On July 8, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner had a previously undisclosed meeting with a Russian lawyer with alleged “connections with the Kremlin.” In an initial response to the story, Trump Jr. said the meeting was “primarily about an adoption program.”
By the next day, the story shifted. The Times reported new details suggesting Trump Jr. took the meeting after being promised “damaging information” about Hillary Clinton.
.. On July 10, the next shoe dropped. This time, the Times alleged Donald Jr. had received an e-mail beforehand making clear that the lawyer was acting as “part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy.”
.. In his latest statement, Trump Jr. claims that the lawyer wasn’t a government official, there was no opposition research, and the meeting was mainly about “adoption policy and the Magnitsky act.”
.. In other words, this isn’t the smoking gun that proves actual “collusion” with Russia, but rather evidence that Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner tried to collude with Russia.
.. To repeat, it now looks as if the senior campaign team of a major-party presidential candidate intended to meet with an official representative of a hostile foreign power to facilitate that foreign power’s attempt to influence an American election.
.. at long last we can now put to bed the notion that the Russia investigation is little more than frivolous partisan harassment, and it casts in an entirely different light the president’s fury and frustration at its continued progress.
.. As of now, we should have zero confidence that we know all or even most material facts. We should have zero confidence that Trump’s frustration is entirely due to his feeling like an innocent man caught in the crosshairs of crazed conspiracy theorists. It now appears that his son, son-in-law, and campaign chair met with a lawyer who they were told was part of an official Russian government effort to impact the presidential election. The Russian investigation isn’t a witch hunt anymore, if it ever was. It’s a national necessity.
The Donald Trump Jr. emails could hardly be more incriminating
By explicitly linking the source of the information to the Russian government and by describing it as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” Goldstone made crystal clear that he was offering the campaign a chance to collude — yes, that word is appropriate here — with a foreign government to “incriminate Hillary” Clinton and help win the presidency.
.. By reacting as he did, eagerly accepting the offer of this foreign aid, Trump Jr. made clear that he was a willing part of this incipient conspiracy — and yes, that word is appropriate here, too. “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,”
.. That Trump Jr.’s response now is to assert that he thought this was an offer of run-of-the-mill “political opposition research” that took place “before the current Russian fever was in vogue” is beyond telling, about his political and legal obtuseness.
.. We have had too much experience with this White House to simply accept that assertion at face value. For one thing, Trump Jr. was in constant contact with his father. For another, Goldstone specifically raised the possibility of sharing it with the candidate
Email to Trump Jr. Says Clinton Info Was Part of Moscow’s Trump Support
President’s son was told information would incriminate Hillary Clinton
The emails also appear to contradict statements by members of the campaign that they were unaware of a Russian effort to support Mr. Trump in the 2016 election. During the campaign and since his election victory, Mr. Trump repeatedly praised Mr. Putin and cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia sought to interfere in the election. Last week, he said in Warsaw: “Nobody knows for sure.”
In a July 24, 2016, interview with CNN, the younger Mr. Trump said the charge that Russia had mounted a campaign to help his father was “so phony.”
Lawyers: Donald Trump Jr. Is Getting Terrible Legal Advice
When the paper followed up that first report with another item indicating he agreed to the meeting in hopes of getting information the campaign could use against Hillary Clinton, Don. Jr. did something very, very strange: He himself confirmed all the New York Times’ reporting and gave them additional details about the meeting.
“After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton,” Trump told the paper. “Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information.”
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, told The Daily Beast that Don Jr.’s comment wasn’t very smart.
“He’s stupid for saying what he said about why he took the meeting,” said Mariotti, who now does criminal defense work at Thompson Coburn.
“It’s very hard for me to believe that any lawyer would advise him to make a public statement containing factual assertions about what happened in a meeting with an agent of the Russian government,” he added. “What’s more likely is that Donald Trump Jr. spoke without consulting legal counsel.”
It was also deeply unwise for him to speak for himself, according to Scott Greenfield, a New York criminal defense attorney. Lawyers usually speak for their clients in these situations to keep them from saying something that could hurt them in court. That’s why Jared Kushner and Michael Flynn are keeping mum about the Russia probe: They have good lawyers and appear to be following their advice. Not so, at least over the weekend, for Don Jr.
Mariotti said Don Jr.’s one-man legal team—comprised of New York attorney Alan Futerfas, according to Reuters—is also curious. Futerfas has extensive criminal defense in New York, including on Securities and Exchange Commission investigations, but isn’t admitted to the D.C. bar, and helms a tiny three-lawyer practice.