Jr Trump’s emails on Russia a blow to White House
President Donald Trump’s credibility took a sharp blow after his son released emails that directly contradict months of assertions that investigations of possible campaign collusion with Russia were nothing more than a partisan “witch hunt.”
Just 173 days in office, Trump already has seen his political clout depleted by a stymied agenda in Congress and approval ratings consistently under 40 percent.
Now, confronted by evidence that Donald Trump Jr. was willing and eager for campaign help from the Russian government, the president faces emboldened Democrats in Congress and Republican lawmakers who may be even more likely to shy away from taking a big political risk on his behalf.
Trump, never one to back down from a fight, was unusually silent on Twitter about the mushrooming controversy over his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Democrat Hillary Clinton. He had no public events on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, the day he’s set to leave for France for a Bastille Day commemoration.
After his son released the emails on Tuesday, the president issued a one-sentence statement: “My son is a highquality person, and I applaud his transparency.” On Wednesday morning, the president said on Twitter, “My son Donald did a good job last night” on Fox News. “He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!” White House Concern Inside the White House, there is growing concern that there is more trouble to come. “It’s a firestorm here,” one administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.
The concern is especially acute for Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner attended the June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya along with Trump Jr and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Of the three, he’s the only one who now holds a White House job and a high-level security clearance. BLOOMBERG