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. and a family acquaintance with something to offer. from the opening e-mail dated june 3rd of last year, some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and would be very useful to your father from a music producer named rob gold stone passing on information he says is from a russian pop star who is the son of a real estate mogul known as the donald trump of russia. gold stone goes on to say, "this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump." that's the offer, dirt on hockey gathered by a foreign adversary to help him become president. trump's junior reply, if it's what you say i love it especially later in the summer and from there trump junior and gold stone go on to set up a meeting with what he calls the russian government attorney who is flying over from moscow. then in the next e-mail, the russia attorney. several more e-mails follow before donald trump looping in paul manafort and

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 inves

donald trump junior, his washington related to donald trump. donald trumpjunior, his son, has admitted to meeting a russian lawyer after she promised him damaging material about hillary clinton. it happened during the 2016 election campaign. this is the original story in the new york times. at the time, donald trump junior confirmed he in the new york times. at the time, donald trumpjunior confirmed he had met with this woman but claimed the campaign was not discussed. a day later he changed his story and admitted that they had met under their belief that information about hillary clinton would be shared. donald trump junior says that no information was offered and it quickly became clear she had no meaningful information. the president's son—in—law was also at that meeting. we just got this update. donald trump junior that meeting. we just got this update. donald trumpjunior has hired in new york lawyer to represent him in connection with those russian related investigations. we can get more on this from washington. we just had an offer fr

donald trump is the issue. it is not his staff. >> i heard an amen from you, a little bit there, michael steele. >> he hit it right out of the park. that is exactly the scenario that republicans have invited into their party. and they are going to have to live with it. this white house, this president in particular ideally would like the separation between himself and the party, why? because he's never been connected to it. he's agnostic on 90% of what republicans and particularly conservatives artic lit and he's philosophically anywhere at any given time and the philosophy is donald trump. and this is the reality of the party, you've seen it play out. you think you will get an agenda done on big stuff like infrastructure and tax reform when the president himself has not anchored the principles of where he wants the policies to go. good luck. >> yeah. it is going to be interesting trying to get things done in washington when you don't want to be connected to either the democrats or the republicans and don't wan

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

shoulders -- >> donald trump. >> donald trump jr.'s shoulders. i think in jep not only is it sort of an example of collusion, this shows that they were open to it. i mean, look, i've run campaign, lots of people watching have run campaigns. you are very careful about who you neat with when you are a member of a campaign staff. you don't just run around with anybody. it's hard to believe unless trump tower or some house of mirrors or fun house, all these people in and out, reince priebus shows up, everybody else shows up and nobody had a conversation with the now president of the united states about what was going on. this shows there was a level of collusion and discussion and these guys were willing to talk to anybody if they thought it would help them, which means our entire country is potentially at riting. >> the russian lawyer says they wanted the meeting so baldly, i.e. donald trump jr. or the trump campaign. they could say we wanted opposition research, wanted the dirt on hillary clinton. if they were to make that argument, wha

donald trump, jr. and questions of election meddling by russia. donald trump, jr. released the email chain with his plans for meeting with a russian lawyer last year. that lawyer allegedly had connections to the kremlin. emails between trump, jr. and rod goldstone shown in part gold stone appearing to offer incriminating information about hillary clinton as "part of russia and its government support for mr. trump." trump, jr. replying "seems we have some time and if it's what you say, i love it. especially later in the summer." white house responded today and with a written statement. >> i have a quick statement i will read from the president. "my son is a high-quality person and i applaud his transparency. beyond that, going to have to refer everything on this matter to counsel and outside counsel and won't have anything else to add." >> bret: earlier in an interview with nbc news, the russian lawyer at the center of it denied working with the russian government or having any links to it at all. >> th

and what donald trump is doing, what donald trump jr. is doing, what ivanka is doing, what the family is doing, paul manafort, michael flynn, the list goes on and on and on. it's unethical at best, treasonous at worst and they sold the united states down stream. whether or not they knew it, ask the question that we asked nixon, when did the president know it. that's the question. >> kevin madden, i'm going let you respond to that. last word. >> no, i think bakari has some passion behind this. i think it's indicative of just how i think passionate so many of the president's opponents feel. but you know, clearly i side with scott, as esaid earlier, which is the white house clearly has a challenge on their hands when it comes to changing people's minds about this, and the drip, drip, drip of information is going to continue to be a challenge. they have to get out in front of it and tell their story better. >> kevin, you and i have been working together for a long time. i remember working on the obama campaign when we were working for cnn an

