donald trump jr. replied 20 minutes later. in following emails, the two go back and forth about setting up that phone call. they eventually work out a time for a sitdown meeting with this russian lawyer. donald trump jr. also released a statement explaining that he was releasing the emails, to be transparent. he also detailed white the meeting. his statement reads in part, the information they suggested they had about hillary clinton i thought was political opposition research. i first wanted to just have a phone call but when that did not work out, they said the woman would be in new york and asked if i would meet. i decided to take the meeting. the woman was not a government official. she had no information to provide and want to talk about adoption policy and the magnetic state act. this was before the russian theory was invoked. the prior meeting was the most inane nonsense i'd ever heard. he was actually agitated by it. the russian lawyer at the center of this story spoke to nbc news when she denied working for the russian

donald trump jr. replied 20 minutes later. in following emails, the two go back and forth about setting up that phone call. they eventually work out a time for a sitdown meeting with this russian lawyer. donald trump jr. also released a statement explaining that he was releasing the emails, to be transparent. he also detailed white the meeting. his statement reads in part, the information they suggested they had about hillary clinton i thought was political opposition research. i first wanted to just have a phone call but when that did not work out, they said the woman would be in new york and asked if i would meet. i decided to take the meeting. the woman was not a government official. she had no information to provide and want to talk about adoption policy and the magnetic state act. this was before the russian theory was invoked. the prior meeting was the most inane nonsense i'd ever heard. he was actually agitated by it. the russian lawyer at the center of this story spoke to nbc news when she denied working for the russian

>> donald jr.,: no. well, goldstone, but not since this transpired. >> sean: this is a hypothetical. inhi any point in your mind did don jr. have a siren saying "okay, i go back to the first email about russia, russian government..." did you ever think maybe this not be -- >> donald jr.,: like i said, in retrospect, i probably would have done things a little differently. again, this is before the russia mania and building it up in the press. was opposition research. maybe concrete evidence to all the stories i'd been hearing about. that were probably underreported for years, not just during the campaign. it really went nowhere. it was apparent that this was not what the meeting was actually about. >> sean: let me ask a hypothetical. maybe you have thought about it since. since this has become russia collusion, et cetera. did you ever meet with any other person from russia that you know? >> donald jr.,: i don't even know. i have probably met with other people from russia. not in the context of a formalized

donald trump, jr. ed his e-mails on twitter and there's been a lot of response including from the british politician who tweeted this -- also this from eric trump. -- joining us now two men who wrote books on donald trump. michael d'antoni and tim brian. the president's initial statements today said my son is a high quality person and i applaud his transparency. were you surprised by that. >> i was surprised it was such a mild endorsement of his son. he ed the same kind of things about michael flynn before he was out. and i think just saying he's a high-quality person is almost throwing him under the bus. i would have defended my own son far more vigorously the idea that he's transparent to me that was an atta boy like you did the right thing, i think this was something he was directed to do. >> the white house has said now the president knew nothing with this until recently. in this e-mail chain donald trump, jr. is being told that the russian government is g backing his father there was no reaction to

that is donald trump jr.. donald trump jr. nothing came of the meeting because the russian woman he met with wanted to talk about adoption instead of destroying hillary clinton's campaign. that story will probably work for donald trump jr.. as the investigation proceeds because this is not a donald trump jr. story. meaning he is not the person in the most trouble in this story. donald trump jr. is now serving as a very convenient heat shield for his brother-in-law, jared kushner, who was also in that meeting, and was included on the e-mails entitled russia, clinton, private and confidential. the e-mails that set up that meeting. >> donald jr might face some legal liability for soliciting something of value to a federal campaign from a foreign citizen. that is against the law. but it is not clear that law could be applied to this kind of meeting. jared kushner is facing a much more serious criminal liability as a result of simply having received that e-mail. that alone. the e-mail. that is a serious criminal issue. for jared ku

donald trump jr. speaking to his father when his father put his father through the carrying on a affair with younger woman eagerly covered by toibed where trump was married to his donald trump jr.'s mother. the first mrs. trump. not speaking to his father might be a good idea now that both donald trumps have hired criminal defense lawyers to guide them through the investigation of their conduct durng the presidential campaign and the transition. trump biographer tim o'brien joins us next on the very troubled history of donald trump and donald trump jr. testinhuh?sting! is this thing on? come on! your turn! where do pencils go on vacation? pennsylvania! (laughter) crunchy wheat frosted sweet! kellogg's frosted mini-wheats. feed your inner kid so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ having mplaque psor

