Trump Jr. denies telling his father about Russia meeting

At his meeting with Senate Judiciary staff today, Donald Trump Jr. denied that he told his father about the infamous Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016 or took any Russians to meet his father following its conclusion, per CNN. Trump Jr. has made similar denials before, but the stakes are higher now as lying to Congress is a crime.

• More from the hearing: Trump Jr. also stated that Trump's tweet on the afternoon of the meeting — one of his first mentions of Clinton's 33,000 missing emails — along with Trump's promise on June 7 of a "major speech" on "all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons" had no connection with the meeting, stating it was all simply the way his father speaks.
• Why it matters: Trump Jr.'s statements here are both forceful and potentially disprovable if, as was the case when news of the meeting first broke, he gave misleading information.