that is donald trump jr.. donald trump jr. said 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 jar

donald trump jr. he made this request along with the republican chairman of the committee. he wants more information from kushner raising concerns that kushner did not disclose some key meetings in warner's words three meetings with russian officials left off some initial forms as well as information he is looking for from donald trump jr., presumably information related to this newly revealed meeting from last year with this russian lawyer. now, the question is when those two men will come before the committee. warner would not say when that would happen. either richard burr who i talked to about as well. but clearly these two men of interest to the committee as they are demanding more records. >> and i know you also had a chance to speak with the top republican in the senate judiciary committee, and he had something important to say. >> yeah, he did. he actually wants to hear from donald trump jr. in his own committee. this is the first time we've heard a republican chairman making this formal reque

donald trump jr. promises the whole story is now out. >> i am more than happy to be transparent about it and cooperate with everyone. >> as far as you know of this zepis everything? >> this is everything. >> it is not everything. over the next three days the number of participants in this meeting multiples. nbc learns in addition to the kremlin lawyer a former intelligent officer was also there and there was a translator present and some republicans in capitol hill are losing patie e patience. >> this is a serious situation and one that's long way over. joining me now is one of president's trump lawyer, welcome back to "meet the press." >> lets start with this. do you know for sure everyone who's at the meeting at donald trump jr. ? >> i don't represent donald trump jr. and i do not know everyone for sure was at the meeting. the president was not aware of the meeting and he did not attend it. >> when did the president become aware of the meeting? >> the president said, he became aware of it recently a

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 doing. 55% say the president is not making progress on his agenda. overnight the number one item on president trump's agenda, healt

donald trump jr.'s saying his explanations, what are you thinking? >> what he said in that e-mail, if it's what you say it is, i love it. the question is what part did he not love or did he take the information and want to hold on to it, not give in saying that this was what he wanted. there are a lot of questions still about what's going on. but, there is a lot of smoke around here when it comes to these e-mails, and at issue -- and i'm going back to something david said. when you look at the support for donald trump, president donald trump right now, yes, his base is supporting him still but there is a little bias, some republicans on the hill that are looking at this askew. but tame you have rob there are people who are putting a lot of stock into this investigation, mueller. and if mueller sees the smoke and finds the fire, we'll wonder will things change. will there be people saying there is something serious, not just owner the democratic side by the republican side. and for both donald trump jr

speaker, on july 11, donald trump jr. released a series of emails regarding his meeting with a russian government lawyer and an individual associated with the russian intelligence. don jr.'s emails are a smoke gun. it proves that the trump campaign was not only aware of the russian government's efforts to med until our elections, they were -- meddle in our elections, they were enthusiastic about accepting russian support. what follows are the contents of those emails. they paint a disturbing picture of a campaign and now an administration willing to break the law and sell out to an adversary of the united states, in order to advance their own petty interests. our hope is that the american people will carefully consider the content of these messages and what they say about the fitness of donald trump and his senior advisors to hold high office. we'll begin. a comment posted by donald trump jr. on july 11, 2017. to everyone, in order to be totally transparent, which we now know he wasn't even in this email, i'm releasing th

do believe donald trump should bring that up? >> i think he should, just to poke the people who are complaining in the i and remind vladimir putin, cyber is a 2 way street. another place that was an actual issue and actual cyber attack, not a phishing scheme like everybody gets in their email which is what the election was about was in the ukraine. the attack last week that hit a bunch of computers in the ukraine and elsewhere was likely the russians. that should come up. people who were dismissing trump as the weaker person in this meeting failed to understand he has been in high end negotiations with sharks in the business world, bureaucrats in new york city, organized crime leaders and others. he had to deal with difficult people before. he is not going to be a disadvantage against vladimir putin. heather: it will be interesting to see what shakes out. thank you for joining us this morning, we appreciate it. have a great day. let's check in on "fox and friends," it is friday, you are outside. >> reporter: kind of a lousy day.

