Update: President Trump commented on his oldest son's controversy for the first time Tuesday afternoon, calling him a "a high-quality person" and applauding "his transparency" in a statement read by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
This story was originally published on July 11, 2017 at 11:40 a.m.
Less than 24 hours after reporting that Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email that the damaging information about Hillary Clinton he was promised came from the Russian government, The New York Times has published the contents of said emails.
According to the outlet, the email sent by entertainment publicist Rob Goldstone said the documents being promised "would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father." The email added, "This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump."
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The oldest Trump son responded by saying, "If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer."
According to The Times, after exchanging correspondence for four days, Trump Jr. agreed to meet with a "Russian government attorney" in New York and said he would bring along his father's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his brother-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Right before the story was published, Trump Jr. posted the contents of the email chain on Twitter, alongside a statement.
"The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research," he said, referencing a common practice during political campaigns.
Here's my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
The Times first reported over the weekend about Trump Jr.'s meeting with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in June 2016. At first, he said the meeting was about adoption policies related to Russian children. Once The Times revealed that he was promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton if he met with Veselnitskaya, Trump Jr. changed his story to confirm that he was offered documents, but the lawyer allegedly didn't deliver any important information.
On Monday, it was revealed that Trump Jr. was told the information on Clinton was coming from the Russian government. The oldest son retained a lawyer to help him navigate any inquiries related to the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
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