donald trump jr. who moments ago responded on twitter again, with this, media and dems are extremely invested in the russia story. if this nonsense meeting it all they have after a year, i understand the desperation. >> everybody lied. on the disclosure forms, everybody lied in the trump administration about this meeting. >> if there is a conspiracy to obtain foreign assistance, that's a crime. >> there was no other connection, no phone calls or no further meetings, this is a massive nothing burger. >> it is not standard political practice to seek information from a foreign government. >> we don't know all the details. i know it's serious and i said a long time ago it's serious and this is a serious situation and one that is a long way from over. >> we're now beyond obstruction of justice in terms of what's being investigated. this is moving into perjury, false statements and even into potentially treason. >> lots to talk about here, including the conversation with sebastian go rca. >> qutsz new york

donald trump, jr. pre-empted it. i think there's been some frustration on the part of donald trump, jr. and people close to him about how the last couple of days have gone in terms of the disclosures and the slow roll, drip, drip. in terms of kushner, i'm not entirely sure what you're asking me. >> our understanding is that for a second time he has amended the information that he gave in order to get a security clearance. he gave that once earlier and more recently he did that to include this meeting that he hadn't previously disclosed. my question is, was he aware that you were investigating and that's why he amended this or was this just a coincidence? >> more broadly, without getting into specifics about our reporting and the nature of it, jared kushner did amend his security clearance form, his foreign contact disclosures. i believe it was for a second time, included some reference to this meeting. around the same time paul manafort provided some more specifics to one of the congressional committees that is invest

and -- for, for donald jr. i think this was thrilling. ems the more the younger trump opened his mouth. the more he opened himself up to criticism. an avid hunter and rifle association member, don jr. found hill self defending a big game hunt when the photos made the rounds on seshl media. don jr. and brother eric proudly posing with trophy kills from a 2012 zimbabwe hunt, a leopard, a water buffalo, massive crocodile from a noose in a tree. and this, don jr. holding the tail of an el faint one hand, a large knife in the other. animal activists sounded the alarm. but the younger trump pushed back. sake, villagers were grateful for the meat. >> i have always been a hunter. something i have done a long time t it's tough to talk about something like this. i get it. the reality of the situation is, there are a lot of things. >> once you get exposed to it, you realize not like this savage thing that people try to make it. >> don jr.'s love of hunting so strong, he once even joked, that he might run the department of interior one day. >> the hea

donald trump jr.'s role in organizing it to congressional investigators who had questions about his foreign contacts. according to people familiar with the events. and so, ron, it seems to me that the trump administration knew this was coming out. manafort's disclosed it. the house investigators know it. now it's on jared kushner's disclosure form finally, and it represents a possible crime in jared kushner's case because he did not put it on his original disclosure forms. so at some point, the trump administration has the decision, do we want to see this thing come out in the middle of a house hearing that jared kushner is the witness at, where it lands as a bombshell on jared kushner, or do we want it to come out before that and maybe come out with donald trump jr. being the star of the article because donald trump jr. doesn't face the same criminal liability as jared kushner does. >> yeah. you know, they're shaping up for a very interesting thanksgiving dinner in the trump household. i mean it does

but that undercuts what donald trump jr. said that he had no idea the identity of this person or the identity. >> i'm not blaming it on donald trump jr., though. i think this whole thing, when you look at it, as a lawyer i look at the totality of the circumstances and the fax. this was a setup to do what? to really get in on the magnitsky act. that's what this was about. she went right down to washington, d.c., did the same thing in washington. and the end result of that was nothing. so i think the whole thing was put-up to begin with. >> but, you know, every former intelligence officer, cia officers who worked on russia for decades say the m.o. of intelligence services, many intelligence services, but particularly the russians is to use cutouts, people not directly employed by the fsb, to make an early approach to gather information. you can't say for sure that wasn't what was happening here. nobody at this point can say for sure, correct? >> all we know, all we know, all we know is the facts that we know. and the facts that

with the attorney donald trump jr. eved was a russian government attorney. we learn that had today in the newly released e-mails. 40 minutes after that meeting began at 4:40, donald trump responds to clinton's delete your account tweet from earlier, with his own dig. he tweeted, how long did it take for your staff of 823 people to think that up and where are your 33,000 e-mails that you deleted. i want to bring in jefferey toobin and carl bernstein. is donald trump jr. in trouble? >> he's going to be under investigation. we alwaysme want to conclude the matters based on one or two pieces of evidence. obviously, all of the trump campaign statements that there were no contacts with the russian government are now false and no longer operative, as they used to say during watergate. but that is not a crime. it's not a crime to lie to the american people, and even collusion is not a crime. certainly the question that's raised by these e-mails in particular is whether there was a campaign finance violation, which is, did the r

