The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Trump Jr admits he was open to information about Clinton
President’s son had chat with music publicist
President Donald Trump’s eldest son has told politicians that he was open to receiving information about Hillary Clinton’s “fitness, character or qualifications” in a meeting with a Russian lawyer last year.
However, Donald Trump Jr insisted that neither he nor anyone else he knows colluded with any foreign government during the presidential campaign.
His description of a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, delivered in an opening statement at the outset of a closed-door Senate Judiciary Committee interview, provided his most detailed account of an encounter that has attracted the attention of congressional investigators and special counsel Robert Mueller.
In yesterday’s prepared remarks, Mr Trump Jr sought to explain emails he released two months ago that showed him agreeing to the meeting, which had been described as part of a Russian government effort to help his father’s campaign.
In his new statement, he said he was sceptical of the arrangement by music publicist Rob Goldstone, who said he had information that could be damaging to Mrs Clinton.
However, Mr Trump Jr said he thought he “should listen to what Rob and his colleagues had to say”.
“To the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out,” Mr Trump Jr said in the statement.
At one point during the email exchange, Mr Trump Jr had told Mr Goldstone, “If it’s what you say I love it especially in the summer”.
Mr Trump Jr sought to explain that remark by saying it was “simply a colloquial way of saying that I appreciated Rob’s gesture”.
Mr Trump Jr is expected to appear before the Senate intelligence committee at some point.