The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday that Donald Trump Jr.’s acknowledgment of a meeting with a Russian lawyer last June is the first clear public evidence that senior Trump campaign officials met with Russians to try to discredit Hillary Clinton.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the meeting with Veselnitskaya, according to Trump Jr., but he said he told them “nothing of the substance” prior to the meeting. Trump Jr. said it quickly became clear during the meeting that Veselnitskaya had no information he deemed meaningful and that Veselnitskaya primarily wanted to secure the meeting to talk about a law pertaining to adoptions.
But Warner said Monday that Trump Jr.’s acknowledgment of the meeting reveals a “continuing pattern” of Trump campaign and administration officials having “conveniently forgotten” meetings they had with Russians.
“It’s also a continuing pattern that we’ve seen since the election of Trump campaign and Trump administration officials who have conveniently forgotten meetings with Russians, only when they are then presented with evidence they have to recant and acknowledge those kind of meetings, ” the Virginia Democrat said.
Trump Jr. said in a Tweet Monday afternoon that he is willing to “work with” the Senate Intelligence Committee “to pass on what I know.”
“I’m not going to get into the witness list and the individuals that we have talked to or plan on talking to, but rest assured Donald Trump Jr. will be someone that we want to talk to, ” Warner said.