donald trump jr. clearly seems to welcome the offer telling goldstone if it's what you say, i love it, especially later in the summer. now this evening, donald trump jr. is speaking ot about those e-mails and the meet with the russian lawyer saying he would have done things differently. let's take a listen to some of his interview on fox news that aired just a few minutes ago. >> do you tell your father anything about this? >> it was such a nothing -- there was nothing to tell. i wouldn't have even remembered it until you start scouring through this stuff. it was just a waste of 20 minutes, which was a shame. >> did you ever meet with any other person from russia that you know of? >> i've probably met with other people from russia. >> not in the context of actual -- a formalized meeting or anything like that. because, why would i? in the grand scheme of things, how busy we were. it was much more important to do this. this was a courtesy to an acquaintance. >> our correspondents and analysts are here to

that it was donald trump jr. t that the information from this russian lawyer -- >> was actually about adoption and not something helpful to the campaign? >> congressman? >> yeah. listen, i mean, i think it's entirely significant. i take donald trump jr. at his word and you're recapping what he says he sat there for that purpose. that is why he went to the meeting. but i'm just pointing out that the rest of the pieces here of the story, of saying that this is evidence of the trump campaign colluding with the russian government, where if they were involved, packed into john podesta's e-mail to obtain information. the additional pieces would be at that meeting, this russian lawyer would be providing that to help the campaign. this whole story line is missing important points. i don't want to take anything away from, you know, taking donald trump jr. at his word as to why he sat down at that table. >> the story line is not collusion, it's the facts. we have the facts from the source, donald trump jr. we appreciate you

i wasn't even suggesting that donald trump jr. had met with russians with opposition on hillary clinton. i was just saying that the russians were getting involved in this election to help donald trump and hurt hillary clinton, which obviously turned out to be true. he called me a liar for saying that. i think now what's been revealed for the first time is potential real coordination between the kremlin and associates of the kremlin and the trump campaign. an i think we need to prepare at this point to see more of this. and to potentially see more direct evidence. >> jason, i want you to be able to respond to that. that interview in which donald trump jr. went after robby for raising red flags about russia, that was after trump jr. met with the russian lawyer who claimed to have information on hillary clinton. how do you square that? >> well, anderson, let's go back to the beginning when this meeting happened with don jr. so this was before any of this russia news had popped up or there was any sort of narrative or any conversation

tonight, we have donald trump jr. we will ask him every single question i can think of on this topic. don jr., good to see you. welcome back. >> donald jr.: i don't think there was any time left. >> sean: i get that a lot. let's start with the emails. the first email, let's talk about who with rob goldstone? >> donald jr.,: he's a talented manager for a russian singer, she performed at miss universe and later at the golf course tournament we held. >> sean: do -- >> donald jr.,: i met him at the golf course. i wasn't at the miss universe pageant. >> sean: heat sensitive this email. we will give you a chance.

donald trump jr.'s revelation that he met last year with a russian lawyer promising dirt on hillary clinton. there's that and there's donald trump jr.'s changing story about it. there's also repercussions. more on all of it now from our jeff zeleny. >> reporter: the white house faces a new round of questions tonight over potential collusion between the trump campaign and russians during last year's election. fresh off president trump's meeting with vladimir putin, it is another meeting in june of 2016 between donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer that's drawing fresh scrutiny. the russian lawyer, known for her opposition to u.s. sanctions against russia over human rights, said she had damaging information about hillary clinton. the white house on the defensive again, insisting president trump didn't know about the session in trump tower that came only two weeks after he clinched the republican nomination. white house spokeswoman sara huckabee sanders said the president only learned about it in the last

donald trump jr. is pushing back against this morning, steph. "the new york times" revealing new information about that meeting that he had in june with a lawyer that "the times" says has links to the russian government. the sometimes reporting that before that meeting donald trump jr. was sent an e-mail, nched in an e-mail that the material, damaging material about hillary clinton, was part of a russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy. so this is significant because this is the first time that we are learning that someone within the trump campaign and trump world met with someone with knowledge of this russian government conspiracy. now, "the times" also points out that the e-mail did not detail a broader conspiracy within the russian government but merely that this damaging information was coming from effectively a goal within the russian government to try to bring down hillary clinton. donald trump jr. firing back through his newly appointed attorney, steph, saying this in a stateme

