House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy criticized the Trump administration for the ongoing “drip, drip” of Russia-related revelations that escalated this week when the president’s son admitted he met with a Kremlin-linked attorney who promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
“Someone close to the president needs to get everyone connected with that campaign in a room and say, ‘From the time you saw Dr. Zhivago until the moment you drank vodka with a guy named Boris, you list every single one of those and we’re going to turn them over to the special counsel,’ because this drip, drip, drip is undermining the credibility of this administration,” said Gowdy, R-S.C., referring to the 1965 movie, in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday night.
Gowdy said the Russia issue has distracted the GOP-controlled Congress from advancing its agenda.
“There is a political component to it, which is: Here you are in mid-July asking me about Russia, and it’s not your fault that you’re doing it, but that’s how another week is starting here, so that’s a political concern,” he said. “You’re not here to ask me about infrastructure or tax reform or anything about that.”
Gowdy, a former prosecutor, would not speculate if Trump Jr.’s actions were illegal.
Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday released an email chain leading up to the June 9, 2016, meeting showing that he agreed to meet with the attorney, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was offering him “very high level and sensitive information” that would “incriminate” Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president.
Former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, also attended the meeting.
Trump Jr. told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday that in retrospect, “he probably would have done things a little differently.”
According to CNN, special counsel Robert Mueller plans to review the meeting between Trump Jr. and Veselnitskaya as part of his investigation of Russia’s election interference, and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
