Russia emails offered “high level” info
‘I love it,’ Trump Jr. replied to promise of dirt on Clinton
“I love it,” Trump Jr. responded to promise of Clinton dirt
President Trump’s WASHINGTON oldest son said he took a meeting with a Russian agent peddling damaging information about Hillary Clinton because he thought he “should hear him out.”
Donald Trump Jr.’s explanation to Fox News Channel came after he released emails Tuesday showing he knew the allegedly incriminating information was being peddled by the highest levels of the Russian government to support the Trump campaign.
In response, Trump Jr. emailed back, eager to set up a meeting. “If it’s what you say I love it,” he said.
Trump Jr., who along with his brother Eric took over management of the Trump’s business empire after his father became president, said he was releasing the emails via Twitter “in order to be totally transparent.”
But those emails appear to back up the most damning revelation in New York Times reports that Trump’s closest associates and family members actively sought information they knew was part of a high-level Russian government effort to support Trump’s campaign.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated a campaign of cyberattacks and fake news to influence the presidential election in favor of Trump.
A special counsel and multiple congressional committees are currently investigating whether Trump associates colluded with Russia.
Tuesday, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders read a statement from President Trump: “My son is a high quality person and I applaud his transparency.”
Sanders said Trump is “frustrated” that the Russian controversy “continues to be an issue.”
The emails came from Rob Goldstone, an entertainment publicist who was trying to set up the meeting at Trump Tower in New York. Goldstone told Trump Jr. that he had just heard “something very interesting ” from Russian singer Emin Agalarov.
“The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” Goldstone wrote.
Russia doesn’t have a position with the title of crown prosecutor but does have a prosecutor gener- al, who was appointed by Putin.
Aras refers to Aras Agalarov, a Russian businessman with ties to both Putin, who awarded him the Russian Order of Honor, and President Trump. Agalarov hosted Trump’s Miss America Pageant in Moscow in 2013, and he’s been known to serve as a gobetween for Trump and Putin in the past.
“This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” Goldstone’s email continued. Finally, Goldstone suggested that Trump Jr. send the “ultra sensitive” information to his father.
That never happened, Trump Jr. told Fox’s Sean Hannity, the conservative host known for his full-throated defense of the Trumps. “There was nothing to tell. I mean, I wouldn’t have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff,” he said.
Parts of the emails released by Trump Jr. appeared to be redacted, mostly to remove email addresses and phone numbers.
Seventeen minutes after Goldstone’s email, Trump Jr. replied to set up a phone call with Agalarov. “Seems we have some time and if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”
“Things are going a million miles per hour,” Trump Jr. told Hannity. “In retrospect I probably would have done things a little differently.”
On June 9, right after Trump clinched the Republican nomination, Trump Jr., Goldstone and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower.
Trump Jr. tweeted that the meeting never amounted to anything.
“The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was political opposition research,” he wrote. “She had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act.”
That 2012 law imposed sanctions on Russian government officials for the 2009 killing of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky by Russian police.
Russia retaliated by ending U.S. adoptions of Russian children, and lifting those sanctions has been a priority for the Russian government.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday his panel “absolutely” wants to speak with Trump Jr. about the Veselnitskaya meeting.
“In retrospect I probably would have done things a little differently.” Donald Trump Jr.