Trump ‘weighed in’ on son’s statement about Russian meeting
The White House has confirmed reports that President Donald Trump helped draft a statement on his son’s meeting last year with a Russian lawyer.
Trump “weighed in” on his son’s response to media last month but did not dictate it, the White House said.
Donald Trump Jr initially said the meeting was about Russian adoption before acknowledging he was offered damaging material on Hillary Clinton.
The president’s lawyer had denied Trump made any input to the statement.
The 39-year-old US first son came under scrutiny after the New York Times began reporting last month on his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a news briefing on Tuesday: “The president weighed in as any father would based on the limited information that he had.”
But she maintained he “didn’t dictate” the statement and the issue was “of no consequence”.
“The Democrats want to continue to use this as a PR stunt and are doing everything they can to keep this story alive and in the papers every single day,” she added.
Ms Huckabee Sanders said there was no inaccuracy in Trump Jr’s statements.
President Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Russia.
The Senate, House of Representatives and a special counsel are all investigating intelligence findings that Moscow interfered in the US presidential election in an alleged attempt to undermine Mrs Clinton – a claim denied by the Kremlin.
- I had no meetings with Russia as a campaign representative – Trump Jr (March 2017)
- It was a short meeting but we only talked about adoption – Trump Jr (8 July)
- I was promised dirt on Clinton but her statements were vague – Trump Jr (9 July)
- It was standard opposition research – Trump Jr (10 July)
- The president was “not involved in the drafting” of the statement – President Trump’s lawyer (16 July)
- The president “weighed in” on the statement – White House spokeswoman (1 August)
The Washington Post reported late on Monday that President Trump himself personally dictated the statement his son issued about the meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
The president was flying home last month aboard Air Force One from the G8 summit in Germany when he told his son what to say, according to the newspaper.
Trump Jr’s statement said he and Ms Veselnitskaya “primarily discussed a programme about the adoption of Russian children”.
The initial plan was for Trump Jr to fully disclose what he knew about the meeting, the Post says.
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