Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume said the meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer had “the element of a farce.”
Hume said, “The meeting probably went nowhere. The whole thing has the element of a farce.”
He continued, “I would be more concerned if the episodes themselves, the meetings turned out to be some substantive meeting in the sense they pointed in the direction that there were some cooperation and collusion going on. So far what we’ve seen doesn’t seem to do that. And it’s not hard for me to imagine people associated with the president’s campaign might have forgotten them. This meeting seems to be eminently forgettable, almost laughable.”
.. but the Kremlin is saying they don’t know anything about it. Putin doesn’t know this woman. You can’t be a prominent lawyer in Moscow without in some way being connected to the Kremlin because the Kremlin is connected to nearly everything in Russia. But that doesn’t make her a Russian agent, certainly doesn’t make her a Russian official as she is being characterized by some of the president’s critics.
Why in the world would Donald Trump Jr. take this meeting?
federal election law prohibits soliciting or accepting “anything of value … in connection with” an election from a foreign national.
.. Trump Jr.’s false and misleading statements on his involvement with Russians add to the argument that this is a man behaving as if he had something to hide. Asked by the New York Times in March whether he had ever discussed “government policies related to Russia,” Trump Jr. replied, “a hundred percent no.” Then, confronted by the Times about the Veselnitskaya meeting, he first said the participants “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children,” before acknowledging, the next day, that in fact it concerned opposition research on Clinton.
Donald Jr.’s meeting is a legal game-changer
The question at this point is what strikes a chord with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III — and what kind of legal jeopardy Trump’s closest associates, including his eldest son and son-in-law, might eventually face.
.. Initially, Trump Jr. told the newspaper that the “short” meeting was to discuss “a program about the adoption of Russian children.” On Sunday, however, he acknowledged that he had agreed to the meeting because he had been told that Veselnitskaya “might have information helpful to the campaign.” The lawyer’s dirt about Clinton was “vague, ambiguous and made no sense,” however, and Trump Jr. ended the meeting after “20 to 30 minutes.”
.. After months of categorical denials, we now have an admission of attempted collusion, at least, involving three top-ranking figures in the Trump campaign.
.. Despite what Trump apologists may say, it is not normal practice for a campaign to welcome information undermining an opponent, regardless of the source. In 2000, the Al Gore campaign was anonymously sent briefing books and a video that George W. Bush had used to prepare for an upcoming debate. Gore campaign officials immediately turned the material over to the FBI — which opened a criminal investigation.
.. Veselnitskaya is best known as a tireless crusader for repeal of the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law blacklisting Russian officials believed responsible for the death of a well-known human rights activist.
.. . Trump Jr. said in March that he had had no meetings with Russians “that were set up . . . and certainly none that I was representing the campaign in any way, shape or form.” Do you find it remotely believable that he somehow forgot a meeting that he set up, between a party-line Russian lawyer and the campaign? Neither do I.
.. he claimed not even to have known Veselnitskaya’s name beforehand, let alone anything about her. He said that he did not tell Manafort or Kushner of the meeting’s purpose in advance, and that his father had no idea the meeting was taking place.
.. At the time, Manafort was running a presidential campaign — roughly like being at the vortex of a tornado — and Kushner was one of the campaign’s chief advisers. The idea that they could spare even five minutes to meet an unknown person about an unknown subject is absurd. But that’s Trump Jr.’s story, and he’s sticking to it.
Trump Jr. Met Russian Lawyer Who Claimed to Have Information on Hillary Clinton
President’s son provides further details about June 2016 meeting in New York
President Donald Trump’s eldest son arranged a June 2016 meeting between top campaign aides and a Russian lawyer who has been linked to the Kremlin after being told she “might have information helpful to the campaign.”.. The meeting, in New York City, was also attended by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and Paul Manafort, President Trump’s campaign chairman at the time. The younger Mr. Trump said he told Messrs. Kushner and Manafort “nothing of the substance” of the meeting beforehand... Natalia Veselnitskaya, “stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting [Hillary] Clinton,” Mr. Trump Jr. said in his statement. “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.” When Ms. Veselnitskaya then raised the issue of the Magnitsky Act, which placed sanctions on Russian human-rights abusers, Mr. Trump Jr. said he cut off the meeting... A person close to the Trump campaign recalled getting an email around the time of the meeting with the Russian attorney asking about the campaign’s stance on the Magnitsky Act... In a statement on Saturday about the meeting, Mr. Trump Jr. had made no mention of the promise of helpful information Ms. Veselnitskaya could provide, or of her statements about Russian campaign funds. Instead, he said the meeting “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.. The Trump aides met with Ms. Veselnitskaya on June 9, about a month after Mr. Trump effectively clinched the Republican nomination... As a lawyer, she has campaigned against the Magnitsky Act, which targets Russian human-rights abusers, and the Russian accountant for whom the measure was named. Sergei Magnitsky was jailed and died in prison after he uncovered evidence of a large tax-refund fraud... In a move seen as retaliation to that law, Mr. Putin in 2012 signed a law banning adoption of Russian children by American families... Last July, she shared an article posted by another page and highlighted the quote, “Liberalism is a f—ing mental disorder.”