May 16, 2018 - World
Senate releases transcripts from Trump Tower meeting probe
- Alayna Treene, author of Axios Sneak Peek
Donald Trump Jr. (R) walks to a closed door meeting with Senate Intelligence Committee. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The Senate Judiciary Committee released 1,800 pages of interview transcripts from Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony about a controversial meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer who has since admitted to working with the Kremlin.
Why it matters: The meeting has become a focal point of Robert Mueller's investigation.
Key findings from the transcripts:
- Trump Jr. said he didn't know if his father was involved in drafting the statement about the meeting: "I never spoke to my father about it." He said the president "may have commented through Hope Hicks."
- He said Hicks asked him if he wanted to talk to the president about the statement, but "I chose not to because I didn't want to bring him into something that he had nothing to do with."
- He said his email to Rob Goldstone — "I love it" — was "simply a colloquial way of saying that I appreciated Rob's gesture."
- Trump Jr. said he was "skeptical" of the meeting all along, and "my skepticism was justified" because "the meeting provided no meaningful information."