Trump admits helping son draft misleading statement on Russian meeting
[]
Share
Copied
The White House admitted Tuesday that President Donald Trump helped draft a misleading statement about his son's meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer – deepening the president's entanglement in the saga over his team's ties to Russia.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had "weighed in, offered suggestions, like any father would do."
Trump's personal intervention, first reported by The Washington Post, casts doubt on claims he knew nothing about a meeting during the 2016 campaign that is now central to a federal investigation.
It also paints a picture of a president acutely aware of the scandal – and determined to manage it down to a minute level.
Donald Trump Jr. exits elevators at Trump Tower in New York, Dec. 6, 2016. /AFP Photo
Donald Trump Jr. exits elevators at Trump Tower in New York, Dec. 6, 2016. /AFP Photo
Allies fear that such a level of involvement, if proven, could put the Republican billionaire leader in legal jeopardy.
Politically, it will only intensify allegations that the White House is trying to cover up connections with a foreign government accused of trying to tilt the November election in Trump's favor.
"This was... unnecessary," one presidential adviser told the Post on condition of anonymity.
"Now someone can claim he's the one who attempted to mislead. Somebody can argue the president is saying he doesn't want you to say the whole truth."
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. /AFP Photo
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. /AFP Photo
Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow dismissed the report as "misinformed."
Emails show that Trump's eldest son Donald Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his then campaign manager Paul Manafort met Kremlin-connected officials in June 2016 in the hope of getting dirt on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
On the other side of the table were government-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian real estate player Ike Kaveladze and Rinat Akhmetshin, who has denied long-standing allegations that he works for Russian intelligence.
A British middleman pitched the meeting as an opportunity for the Trump campaign to obtain "very high level and sensitive information" as "part of Russia and its government's support" for the now president.
Former FBI director James Comey at a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. /AFP Photo
Former FBI director James Comey at a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. /AFP Photo
In a statement – allegedly dictated by Trump on Air Force One coming back from a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany – Don Jr said the meeting "primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children."
Trump's lawyers had claimed he was not involved in the meeting or its aftermath, and the Republican billionaire had rushed to his son's defense, accusing the media of a political "witch hunt."
One Republican congressman, Lee Zeldin of New York, told CNN: "I would be really interested in knowing what the president knew at that time."