Reuters
Donald Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee last year he could not remember discussing the Russia investigation with his father, transcripts of his interview released Wednesday show.
The committee released thousands of pages of testimony about a 2016 meeting between Trump representatives and a group of Russians who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. The June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower discussed in the interview is being scrutinized by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his probe.
Trump Jr., when asked if he and his father ever discussed the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, replies “no, not that I remember.” Read the transcript of his interview.
President Donald Trump and his campaign aides have denied any collusion with Russia to influence the election.
In the transcripts, Trump Jr. says he was interested in listening to information about Clinton, and also that he was “skeptical” going into the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer.
“As it later turned out, my skepticism was justified,” he said. “The meeting provided no meaningful information and turned out to be not about what was represented. The meeting was instead primarily focused on Russian adoptions.”
Trump Jr. was also asked about what Veselnitskaya had regarding Clinton. He replied: “It generally started out as people with, you know, perhaps general interest in Russia. I’m not sure if they were U.S. or Russian based, but business people who were supporters of the [Democratic National Committee] and perhaps Hillary Clinton were in some sort of tax scheme to avoid paying taxes in both the United States and Russia.” He said he didn’t remember if Veselnitskaya gave him any related names.
Democrats on the Senate committee said the Trump Tower meeting “confirms that the Trump campaign was willing to accept Russia’s assistance.”
While the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation remains incomplete and must continue, we have made some clear and preliminary conclusions regarding the Trump campaign’s effort to obtain incriminating information on Secretary Clinton from Russia. https://t.co/Sxg2bQmjcW pic.twitter.com/T1Kpy8sk6O
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) May 16, 2018
Trump Jr.’s interview with the Senate committee was on Sept. 7, 2017.