We are learning a lot more about the controversial 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. The Senate Judiciary Committee released documents related to their interview last year with Trump Jr. The Associated Press reports:
“Donald Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he couldn’t remember whether he had discussed the Russia investigation with his father, according to transcripts released Wednesday of his interview with the panel.
The committee released more than 1,800 pages of transcripts of interviews last year with Trump’s son and others who met with a Russian attorney at Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 election.”
Trump Jr. seems to play the foggy memory card and also contradicts himself several times in his testimony, especially when talking about whether his father knew about the meeting.
A portion of the just-released transcript shows that Donald Trump Jr. says he never spoke to his father about drafting the July 8 statement about the Trump Tower meeting. Here’s the exchange: https://t.co/g5YhkSnTdj pic.twitter.com/cXnzdkkUOz
— CNN (@CNN) May 16, 2018
An anchor on MSNBC asked whether the “I can’t remember” line would fly would Robert Mueller’s team, if/when they interview Trump Jr.
In newly-released Senate transcripts, Donald Trump Jr. says he never talked to his father about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. pic.twitter.com/c6VH2wlDvY
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 16, 2018
New: Donald Trump Jr. said he was interested in “listening to information” about Hillary Clinton in June Trump Tower meeting with Russians promising dirt. “I had no way of assessing where it came from, but I was willing to listen.” – transcripts
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 16, 2018
The Washington Post also reports, “Trump Jr. deflected multiple questions during the interview, saying he couldn’t recall whether he discussed the Russia probe with his father and whether he spoke with his dad on the day the meeting was arranged.”
But then there was talk of a mysterious call Trump Jr. made that day to a blocked number.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/996744158458105856
During the campaign, Donald Trump himself was said to have used a blocked number.
This number won’t be blocked to Mueller. He has undoubtedly subpoenaed the Trump Organization’s cellular provider. https://t.co/3ScA5dzVsK
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) May 16, 2018
As for Trump Jr.’s reaction to the document release, he seems to think his responses were “candid” and “forthright.”
Donald Trump Jr.'s response to this release: "The public can now see that for over five hours I answered every question asked and was candid and forthright with the Committee." https://t.co/DSOuiITfNK pic.twitter.com/rwOaKU8aZg
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 16, 2018