Over the weekend Donald Trump fired off a tweet that admits he’s been lying to the public for months and shaves his “no collusion” argument down to a fingernail. But while Trump is unlikely to face the consequences of this admission, except as one of many contributions to proof that he has obstructed the investigation, this brief statement aims a big legal bus squarely at Donald Trump Jr.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrumpMark
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
Trump Jr. dutifully repeated the statement his father had provided—though they both knew it wasn’t true at the time. And if that was the end of it, Trump Jr. would be in the same position as Trump: knowingly and publicly disseminating a false story intended to halt or divert the investigation into connections between the campaign and the Russian government.
But for Trump Jr., that was not the end. He has repeated the statement in multiple forums. In particular, there was this statement:
Donald Trump Jr.: The meeting was instead primarily focused on Russian adoptions, which is exactly what I said over a year later in my statement of July 8, 2017.
That’s just one part of testimony that Trump Jr. made before the US Senate on September 7, 2017. And lying in that setting is a good deal more serious.
In his Sunday tweet, what Donald Trump is calling “fake news” is multiple stories that he was sulking around whatever golf course he happened to be inhabiting at the moment, worrying that special counsel Robert Mueller has targeted his son, Donald Trump Jr. But in attempting to call that story “fake news,” Trump admitted that the story he had been peddling for months—the assertion that the meeting arranged by Trump Jr. between Russian operatives at senior members of Trump’s campaign staff was about “adoption” rather than seeking Russian help in attacking Hillary Clinton—was an out-and-out lie.
In his Senate testimony, Donald Trump Jr. gave detailed responses on how the meeting was established, who he talked to in setting it up, and the structure of that meeting. From the beginning, it’s been clear that the purpose of the meeting was to attempt to get help from the Russian government against Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr.’s primary defense in this testimony is the phrase “not that I recall” which was frequently deployed.
But Trump Jr. is definite on some things:
Question: Did you inform your father about the meeting or the underlying offer prior to the meeting?
Trump jr: I did not.
Trump Jr. also denied there being a pre-meeting meeting with others in the campaign before the get together. However, on June 27, 2018, CNN reported that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was willing to testify that Trump did know about the meeting. Not only that, but there was another section of Trump Jr.’s testimony.
Question: Prior to the meeting on June 9, 2016, who did you tell about the meeting or Mr. Goldstone’s underlying offer to pass along information from Russia?
Trump Jr.: I believe only Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, I made them aware of it.
Question: Was there anyone else?
Trump Jr.: No, not to my recollection.
But the testimony that Cohen is supposedly prepared to give would include an “organizing meeting” that was attended by a larger Trump team. In multiple appearances, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani provided a handy list of those present: Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen and one other person. Giuliani reappeared on television later the same day to deny the meeting had ever occurred, despite having provided this rather detailed list.
The list of names shows that there are at least two reasons why Trump should suddenly be grumbling about Trump Jr.’s upcoming time in handcuffs. Not only is Michael Cohen willing to testify that he lied to the Senate and mislead investigators, Rick Gates was also at that meeting. Gates agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation months ago, and so has likely already provided information on this meeting—including any information that may have been relayed about Donald Trump’s knowledge of the upcoming event.
Trump is worrying about what will happen with Donald Trump Jr., because he has a very, very good reason to be worried. Trump Jr. has recorded testimony that is likely to be at odds with that provided by multiple witnesses. And that’s just on the events before and during the meeting. It doesn’t even touch on the “nothing came of it” lies about actions following the meeting.
It seems increasingly likely that the first test of whether Donald Trump can pardon someone whose testimony might be directly relevant to his own potential impeachment, could come in the case of his own son.
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Very heartwarming to see that the smart son in law Kushner is being carefully protected from this mess so far. Of course, he’s so very useful, while Jr. probably was born knowing he was supposed to be a tool for his father. And what a tool he has turned out to be!
Don Jr. will soon find out that his own father can’t help but sell him out to save his own butt. He’s got to be crapping his pants knowing that his father will do it. Then President Spanky will pardon him and act like he was a super hero for doing it. How hard is this story to tell?
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