Donald Trump Jr. told senators that he was unsure if he told his father about the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian representative, according to more than 2,500 pages of testimony released by the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday.
The documents from the Republican-led panel included notes and statements from five of the eight people who attended the June 9, 2016, meeting, which was set up for allies of Donald Trump to discuss incriminating information on Hillary Clinton.
During the interview, Trump Jr. said he was unsure if his father was involved in later drafting a statement about the meeting, which has become a focal point in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
[Also read: Blocked number in Trump Jr.’s phone records remains a mystery in Trump Tower meeting timeline]
“I don’t know. I never spoke to my father about it,” he said, adding that Trump “may have commented through Hope Hicks.”
When asked if Hicks, then White House communications director, asked Trump Jr. if he wanted to talk to his father about the statement, Trump Jr. said:
“I chose not to because I didn’t want to bring him into something that he had nothing to do with.”
The White House said Trump was involved in drafting the initial statement after news broke of the meeting last year. Trump Jr. told House investigators previously that he did not talk about the meeting with his father ahead of time.
[Also read: Trump’s office was asked about a second meeting with Russia lawyer]
Ahead of the meeting, Trump Jr. emailed publicist Rob Goldstone, who set up the meeting. When told what the meeting could possibly yield — dirt on Clinton — Trump Jr. said: “[I]f it’s what you say I love it.”
Goldstone told the Senate committee that he was anticipating at “smoking gun” from Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
“I just sent somebody an email that says I’m setting up a meeting for someone that is going to bring you damaging information about somebody who was running to become the President of the United States,” said Goldstone in the transcript. “I thought that was worthy of the words ‘smoking gun,’ yes.”
The committee interviewed also interviewed Rinat Akhmetshin, a prominent Russian-American lobbyist; Ike Kaveladze, a Russian executive and a translator — all attendees of the meeting.
The committee did not interview Veselnitskaya, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law nor Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. Instead, the committee released a statement from Kushner and a short page of notes from Manafort. Statements from Veselnitskaya were also released.
When asked why it was important to release the testimonies, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley told reporters that the public deserves to know what they can about their investigation.
[Democrats press Sen. Chuck Grassley to share Donald Trump Jr. testimony with Mueller team: Report]
“What we’ve done so far in a lot of cases has been closed, and the public has a right to know. And the public can go through these 2,000 pages and make up their own mind and draw their own conclusions,” the Iowa Republican said.
Democrats on the committee released a statement arguing the interviews “reveal that top Trump campaign officials were frustrated and angry that the meeting did not produce enough damaging information on their opponent. Their efforts to conceal the meeting and its true purpose are consistent with a larger pattern of false statements about the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia.”
There was no dirt disclosed in the meeting, instead Veselnitskaya wanted to talk about U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia under Magnitsky Act.
In a statement, Trump Jr. said the documents’ release show he “answered every question asked.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to have assisted the Judiciary Committee in its inquiry,” he said. “The public can now see that for over five hours I answered every question asked and was candid and forthright with the Committee. I once again thank Chairman Grassley and Ranking Member Feinstein, as well as other members of the Committee and their staff for their courtesy and professionalism.”
This story is developing.
