President Trump insisted Saturday that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was quick to share personal emails about his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Russians, while former rival Hillary Clinton was not.
“My son Donald openly gave his e-mails to the media & authorities whereas Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted (& acid washed) her 33,000 e-mails,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning.
My son Donald openly gave his e-mails to the media & authorities whereas Crooked Hillary Clinton deleted (& acid washed) her 33,000 e-mails!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017
Trump’s statement was just one in a string of messages lambasting the press for printing leaked intelligence and focusing on his businesses and family instead of his administration’s achievements thus far.
Although Trump Jr. tweeted images of a handful of pages of correspondence between himself and Rob Goldstone two weeks ago, it was only done moments before the New York Times was about to publish them. He also failed to initially share that the meeting was between eight people, not the initial four mentioned.
Russian businessman Ike Kaveladze was identified Tuesday as the eighth person who attended the private meeting that was supposed to be about damaging information on Clinton.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now investigating the meeting. On Wednesday, Mueller asked the White House to hold onto all documents that relate to a June 2016 meeting between Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and people tied to Russia.
Mueller advised the White House about a forthcoming formal document preservation request. The notice referred to “any subjects discussed in the course of the June 2016 meeting” and also “any decisions made regarding the recent disclosures about the June 2016 meeting.”
“As you are aware the Special Counsel’s office is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of Donald Trump. Information concerning the June 2016 meeting between Donald J. Trump Jr. and Natalia Veselnitskaya is relevant to the investigation,” the letter stated.
Text messages, emails, notes, voicemails, or other communications are all required to be saved under a preservation request.