that donald trump, mr. trump somehow seems to believe that his outsized personal and social media following make him larger than the presidency which a lot of people have been saying. he's wrong. he and his family seem oblivious to the brutal realities of washington politics. those will destroy mr. trump, his family and their business reputation unless they change their strategy toward the russia probe. they don't have much more time to do it. it's saying he thinks he's larger than the presidency and the family does, as well. they're dead wrong. >> yeah, i don't know whether they think they're larger than the presidency or not. i know this, the reality of the russia issue is threatening to engulf this particular presidency. there's a way for them to get a handle on it, a, they should go testify. donald trump jr. at least and kushner. b, i think i would ask for the russia sanctions bill immediately. c, i would have the intelligence community come to the white house, give me a full updated briefing on the med

donald trump, donald trump jr., and the ago lair offs. i had actually interviewed months ago rob goldstone because i wanted to understand what went on in moscow 2013 when trump went there. and he laid out that there was much more to the visit than people sort of understood. there was a formal letter of intent signed between the trump organization and the agilarovs to build a trump tower in moscow. donald trump jr. was put in charge of that project. ivanka trump flies over to moscow in february 2014 to scout sites for the trump tower. then what happens? russia invades -- annexes crimea, intervenes in ukraine. the us and eu impose sanctions, and the sanctions tank the ruble. and basically undermine the whole project. it's no longer economically feasible. so that's a significant point when we look at trump's interest in lifting sanctions. it may have been a factor in his viewpoint of this. but when you look at the e-mails and you see that it's the agilarovs who are very close to putin, who are providing this -- offering this intelligence to

and then donald trump jr. came on 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 a

. >> donald trump is a genius. [laughter] he plays the media like a little cat with a flashlight. >> iraqi forces coming close to defeating isis in mostly. >> the u.s. backed alliance syrians, arabs and kurds are closing in on the roughly 2500 isis fighters that remain.

. >> we haven't put donald trump jr. or the russian lawyer. well did play an interview that the russian attorney gave. but of course if she is linked to the kremlin, she is going to deny it. >> jim acosta said they spoke to the russian-american. >> right. the other guy. >> and he said nothing happened. let me go back to the legal issue for just a moment. because i'm the lawyer. here is the legal issue. what law was violated by that meeting is? and your experts have said it too. nothing. and at the end of the day that's what this is about. >> we have to take a break. if you could just stick around, a couple more questions. i'd love to continue the conversation. >> great. >> we'll be right back. no. with claim rateguard your rates won't go up just because of a claim. i totally could've - no! switching to allstate is worth it. over the course of 9 days sthe walks 26.2 miles,. that's a marathon. because he chooses to walk whenever he can. and he does it with support from dr. scholl's. only dr. scholl's has massaging gel inso

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 sticking around for our additional questions. >>> president trump has a question for lawmakers who say health care reform is dead. he says he can't imagine being in d.c. without a plan for repeal and replace in place, next.

nobody can rely on donald trump. so they better figure out ways to fend for themselves. >> christopher joining us from paris, steve joining us from -- steve, where are you? d.c.? >> washington, d.c.. >> thank you, sir. i didn't want to get it wrong. great to see both of you. we want you to stay close. back in a few moments we're going to discuss more. back here we're talking about health care. with town halls happening it's doing to make it hard to pass the bill. hot, heated, folks are angry. we'll leave you with this beautiful shot of the nation's capital. (vo) living with ammonia odor? not a pretty picture. (vo) luckily, tidy cats lightweight with new ammonia blocker tackles tough odor, even ammonia. so long stankface! (vo) ammonia like that? there's a tidy cats for that. tha...oh, burnt-on gravy?ie. ...gotta rinse that. nope. no way. nada. really? dish issues? throw it all in. new cascade platinum powers through... even burnt-on gravy. nice. cascade. did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back?

president donald trump. also what we're seeing here as well -- there is a divide between what the u.s. and south korea want in their policy with north korea and how to deal with the country. and then what china and russia wants. certainly this is something that is being played out here in south korea. media is focusing quite heavily on this perceive d divide betwen the two sides, them versus us, how to deal with north korea. china and russia asking that there is a halt in the u.s.-south korea military drills in return for a halt or freezing in north korea's nuclear weapons program. it's been rejected in the past. china has suggested this in the past. but it is a divide that is concerning some here in south korea. hannah? >> paula hancocks, thank you very much. in seoul, south korea. >>> well, moscow is urging washington to end its joint military drills that it conducts with south korea. matthew chance is with us now live from the russian capital, moscow. the u.s. and russia at loggerheads again over what to

