Donald Trump Jr. cited client privilege when asked about his meeting with a Russian lawyer.
Donald Trump Jr. met with the House Intelligence committee on Wednesday, where he was questioned for eight hours about his potential contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump’s eldest son was reportedly subjected to a series of questions about a June 2016 meeting he had with a Russian lawyer, after being told she had incriminating information about Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. The businessman later met with President Trump to discuss what he had learned from the Russian lawyer. Trump Jr refused to provide information on the matter, citing client privilege.
Representative, Adam Schiff, believes Trump Jr.’s deflection to not have any weight, stating that no attorney-client privilege can protect a discussion between father and son.
“He acknowledged having discussed the June 9 meeting and the emails that went into establishing that meeting after those emails became public,” said Schiff on Wednesday after the closed-door meeting.
The US lawmaker added that the details of this discussion could be crucial to assessing Trump’s possible collusion with Russia during last year’s election.
During the meeting, Donald Trump Jr. was also asked about his contact with Wikileaks which occurred in October 2016. It was at that time when the famous whistleblowers released hacked Democratic emails.
According to people familiar with the matter, the former reality television star told the committee he had not talked to the president about his meeting with the Russian lawyer. He also said that he hadn’t informed Trump about the Wikileaks Twitter exchange.
The 8-hour interview came amid mounting investigations into Russia’s possible interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump Jr. told the committee he did not speak to his father directly in July 2017 but instead, he talked to the president’s communications director Hope Hicks. He sought Hick’s advice on how to deal with the upcoming New York Times expose detailing Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer.
The 39-year-old businessman reportedly came into contact at least two times with Russian officials who had shown interest in Trump’s campaign. While having no official position in his father’s campaign, Trump Jr. served as an influential surrogate for the mogul.
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