donald trump jr. stating unequivocally he did not tell his father about this meeting. is that credible to you? >> it's difficult to say right now. i know the panel has talked to his layier who's also said the same thing. we know this is a family who had a personal relationship with the trumps. the father was donald trump's partner in the miss universe contest in russia. >> the family that reached out through rob goldstone to donald trump jr.? >> exactly. >> rob goldstone's the intermediary here. don jr. didn't say what are you kidding? clearly this is a familiar person. both the intermediary and the family to him. so it would seem to me if he got this kind of email he might have told his father. in fact rob goldstone said i wanted to send it to you first and don jr. never said don't pass it along to my father. but right now we have don jr.'s word and his attorney's word about this. so i think this is something the special counsel is going to have to get an answer to. >> and you spoke with donald trump

then donald trump, jr. the oldest son of donald trump at the time working on donald trump's campaign. and you have the tabloid reporter rob goldstone who donald trump e-mailed regarding the russian meeting with the kremlinx and they go back to the miss universe pageant in russia. the pop star, son ever the russian real estate tycoon. in fact he's the donald trump of russia. trump partnered with him to bring 2013 miss universe pageant in moscow which is when they met his son. so they were very familiar by the time the e-mail was sent. so you have the prosecutor general. this is where it gets interesting. the prosecutor is a putin appointee and also close with the other player in all of this, netalia is the lawyer who met with donald trump, jr. that day as well is jared kushner and paul manafort met there. you look at the faces on the screen and you have connection going back to miss universe pageant where goldstone was familiar with donald trump, jr. saying he could introduce donald trump, jr. to a lawyer who

donald trump jr.'s twitter account and these e-mails are staggering. again, this unquestionably depicts somebody saying the russian government wants to help the trump campaign with documents damping to hillary clinton, and donald trump jr. saying, "i love it" and setting up a meeting to do so. >> and taking the meeting. >> taking the meeting. what took place at that meeting is a whole other question and we have different versions of events. shifting versions in some cases. we still haven't heard from paul manafort at the meeting, or jared kushner, who was at the meeting's we heard from the russian attorney in question who's depicting this all as the trump people wanted damaging information on hillary. >> right. >> but she didn't want to talk about that. again, grain of salt when it comes to, to her story as well as anybody else's who hasn't been up front about this, but it's -- it's a staggering turn of events, and it's rather momentous. this can't just be -- this can't be dismissed as people out to ge

. >> donald trump jr. on the offensive.owing he was ready to accept russia's help defensive after row leasing e-mails that he was ready to help russian e-mails. all the chaos the white house is reaching. early start coverage begins right now. >> it is wednesday, july 12th. this morning already the white house in escalating chaos coping with the fallout from donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer and his release of an e-mail setting it up. the president's aides and lawyers have formed what the paper calls a circular firing squad, slamming each other for the decisions made since don jr.'s decisions made with the russians. providing the most direct evidence he was willing, even eager to accept help from a foreign adversary. very high level and sensitive information part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump. department jr.'s response, i love it. telling fox news, in retrospect he would have done things a little differently. >> this is 13 months ago before i think the rest of the world was talking about

i mean, you know, donald trump jr. said this is before everybody knew about russia's alleged involvement in the campaign. it's right there until the e-mail that they support donald trump. like i said, i think this is something that would normally send off alarm bells to somebody. it seems to be something that didn't with them because he is -- when all this news came out, he was dismissive of it. what's the big deal. i'm sure i'm not the only one that has done this. the idea that they were suggesting that maybe he sounded to the fbi, he made light of it. itis not something that seems concerning to them and they were happy to work with the russians. this is like if john podesta, bill clinton and chelsea clinton had a meeting with russia saying they supported hillary clinton and they were bringing information to harm donald trump. >> if it came -- in that meeting, they said nothing came of the meeting. ken, i was guess there would likely be another benghazi style hearing on capitol hill, no? >> i fully expect to see donald

when goldstone says to donald trump jr. is a meeting and part of the russian's government support to mr. trump, he -- that implies -- he presents it as if donald trump jr. already knows that the russian government is supporting mr. trump. so i think there's more about the context here we need to know. yes, it is possible she was unwitting and this was a dangle, or it is possible that there's a bigger picture here, more support. you know, today we have the mcclatchy story come out about the possibility that some of the data work that jared kushner had paid for made its way to the russians so that the russians then were able to target the fake news that they were pumping out through their bots on the internet through facebook and twitter, to states like michigan which basically hillary clinton lost by about 5,000 votes. so, you know, there might be a bigger picture here. i would like to know the context and why that was sort of obvious to donald trump that russia is supporting his father. >> you know, one of the things that -