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 wh

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

last night donald trump jr. asserts that no information exchanged hand, high walked out thereof, it turned out to be not what was advertised, they started talking about adoption, ja jared kushner was on his phone. >> there's a legal issue raised here and -- about intent in a couple of places and a couple of respects. first of all, there is the overall intention to do business with the russian government over the campaign. that's going to color the interpretation of a whole host of other facts that we both know about and that may still surface in the investigation. second, the meeting itself could constitute a solicitation of something of value from a foreign national under the federal campaign finance laws. bear in mind that donald trump jr. says if what you say you have, then i would love it and it would be more useful later in the summer. under regulations of the federal election commission, the entire exchange constitutes on the part of the campaign potentially a solicitation of something of value, which is a

but, donald trump jr.'s e-mails showed a guilelessness, in a sense, if you really think something is wrong happening, going to be doing something, you are not going to put it in an e-mail. not say, yes, absolutely. >> that's exactly what he did. >> but nothing happened. and nothing illegal was, but nothing illegal was represented even in that communication. >> it is interesting though -- >> look, i think you are right -- >> one of the things we are learning we may not have laws that deal with this sort of thing. i think the idea that this is a campaign finance violation, i mean those are -- >> interesting, you know the idea that donald trump jr. is just gullible and naive, you know, naive. he has talked in the past about the difficulty of doing business in russia figuring out who you are meeting with, if they're legit, if they can back up what they are saying. the idea that he would go into a meeting with a, with a russian lawyer who has been described to him as a "lawyer for the government" a government wh

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 few days. >> i would certainly say don jr. did not collude with anybody. our position is no one in the trump campaign colluded. >> reporter: but it's the first ak nlment people in trump's inner circle were willing to accept help from russians. the question of whether they accepted any is the subject of a special counsel's investigation and inquiries on capitol hill. the president's oldest son said he, jared kushner, and campaign chairman, paul manafort, agreed to meet with the russian lawyer to hear what she

be under the same accusatory veil as donald trump junior? they all meet with russians. all of them. >> they should meet with russians but they are not running a campaign! he was a central actor in his father's campaign and he responds to an email that says, here's information intended to interfere in the campaign provided by the russian government, come to the meeting, and he brings the campaign chai chair. >> eboni: we will take a very quick break. we have a lot more to say. we will be right back. ♪ whoooo. i enjoy the fresher things in life. fresh towels. fresh soaps. and of course, tripadvisor's freshest, lowest prices. so if you're anything like me... ...you'll want to check tripadvisor. we now instantly compare prices from over 200 booking sites... ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. go on, try something fresh. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. will >> i think the mainstream media as has probably done themselves a pretty big for sere by going so far, like going so extreme, by being so sensati

donald trump jr. who became the first in two reveal what he his father, trump administration campaign denying more than a year. contact with russians by members of the campaign, and, resear researching hillary clinton. in june of last year, meeting a russian lawyer who they believe was from the russian government. seeking what they were told was kremlin information, damaging to secretary clinton. recall when the story broke saturday, donald trump jr. failed to mention that saying instead, the meeting was abut americans being barred from adopting russian orphans. then he did disclose the political angle. disclosed e-mail he's believed he would be getting dirt straight from the russian government. that was when he, when he also said there was, there were no more shoes waiting to drop. well, today another one did. cnn has learned there were more people in that meting than previously known or that donald trump jr. admitted including russian-american lobbyist with alleged ties to russian intelligence. he d

saw from donald trump jr. of surprise. that seems to be a major headline for someone in the midst of a campaign to discover and yet it seemed almost like a second reference or that this was sort of a known fact already. >> exactly. and i think that kind of presumption makes anyone -- you don't have to be a lawyer or a prosecutor to think this, hey, wait a minute. if i got that e-mail, i'd say, whoa. and i'd say that if i was the trump administration. but instead it seems like this is just a part of the general course of business and certainly opposite of what we've been being told throughout the campaign, that they had no relationship with the russian government. and here you see a meeting with his son, his son-in-law and his campaign chairman directly with a high-powered lawyer who works directly with the kremlin. >> in the e-mail chain again, we don't know if it's complete, donald trump jr. wants to have a phone call with the russian oligarch's son who is a pop star in russia who is the conduit to set up thi

donald trump jr. speaking out about the emails saying in retrospect he would have done things differently. let's listen just a few minutes ago. >> did you tell your father anything about this? >> no. it was such a nothing. there was nothing to tell. i mean i wouldn't have even remembered it except you start scouring through the stuff. >> did you ever meet with any other person from russia that you know? >> i don't know. i've probably met other people in russia. not in the form of a formalized meeting because why would i? how busy we were, this was a courtesy to an acquaintance. >> our correspondence and analysts are here to help us analyze donald trump jr.'s interview. 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 th

