EMAIL TOLD TRUMP JR. RUSSIA GOV’T HAD CLINTON INFO: REPORT
Lawmakerswant to talk to president’s son as probe expands
The widening investigations into Russia’s election meddling are drawing in more of President Trump’s family members, as congressional leaders on Monday vowed to question the president’s son about his meeting last summer with a Kremlin- linked attorney who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, saidMonday his panel “absolutely” wants to speak with Donald Trump Jr., about his June 2016 meeting with the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
“This was the first time the public has seen direct evidence that Trump campaign officials reached out ... to agents of a foreign government to try to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton,” said Warner, whose panel is investigating possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia.
The U. S. intelligence community has accused Moscow of hacking Democrats and releasing stolenmaterial to influence the presidential election in favor of Trump. “Rest assured that Donald Trump Jr. will be somebody we want to talk to,” Warner said.
As he learned of the lawmakers’ interest in the meeting, Trump Jr., tweeted a pledge to cooperate with congressional investigators. “Happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know,” he saidMonday.
Trump Organization spokeswoman Amanda Miller said Monday that Trump Jr., had hired New York criminal attorney Alan Futerfas to handle matters related to the ongoing Russia investigations. In addition to the Senate and House Intelligence panels, the Senate Judiciary Committee is pursuing an inquiry.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is overseeing a separate criminal investigation.
Futerfas did not respond to requests for comment.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump learned of his son’s meeting “in the last couple of days.” She reasserted that there was no cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russian hackers. “No one within the Trump campaign colluded,” she said.
Donald Trump Jr. has opened a potentially new avenue of inquiry by disclosing that the pretext of his meeting with Veselnitskaya was to learn whether the attorney had damaging information about the Clinton campaign.
“After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton,” Trump Jr. said Sunday. “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.”
But the statement was a departure from Trump Jr.’ s past remarks. The president’s son denied in March that he had taken part in campaign- related meetings with Russian representatives.
On Saturday, the day before conceding that the Veselnitskaya meeting involved campaign interests, Trump Jr., said the session was called to discuss Russian adoptions, which were halted by the Kremlin after Congress approved a 2012 law which blocked suspected human rights abusers from entry to the U. S.
Veselnitskaya has been an advocate for repealing the law.
On Monday, Trump Jr., defended both the purpose of the meeting and his evolving explanations, saying on Twitter that the most recent account represented only an elaboration.
“No inconsistency in statements,” he said. “Meeting ended up being primarily about adoptions. In response to further Q’s I simply provided more details.” The questions were posed by The New York Times.
Yet his decision to take the meeting at all was drawing fire, with some saying it may have violated the law.
In a complaint filed Monday with the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission, the liberal watchdog Common Cause alleged that Trump Jr., “illegally solicited a political contribution from a foreign national.” Federal law prohibits the solicitation or receipt of contributions from foreign nationals.
“No inconsistency in statements. ... Meeting ended up being primarily about adoptions. In response to further Q’s I simply provided more details.” Donald Trump Jr., in a tweet Monday