donald trump jr. has released an e-mail chain detailing the plan for his secret meeting he had with the russian lawyer last summer during the campaign. a meeting that clearly was set up with the intent of getting incriminating evidence against hillary clinton from the russians. the meeting that we're told the fbi did not know about until now. the first e-mail from rob gold stone, a confidant of the trump family, sent june 3, 2016, reads in part, the crown prosecutor russia met with his father this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your dealing with your father. this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of russia and its government support for mr. trump. i can also send this info to your father, but it is ultrasensitive so wanted to send to you first. trump jr. then replies, thanks, rob, i appreciate it. if it

goldstone, he and donald trump jr. back to, well, the miss universe page enlt ant in russi through the pop star, the son of a real estate tycoon. in russia known of something as a donald trump of russia. trump partnered with him to bring the 2013 miss universe pageant to moscow. through that miss universe pageant that goldstone met the son, the origin of the relationship between the e-mail. very familiar by the time the june e-mail was sent. the prosecutor general where it gets particularly interesting about the information involved here. a putin appointee. and the lawyer who, met -- with -- with donald trump jr. in trump tower that day as well as with jared kushner and paul manafort. met there. look at all the faces on the screen there. you have a connection going back to, that miss universe pageant there. where goldstone was familiar with donald trump jr. goldstone saying he could introduce donald trump jr. to the lawyer connected to the kremlin. the lawyer of course, offering information provided by, chaika, the pro

now to capitol hill and new push to get answers from donald trump jr. about meetings with a russian lawyer. the senate judiciary committee wants donald trump jr. to testify. now we are hearing from top democrat. >> the vice chairman of senate intelligence committee did tell us that the panel has made a new request for document from not just jared kushner but also donald trump jr. he said they sent letters asking for information. this is another request that they have sent jared kushner. we know they have been in contact with the kushner camp to get information about contacts he may have had with russian officials. there are concerns that kushner was not forth coming in his initial documentation. this is the first of what we know is publically disclosed request to donald trump jr. it is uncertain if there have been private requests made in the past. mark warner made his request clear moments ago. >> we have made a series of document requests. we expect to be receiving those very shortly. we also as recently as this week have put out requests to donald tru

donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer after a middleman told him that she was a russian government official who had information that was part of russia's effort to help donald trump win the u.s. presidential election. that's according to an e-mail chain that donald trump jr. himself released today on twitter. he tweeted it just minutes before he knew that "the new york times" was posting a story with all of the details from those same e-mails. in the message, a british publicist claims to be working on behalf of a russian pop star and the pop star's father who is a russian billionaire with close ties to the kremlin. the publicist claims the pop star and the pop star's father met with the russian lawyer and that she had dirt on hillary clinton. the publicist later arrange as meeting between the russian lawyer and donald trump jr. at trump tower in new york city. "the new york times" wrote news over the weekend. the newspaper reported that the president's son met with the lawyer in june of last year

donald trump jr. on saturday, which was quickly -- >> it was a misleading statement. >> a misleading statement, which they had to quickly correct. this is malpractice of public relations 101. >> do they just not think it -- because they've known about the e-mails since june 21st. do they just not think it will ever come out in the media -- >> no, this is what happens when lawyers and public relations people get together and try and come up with a statement they believe will do the least harm in a way. what i think they didn't realize at this point is this thing would unspool itself. >> and they thought they could throw sand in the eyes of the media and the story would shift and the media would drop the story and move on to the next thing. they didn't think that it was going to -- >> and the problem is too much of a big deal, too much of a pivotal issue. it's the closest anyone has come so far to a smoking gun. so you don't forget the chapters preceding to that point. and to the republican party, i agr

right now, donald trump, jr., is being put in a very, very precarious position. >> sandra: what happens now? this statement from donald trump, jr., was just released, emails were just released. we have yet to hear the president respond to the release of information. what does this go? >> ari: is this criminality, and i don't think it is, but have to wait a long time for that to be resolved. the rest is political. the best thing that could happen to the trump white house is that the democrats hyperventilate and call it treason too far. it was not that, but it was bad judgment. if the democrats overplayed their hand, they'll make a bad decision. >> sandra: is donald trump, jr., doing a bad job of handling this? >> ari: yes. >> harris: two things, during the 2:00 our eastern when they are expecting another news conference, not news conference, but first press briefing. what we had first since president trump came back yesterday. tonight, exclusively on hannity, donald, jr., will be there. >> melissa: we've talked a lot about how the president approaches us from a business perspective and i

