The 2016 presidential election is the gift that keeps on giving—except nobody wants this gift. In wake of ongoing speculation about Russia’s potential involvement in the election, The New York Times reports that President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., was informed about Russia’s alleged attempts to aid his father’s campaign in an email. And in an even more bizarre twist, Trump Jr. himself posted images of the emails on Twitter on Tuesday.
The email exchange was with British publicist Robert Goldstone, who suggested that Trump Jr. meet with a Russian lawyer who had harmful information on Clinton. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” Goldstone wrote (emphasis ours). “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer,” Trump Jr. replied.
While the Times had already reported that Trump Jr. had a meeting with a Kremlin-tied lawyer during the campaign to learn damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the reveal of the actual email could support the theory that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the outcome of the presidential election. Trump Jr.’s lawyer said the president’s son “had no knowledge as to what specific information, if any, would be discussed” before going into the meeting. In a statement Sunday, Trump Jr. denied that the meeting actually had any useful information about Clinton, saying “[The lawyer’s] 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.” But it’s less about what information Trump Jr. got from the meeting, and more about the fact that he knew the information came from the Russian government and was meant to help a certain candidate win.
After the email was reported, Trump Jr. took to twitter to defend himself and said he would be available for congressional investigations.
Obviously I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent… went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017
Happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know. https://t.co/tL47NOoteM
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 10, 2017
He then tweeted pictures of the entire email chain, along with his written statement on the emails.
Here’s my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
Here is page 4 (which did not post due to space constraints). pic.twitter.com/z1Xi4nr2gq
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
It appears that he tweeted the emails to prove there was no wrongdwoing, but many thought they proved the opposite.
I’m genuinely puzzled why @DonaldJTrumpJr shared this. pic.twitter.com/Z4CrwGGK1W
— Anthony De Rosa (@Anthony) July 11, 2017
DON JR: ok so I hav this email, it says i did it
LAWYER: damn, ok. just don’t show anyone
DON JR [lookin up from twitter]: don’t b mad
— KRANG T. NELSON (@KrangTNelson) July 11, 2017
Ultimately, it will be up the the Justice Department and the congressional investigators to decide whether or not the meeting and email is significant evidence. But one thing’s for sure—U.S. politics are never going back to “normal.”