donald trump jr., next. >> sean: thanks to our friends on "the five." donald trump jr. is here to set the record straight about his june 2016 meeting with the russian lawyer. he will join us for an exclusive in-depth interview. that's coming up. by the way, for all the members of the district or media that have to tune into my show tonight, get out your pad and pen. you may actually learn a thing or two. we have a message for you. maybe you want to take notes. we want to lay out the real scandals that you are not covering that you should be covering. if you were actual journalists, you would be. let's lay out the facts of this story. that is tonight. important opening monologue. earlier today after "the new york times" reported on the content of email exchanges prior to this meeting at trump tower, donald trump jr. released what he said is the entire email chain. contact was initiated by rob goldstone, a music publicist who represents a russian pop star who knows the trump family from the 2013 miss un

donald trump jr.'s e-mail exchanges will be part of the investigation as well. details of the contacts were not fully known to investigators until recently. the times is also reporting the e-mails were only discovered after mr. trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner updated his security clearance form after initially failing to disclose his involvement in that meeting. as the possible legal and political consequences escalate for the president and his inner circle, we'll ask president trump's lawyer what mr. trump knew and when. we're covering this breaking story from every angle with our team of correspondents and analysts. let's begin with those explosive e-mails between donald trump jr. and rob goldstone who was working to arrange a meeting between the russian lawyer and the trump camp in june 2016. the russians were offering, quote, official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. goldstone adds thi

donald trump jr. defenders, that nothing came of it. that's what the president claimed yesterday. >> in the case of don, he listened. they talked about adoption and some things. adoption wasn't even part of campaign. but nothing happened with the meeting today. zero happen. >> that's not what the lobbyist at the center of all this said. according to him, the russian lawyer brought with her a plastic fold we are printed out dpomts detail what had she believed was the flow of illicit funds to the democratic national committee. >> joined now. >> the rinat akmetshin is a lobbyist who has been in washington since the mid 1990s. a lot of us who report on international affairs knew him. he has worked on a lot of issues as both the lobbyist and a p.r. guy. having 22nd the former soviet space. and he is a pretty talented operator. >> yeah. my sense is as he man about town in d.c. people know him. he knows the right people. he is at different functions. he is not some obscure figure. >> that's certainly true. >

knew about donald trump jr.'s e-mails about the meeting weeks ago. weeks ago, not a couple of days ago. sources told yahoo news that marc kasowitz, the president's chief lawyer in the russia investigation, and alan garten were both informed about the e-mails in the third week of june after they were discovered by lawyers for kushner. now, we told you here already that we know about these e-mails because jared kushner's lawyers found them. that's how we know about them. the first people to read these e-mails after they were sent last year -- the first people to read them this year were jared kushner's lawyers. consider this package in "the new york times." mr. kushner supplemented the list of foreign contacts three times, adding more than 100 names, people close to him said. so people close to jared kushner are telling "the new york times" about jared kushner updating his security clearance application. team kushner is obviously an invaluable set of sources for "the new york times." but people in the white house p

sto >>> donald trump jr.'s meeting with the russian lawyer leaving the white house in turmoil, but what about the trump family? i want to discuss with author of "why wall street matters "snoorks do" "why wall street matters "snoorks do" ," douglas brinkley and cnn contributor emily ann fox. emily, i want to start with you. we talked about the staff, now let's talk about the family. what are you hearing from your sources about how they're dealing with the fallout on this donald jr. e-mail? >> i think eric said it best on twitter yesterday when he said our family is incredibly close. what you see when times are tough for this family is that they are brought closer and closer together, and i think it's a very us against them mentality and we're seeing that now as we've seen that for years and years and years. what you have to remember about this family, particularly the children, is that they have been in the public eye their entire lives and they have been in the papers their entire lives, and so i think they kn

accepted donald trump's attacks on the khan family. he was their nominee for president by then, and republican senators made it clear that they would accept anything their nominee said or did. when donald trump was revealed on a video recording to have bragged about sexual assault and described his own technique of sexual assault, republican senators accepted that. republican senators with daughters accepted that. republican senators with wives and mothers and sisters accepted that. donald trump describing himself as a sexual assaulter was something that republican senators had no problem accepting. president trump woke up one morning and tweeted lies about president obama illegally wiretapping trump tower, and republican senators accepted that and let's never, ever forget that republican senators accepted donald trump lying about president obama's birth for over five years. now, what i would love to be able to do right here is just sit here in silence with you as we all just let it sink in. what republicans and republican senators in

