Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators on Thursday that he set up a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer because he was intrigued that she might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, saying it was important to learn about Mrs. Clinton’s “fitness” to be president.
But nothing came of the Trump Tower meeting, he said, and he was adamant that he never colluded with the Russian government’s campaign to disrupt last year’s presidential election.
Setting up a meeting with Russian operatives to get damaging information about a political opponent is the legal definition of a conspiracy, even if nothing comes of that meeting.
Of course, Junior’s initial characterization(s) of the meeting, and his father’s involvement in writing his false statement after news of the meeting broke, continue to be key questions.
Thursday’s statement underlines the fact that his initial statement, which was reportedly dictated by the president in July, was misleading and false. Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team, who are tasked with investigating any potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, are “keenly interested” in the president’s involvement in crafting the statement. This is of interest to the Mueller because Trump may have tried to “corruptly persuade” a witness into giving false testimony, which is a crime.
The Washington Post reported in late July that while on the plane ride back from the G 20 summit, the president was involved in crafting a statement that Trump Jr. met with Russians primarily to discuss a “program about the adoption of Russian children. This talking point was also defended by administration officials like Kellyanne Conway, who said the “entire purpose of the meeting” was Russian adoptions.
But Junior had an interesting excuse for his father’s rhetoric in the days surrounding the meeting.
When asked why, shortly after the Trump Tower meeting was set up, his father promised to deliver a “major speech” about Mrs. Clinton’s “corrupt dealings,” Mr. Trump said that that was merely the way his father speaks, according to a person familiar with the interview.
“Merely the way his father speaks,” about such a specific topic is mere coincidence, per Junior.
Sure, and he also has a bridge to sell the country.
232 days in, 1230 to go
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