with donald trump jr. implying this is what you say i love it. here's what donald trump jr. said today. >> things a going a million miles an hour again and hey, came i've heard about all these thing and maybe this is something i should hear them out. this was basic information that was going to be possible. i didn't know these guys. if the talent manager from miss universe had this thing. i wanted to hear them out. >> did you tell your father anything about this? >> it was such a nothing there was nothing to tell. i wouldn't remember it until you start skouerring through the stuff it's literally a waist of 20 minutes which is a shame. >> he only released this stuff after the "new york times" had published them now he's telling the media it's a wasted 20 minute. david what's your response? >> i remember when i saw the initial story over the weekend when he was saying we met and talked about adoption. i was saying why would you have a meeting about adoption with this connected russian lawyer and why bring in jared kushner and paul manafort two leading figures in the campaign f

lou: donald jr. said his father knew nothing of the meeting. >> did you tell your father anything about this. >> no. it was such a nothing, it was nothing to tell, i wouldn't have remembered it until you scour through it. it was just a wasted 20 minutes, that a shame. lou: you can catch rest of sean's interview with donald trump jr. tonight, on hannity, 10 p.m. eastern on fox news channel. >> here now to talk about all of the day's news, battle over health care, and a lot of new developments, congressman jim jordan, serves on judiciary and oversight committee, a member of freedom caucusy, which we also cofounded. your reaction to donald trump jr. talking to a russian attorney, with no connection to the kremlin. but nonetheless, what do you make of this? >> well, you know, probably a meeting i wouldn't have taken, he shouldn't have taken, but in the course of a campaign could keep it i in context, there are tons of meeting who want to talk to you, they have meetings all of th the time, keep it in larg

donald trump jr. facing an expose has released what he says that e-mail exchange with the trump family business associate last year during the campaign. the e-mails make it clear that the trump associate, publicist rob goldstone, specifically offered what he described as information from the kremlin. russian officials quoted in the e-mail saying that goldstone said offered to provide the trump campaign with some official document sent information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. this is obviously very high level and sensitive information, said the e-mail, but is part of russia and its government support for mr. trump, closed quote. donald jr.'s response, 15 minutes later, thanks, rob, i appreciate that. he went on to say, if it is what you say, i love it. especially later in the summer. peter alexander is at white house. peter, an extraordinary e-mail chain. he says it is legitimate and the new york times said now from its managing ed

reporting right now that donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer after being promised damaging information on hillary clinton. this is the first public indication that at least some in the trump campaign were willing to accept russian help. donald trump jr. provided cnn with the following statement. i quote, i was asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance i knew from the 2013 miss universe pageant. i was not told her name prior to the meeting. i asked jared, and jared and paul to attend, but told them nothing of the substance. we had a meeting in june 2016, after pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated she had information that individuals connected to russia were funding the democratic national committee and supporting miss clinton. her statements were vague. and ambiguous, made no sense. no details or supporting information was provided or even ordinary. it quickly became clear she had no meaningful information. she then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of russian children, and mentioned it. it bec

they wanted it so badly. >> harris: donald trump, jr., is not an employee. he is now working in the white house. donald trump, jr., he can make whatever statements separate. he'll be on "hannity" tonight exclusively. >> i don't know the players that are there. this woman or the relationships or any of that. it would be inappropriate, really, for me to speak to that. i've never been in a presidential campaign. in that capacity. that is not an interface that i would have. i think what it speaks to is the frustration of the american people in the way you see all of this vicar, baker, personal attacks and campaign , and what the american people want is for us to make freedom important, keep this country free to hand up to future generations, and we respect that freedom. we treasure it. we do our part to make certain that freedom is going to stand at the end of the day. i think this is the time for us again to look at things that are happening from the left, the right, and for us as members of congress to say, commit ourselves to the quorum, civil conduct, get the

he told me that donald trump jr. leasing his e-mails was him being transparent rather than completely backed into a corner. i asked him about that several times. take a look. you're avoiding asking the question about donald trump's lack of transparency from the beginning -- >> total transparency. >> so him saying that this meeting was about adoption issues, was about his concern for orphans, that was true? >> it was. it was absolutely misrepresented. the individual who requested the meeting -- >> but that's what he said the meeting was about on saturday, when he knew all along by saturday that that's not what the meeting was about. so that's not being transparent, right? >> when he gave as much information as was necessary to be put out there after the collusion accusations. >> it wasn't correct information. >> it was. >> that this meeting was about adoption, about orphans? >> all of it was true. all of it was true. that somebody wanted to provide negative information. >> he didn't say that. >> that the meeting was un