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 became clear this was the true agenda all along and claims with potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting. i interrupted and advised her my father was a private citizen, and that her comments and conc

president's son after donald trump, jr. admits he met with a russian lawyer expecting to get damaging information on hillary clinton. >>> tonight, new questions about collusion, and what the president may have known. weakening sanctions, did the trump administration secretly try to water down legislation that would slap new sanctions on russia and the putin regime? we're going to tell you what we're learning this hour. >>> widening split, as more senate republicans refuse to support the republican health care bill, the president is daring lawmakers to skip their august recess while staying largely absent from the nitty-gritty up on capitol hill. is there any real hope for progress in the days ahead? >>> and taking back mosul as iraq declares a crucial victory against isis, cnn goes inside the climatic battle with exclusive video of a war-torn city emerging from the terrorist's brutal grip. we want to we will p come our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." break

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

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

is it liberal critique of donald trump?” is not enough. is it liberal critique of donald trump? i am try to concentrate less on donald trump the personality, the personality, the personality, the personality, the extremist, the shock machine that has everybody gusting with his tweets and put him into the context really off the last a0 years of economic history and how we arrived here. in this culture where we have had the chance of lifestyle brands and we have humans merging with corporations, we worship wealth, consumption is a way of life. we have dominance raised logic on our economy at every level so trump makes sense and i want to put him in context. in what way does he represent all that? as you say, he has become a i—man mega brand with his children and wife spin—off brands. he breathes brands within his family. this is the first time we have had a politicalfigure of this stature who is a fully commercialised superbrand. the trump corporation is built around his personality so it isn'tjust corporation is built around his personality so it isn't just that corporation i

donald trump jr. and a russian lawyer that was promised to give information damaging to hillary clinton. when asked about that meeting today, sean spicer said this. >> there was nothing, as far as we know, that would lead anyone to believe that there was anything except for a discussion about adoption and the magnitsky act. >> that's not true because that meeting was never purported to be about adoption. how do we know that? the e-mail to donald trump jr. was very clear. it said that the meeting would, quote, provide the trump campaign with official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and be very useful to your father. this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but as part as russia and government's support for mr. trump. in those e-mails, of course, they said it was a russian government lawyer that would present this information to donald trump jr. spicer even contradicted today in his comment the president of the united states who we

the trump white house is much more run by donald trump on a daily basis. it doesn't have a discipline in that structure, and never has. >> meghan: i would debate the people they have surrounding them from the get-go are not taking care of the principal and their family. that's my biggest concern with all of this. anyone who has an precursor interesting of politics knows that they're going to try to approach you as a filling number of the candidate, they're going to try to manipulate use, use you, send you emails that could be in some way compromising in the future and affect that paul manafort didn't say, maybe the president's son in law and son should not be present at this meeting, i think it's deeply incompetent. 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 ha

donald trump jr. released yesterday that trump jr. took the meeting after receiving an offer reportedly from the russians government on some documents is that dpogs that would incriminate. trump's brother-in-law and paul manafort were in that meeting which took place the trump tower one floor below candidate's office on. a day when the candidate was in the building. the president's son denies his father knew anything about it. >> 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. it was a wasted 20 minutes which was a shame. >> the president responded to his son's tv appearance in a tweet this morning. my son donald did a good job last night. he was open, transparent, innocent, this is greatest witch hunt in political history. sad. today the president defended his son and insisted he was personally in the gark his son's meeting last summer. no, i didn't know until a couple days ago

donald trump jr. is, and i quote, mueller territory. in other words, it should be left solely up to the special prosecutor. what's the white house reaction to that? >> again, i would refer you to the outside special counsel, and i think that's something that they could work on together. >> so they have -- you have no reaction to what senator rubio said? >> no, i don't, john. >> all right. my other question is about personnel. the president has -- and you pointed this out yesterday in the form you handed out, numerous judicial vacancies to fill, including four on the controversial ninth circuit court of appeals. in an effort to speed this up, will the administration waive the blue slip process from senators or, and the opinion of the american bar association. >> i don't know if those conversations have taken place about whether or not to waive that in order to expedite but i'll be happy to check into it for you. >> i have three but i'll try to be quick. >> three? >> secretary mattis said about a month