.jpg)
Donald Trump Jr. unwisely made a stunningly incriminating statement in an attempt to spin a bombshell article by The New York Times, making matters infinitely worse.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that Donald Trump Jr. met with a lawyer connected to the Kremlin at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.
Trump Sr.’s campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, and Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner also attended the meeting.
As the New York Times reported: Trump Jr.’s motive for attending that meeting “points to the central question in federal investigations of the Kremlin’s meddling in the presidential election: whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. The accounts of the meeting represent the first public indication that at least some in the campaign were willing to accept Russian help.”
Continuing, the New York Times reported that “When he was first asked about the meeting on Saturday, Donald Trump Jr. said that it was primarily about adoptions and mentioned nothing about Mrs. Clinton.”
However, Trump Jr. made a stunning admission on Sunday to the New York times when he was presented with their findings about the meeting.
As the New York Times reports,
In a statement, he said he had met with the Russian lawyer at the request of an acquaintance from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which his father took to Moscow. “After pleasantries were exchanged,” he said, “the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Mrs. Clinton. 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.”
“He said she then turned the conversation to adoption of Russian children and the Magnitsky Act, an American law that blacklists suspected Russian human rights abusers. The law so enraged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that he retaliated by halting American adoptions of Russian children.
“‘It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting,'” Mr. Trump said. [emphasis added]
Picking up on the importance of Trump Jr.’s admission, the Chicago Tribune published an analysis of what they described as “Donald Trump Jr.’s stunningly incriminating statement to the New York Times.”
The Chicago Tribune offered the following conclusion about Trump Jr.’s statement:
Read that last part again: “the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.”
Trump Jr. confirmed that he went into the meeting expecting to receive information from the Russian lawyer that could hurt Clinton. That is a breathtaking admission.
The rest of Trump Jr.’s statement is an attempt to minimize the value of what the lawyer actually told him. The outcome of the meeting and its effect on the presidential race is important, of course, yet it is kind of beside the point.
Trump Jr.’s attempt to obtain information from a Russian lawyer that could harm Clinton seems likely to alarm investigators, regardless of whether the effort proved successful. [emphasis added]
You must be logged in to post a comment Login