Donald Trump Jr. wanted to prove he's a liar before the NYT beat him to it
It's unclear if Donald Trump Jr. felt left out by his dad and sister and brother-in-law being in the news a lot more than he is, but hot damn he overdid it a bit when he tattooed "we colluded" on his forehead.
No, no, he didn't really (although how surprised would you be, on a scale of 1 to not-at-all?). But his Tuesday tweets had the same effect.
Just as The New York Times was hitting "publish" on a story headlined "Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said," that would prove Trump Jr. had lied when previously describing the nature of his meeting with a Russian lawyer, Trump Jr. tweeted the damning emails himself.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Late last week, The New York Times began publishing articles about a meeting held on June 9, 2016, at Trump Tower. A British friend of Donald Trump Jr. set up the meeting, which involved Trump Jr., then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer connected to Moscow, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
After the first story, Trump Jr. said the meeting was just about an adoption program. Presented with evidence from The New York Times that said the meeting was about information that might damage the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, Trump Jr. said OK, sure, we talked about Clinton. Then, Tuesday morning, knowing the Times had the emails that led up to the meeting, Trump Jr. went ahead and published them himself.
The emails make it clear Trump Jr. understood this meeting was about information damaging to Clinton that came from a Russian government source, and was part of a campaign by the Russian government to help his dad win the presidency. In response to all this, Trump Jr., as the Times headline says, wrote, in an email now publicly available, "I love it."
The tweets prove Trump Jr. lied about the purpose of the meeting, and, if you're looking for a possible smoking gun of collusion , then -- as James Comey says -- lordy.
It's currently unclear how the Times got ahold of the emails or what this means for Special Counsel Mueller's investigation.
Topics Donald Trump Politics
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
