Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
■ Donald Trump Jr. is shaking off the Mueller probe and touring the country.
President’s son big draw on 2018 campaign trail
WASHINGTON — If Donald Trump Jr. is worried, he sure doesn’t show it.
His father, the president, is reported to be fretting about his eldest son’s entanglement in the Russia investigation. And Don Jr.’s role in the special counsel’s probe continues to throw off headlines. But the 40-year-old son is hardly ducking his head.
He’s beloved on the right as the embodiment of the Make America Great Again agenda. And he’s embracing his role as a popular emissary for his father, crisscrossing the country on campaign trips, penning op-eds in support of favored candidates and showcasing his new relationship with former Fox News host Kim Guilfoyle.
The son’s approach appears to mirror the father’s defiance toward special counsel’s Robert Mueller’s investigation. The enthusiastic reception he receives in many Republican strongholds is more evidence that Trump voters are rallying around the president’s criticism of the probe.
Trump Jr. has downplayed any talk of his own legal exposure stemming from his involvement in a 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which is a focus of Mueller’s investigation into possible links between the president’s election campaign and Russia.
Trump Jr. has acknowledged that he took the meeting in anticipation of receiving dirt about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
But Trump Jr. is a sought-after surrogate.
He has stumped in West Virginia, Montana, Florida and Kansas in recent months. In the coming weeks, he is expected to campaign in Missouri, Indiana and North Dakota.
“He’s one of the top draws, if not the top draw for people not named President Trump,” said Jason Miller, a top aide to the 2016 Trump campaign.
His appeal was clear in Great Falls, Montana, recently where he was cheered as he discussed his love of hunting in the state and laid into Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
“Just because Donald Trump isn’t on the ticket in 2018, (that) doesn’t mean that everything he has accomplished is not on the ticket,” Trump Jr. said, adding: “I’m going to be coming a lot out here in this fall, helping all of these guys.”
And the Mueller investigation? “I never see anybody at any of these events, nobody even brings it up,” Miller said. “The base loves him because he’s a true believer.”