Donald Trump Jr. releases email chain on his Russian meeting

President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., agreed to meet with someone he believed to be a “Russian government attorney” last summer after receiving an email offering him “very high level and sensitive information” that would “incriminate” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to emails the younger Trump publicly released on Tuesday.

White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a statement from the President defending his son during an off-camera briefing with reporters Tuesday.

“My son is a high-quality person and I applaud his transparency,” Sanders said, reading a statement from Trump.

“Beyond that I’m going to have to refer everything beyond this matter to Don Jr.’s counsel and outside counsel,” Sanders said.
Sanders declined to answer several follow-up questions, referring questions again to outside attorneys.

The email, from publicist Rob Goldstone, claimed the information was part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
Goldstone subsequently offered to set up a meeting with a “Russian government attorney” to discuss the information.

Goldstone, who represents the son of an Azerbaijani-Russian businessman close to the Russian government, claimed in an email to Trump Jr. in June 2016 that a top Russian prosecutor had offered the father “some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.”

“This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” Goldstone wrote in the email to Trump Jr.

“If it’s what you say I love it,” Trump Jr. replied, according to the email he released.

The Russian attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya, denied in an interview with NBC News having ever acted on behalf of the Russian government.

And despite Goldstone’s promises, both Veselnitskaya and Trump Jr. say the lawyer offered no consequential information on Clinton.

The emails offered the most concrete evidence yet that Trump campaign associates and family members were willing to consider receiving support from the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. Federal investigators have been probing ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia for months as part of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
Trump Jr. has repeatedly pushed back on allegations of collusion.

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