and again, donald trump jr. has said the same thing, that it was in fact from him and i believe it was his lawyer -- i'm sure his lawyer was in consultation. >> you keep saying you don't represent donald trump jr., but can you explain -- >> right. >> -- why it took -- why it's taken six days to continue to find out more people who were in this meeting, more discussions about those e-mails? why was all this trickled out like this? it looks like a pattern of trying to at least if not total cover it up, at least mislead or deceive. >> well, look, you start with -- you use the phrase cover up. let's be realistic here. you've had lawyers on your broadcast and nbc has had lawyers on their network and everybody is coming to the same conclusion about the legality. there's nothing illegal about that meeting. covering up is a big word to use but there was nothing illegal to cover up. with regard to how the information came out, as i said, that was information that was controlled not by my client, not by the president, it w

the reason that donald trump jr. -- hold on a second. the reason donald trump jr.sely because he thought that a hostile foreign country would give information that would serve them in an election. there was the relationship, and if you think this is the only meeting that took place, you're naive about that. >> he did say it was a waste of time because there was nothing in it because he thought he was going to get something out of it. >> that's what he says. by the way, he's also changed his story about the meeting three times, and so i think we need to see more about what happened. >> he was told he would get dirt and he didn't get dirt. >> you're arguing something that i'm not arguing. and because he didn't, he's saying that the meeting was nothing and that nothing -- it doesn't matter, the intention was the same whether something came out of it or not. that's what i'm saying. >> both the intention was bad and something may have come out of it. a few days later donald trump gave a speech saying he would have a bunch of dirt on hillary clinton to announce, then he

its to the do with donald trump jr. needlessly draging it out. ump surrogates latched on to that word and praised donald trump jr. for sharing it. >> he was transparent. the entire chain. >> we are incredibly impressed by don jr.'s transparency. >> because it's completely transparent. >> how refreshing to have somebody take responsibility, be transparent. >> donald trump jr. is transparent. >> so listening to that you're given the idea that donald trump jr. is the very essence of transparency. >> did you ever meet with any other person from russia that you know? >> i've probably met with other people from russia but not in the context of a formalized meeting or anything like that. because why would i? >> today we learned the 2016 meeting that there the transparency is about was attended by at least eight people including another russian who has ties with russian intelligence, an allegation he denies. more on what the drum beat of shoes dropping is doing especially among republicans. >> someone close to the president needs get everyone connected wi

donald jr.-- >> we're still not going to know what was on the call. >> he says i don't remember what was said. pretty much the end of story. so i think, you know, it's all part of a mosaic that investigators have to look at, but there are a lot of questions they want to look at and one phone call, one e-mail is not going to determine, you know, the future of the trump administration. >> you know because, mark, here is what's interesting. they are coming up with excuses for what happened, but the most recent one is, you know, this is a guy i don't know well. this is an acquaintance and they have said that now several times. let me just play it. >> an acquaintance sent me this e-mail. i was basically sit thrg listening as a courtesy to my acquaintance. sometimes you do things differently for acquaintances than for friends. >> mark t poi, it doesn't matte whether it was your best friend, a brother or an acquaintance. who did you think you were meeting with to get what kind of information. on the e-

donald trump jr.'s response back then -- "if it's what you say, i love it, especially later in the summer," in other words, closer to the election. and now this tonight. >> do you tell your father anything about this? >> no. it was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell. >> so, let me ask everybody at home this. why should you, why should any of us believe that? this interview is like, i think his fifth attempt to defend the indefensible. don junior is the latest person in the president's orbit to mislead you, the american people, about their contacts with russia. former national security adviser michael flynn, attorney general jeff sessions, his own son-in-law and top aide, jared kushner, and now the closest yet, his namesake, donald trump jr. so, no one knows exactly where this investigation is going to end up, what it's going to uncover. the president and his supporters have said time and time again that this is fake news! it's a witch hunt! please, it's time to end that garbage. read the e-mails

donald trump jr. was told in advance that this attorney was with or representing the russian government. as for that attorney, he met with my colleague, keir simmons, who tracked her down in moscow, in an exclusive interview she denied any connection with the kremlin but in an apparent contradiction to what donald trump jr. has said, the attorney says the premise for the meeting was to discuss sanctions. >> reporter: what was the purpose of that meeting? >> translator: i never knew who else would be attending the meeting. all i knew that mr. donald trump jr. was willing to meet with me. i could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for probably the first seven to ten minutes and then he stood up and left the room. it was mr. jared kushner and he never came back, by the way. and the other individual who was at the same meeting was always looking at his phone. he was reading something. he never took any active part in the conversation. that was mr. manafort. >> reporter: they

