Trump Jr. releases chain of e-mails
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son released an e-mail chain Tuesday that shows him discussing plans to hear damaging information on Hillary Clinton that were described as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
The e-mails are the first documentary evidence of a top Trump associate knowingly engaging with what they believed to be a Russian government effort to help Trump in the 2016 election. In one of the e-mails to Trump Jr., the music publicist seeking to set up a meeting with a lawyer from Russia describes her as a “Russian government attorney.”
Trump Jr. was deeply involved in his father’s presidential campaign. He posted the e-mails on Tuesday on Twitter and issued a statement describing it as an effort “to be totally transparent.” The e-mails with publicist Rob Goldstone show that Trump Jr. was told that the Russian government had information that could “incriminate” Clinton and her dealings with Russia.
Goldstone wrote to Trump Jr. that the information “would be very useful to your father.” Goldstone was working to connect Trump Jr. to Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, who later met with Trump Jr. in New York at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya has denied that she ever worked for the Russian government.
“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. replied to Goldstone in one of a series of e-mail exchanges the younger Trump posted to Twitter. The e-mails are dated early June.
The e-mail release followed days of evolving accounts from Trump Jr. about the nature of the meeting and its purpose. The president’s son posted the e-mails only after they were obtained by The New York Times.
On Saturday, Trump Jr. described the encounter as being a “short introductory meeting” focused on the disbanded program that had allowed American adoptions of Russian children. Moscow ended the adoptions in response to Magnitsky Act sanctions created in response to alleged human rights violations in Russia.
A day later, Trump Jr. changed his account, acknowledging that he was told beforehand that Veselnitskaya might have information “helpful” to the Trump campaign.