donald trump jr. was told before the meeting he'd be given compromising information about hillary clinton that was part of a russian government effort to helps his father's campaign. russian government effort. those three crucial words, they are new, and very important, especially given the word that is missing. denial. no one in the white house or donald trump's orbit is denying this happened. >> that e-mail reportedly came from this man, rob goldstone, a publicist who helped coordinate the meeting. earlier this morning, the russian lawyer in that meet with trump jr. told nbc news this. >> translator: it's quite possible they were looking for such information because they wanted it so badly. >> they wanted it so badly. donald trump jr. has hired a lawyer. he says this is much ado about nothing. all of this is happening at the senate intelligence committee gets ready to begin interviews with trump campaign officials. first, our team of reporters on the ground covering all of the angles. let's begin at

donald trump jr. just releasing a chain of e-mails leading up to his meeting with a russian lawyer. a meeting where he hoped to get information damaging to hillary clinton. he released those e-mails, by the way, on twitter just after being notified by the "new york times" that it was about to publish those e-mails. this is from one of the e-mails donald trump jr. just posted. it's from the british publicist rob goldstone who helped around the meeting with a russian lawyer. "good morning, emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting." emin is a pop star whose businessman father has ties to president putin and did businessry president trump. the e-mail says, "the crown mince met with emin and offered information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father." continuing -- "this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but it part of the russia and its government's support for mr. trump helped along by em

i'm randi kaye and this is a special report, "the first son, the life of donald trump jr." ump jr., heir to a legacy still being built, destined to loom large over manhattan. >> i think one has to have some compassion for someone who's thrust into this role of almost a prince of new york city. >> donald trump jr. grew as the empew grew around him, a toddler as his father made his name as a developer, in grade school when ground was broken for trump office. >> i remember going trick or treating in his office. >> reporter: to see dad, john jr. and eventually shis sibling would need to visit him in the office. >> it wasn't the typical let's go play catch in the yard type of father/son relationship. >> reporter: a relationship that worked until the early 1990s when donald and ivan a trey iva divorced. >> he said things that no man should ever say about his wife in private let alone in public and i think it really affected done jr. and he went through a long period of time when there was a real chasm between father and son. >> reporter: they didn't talk for a year. >> i think don

and then donald trump jr. n after that, and i want to play some of his response to what you had said when you were blaming the russians for trying to interfere in the campaign to help donald trump. let's roll that tape. >> well, it just goes to show you their exact moral compass. they'll say anything to be able to win this. this is time and time again, lie after lie. you noticed he won't say, well, i say this. we hear experts. his house cat at home once said this is what's happening with the russians. it's disgusting, it's so phony. >> now we know not only that according to the entire intelligence community as clapper presented it last fall in january and since that it was the russians behind this, we now know that donald trump jr. had met with somebody billed as presenting information from the russian government to help trump and hurt clinton. i don't know the reality of what that actually was or what took place at the meeting, but we know he did take the meeting. your response? >> look, at every step along th

what exactly do donald trump jr.'s e-mails prove? >> criminal conspiracy to defraud the united states, plain and simple. >> will he have to testify? >> rest assured donald trump jr. would be somebody we would want to talk to. >> top democrat on the senate intelligence committee will be here live. >> and health care hustle? republicans taking another crack at repealing obamacare. >> i am sitting in the oval office with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me. >> breaking news on the latest development that threatens to derail him. a key senator reveals how she'll vote next. >>> plus, the biggest political minds with insights on what happens next. >>> hello, i'm jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is disapproving. a brand new poll out this morning shows president trump has hit a new low with american voters. just 36% say they approve of the way he's doing his job with 58% of americans saying they disapprove. remarkably almost half of the american people saying they strongly disapprove of the job he's

among many things, "at no time was there ever understanding or commitment that he, speaking of donald, jr., or anyone else, would find that information, whatever it turned out to be, to be reliable, credible, or of interest, or would even survive due diligence. bottom line, is that don, jr., did nothing wrong. the russian lawyer at the center of the story, natalia veselnitskaya spoke with nbc news. here's what she said. >> it appears that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc, how did they get that impression? >> it's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> have you ever worked for the russian government? do you have connections to the russian government? >> no. >> in any language, no, i don't work for the russian government. that's what she said. clearly, what will happen from this point forward, donald trump, jr., said i'm happy to talk to the senate intelligence committee and share what i know about that meeting et cetera, but there would be other questions now asked by lawmakers on capitol hill abou