Trump Jr.: Media Do Themselves Disservice by ‘Picking Sides So Flagrantly’

Although Donald Trump Jr. conceded he “would have done things a little differently” in hindsight regarding his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer, the president’s son was adamant the whole affair “was just a nothing,” during an interview Tuesday night on Fox News’ “Hannity.”

President Donald Trump’s eldest son found himself at the center of the Left’s drive to further the Russian-collusion narrative when The New York Times reported over the weekend he had agreed to meet with Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during his father’s presidential campaign.

The Times later reported that Trump Jr. met the Russian lawyer thinking that she would be offering some dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. invited his brother-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and Trump’s then-campaign manager, Paul Manafort, to attend the meeting with Veselnitskaya.

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In an effort to be “totally transparent,” Trump Jr. published Tuesday what he claimed was the entire email exchange between himself and music publicist Rod Goldstone, who set up the meeting.

“In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently,” Trump Jr. told Fox News host Sean Hannity, noting that his meeting with the Russian lawyer took place “before the Russia mania” when “they were building this up in the press.”

During his opening monologue, Hannity took a jab at the liberal media, saying, “Democrats and the mainstream media are right now hysterical over this story. By the way, we’re glad you’re all watching.”

Trump Jr. noted that the media began pushing the narrative that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians after his meeting took place.

“For me this was opposition research. They had something, you know, maybe concrete evidence to all the stories I’d been hearing about, probably underreported for years, not just during the campaign,” Trump Jr. said of the damaging info the lawyer claimed to have about Clinton’s interactions with foreign officials. “So I think I wanted to hear it out. But really, it went nowhere and it was apparent that wasn’t what the meeting was about.”

When Hannity pressed Trump Jr. on why he decided to meet with Veselnitskaya, he replied, “Honestly, my takeaway when all of this was going on, is that someone has information on our opponent. Things are going a million miles per hour. You know what it’s like to be on a campaign. We just won Indiana, but we’re talking about a contested convention. Things are going a million miles per hour again and hey, wait a minute, I’ve heard about all these things, but maybe this is something? I should hear him out.”

Adding that he “didn’t know if there was any credibility” in the lawyer’s claims or the email request, Trump Jr. said, “I read it, I responded accordingly, and if there was something interesting there, I think that’s pretty common.”

When Hannity pointed to Goldstone’s lines in the email chain in which he told Trump Jr. the source could offer “some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton]” as part of “Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” the Fox News host asked the president’s son if those lines “put off any sirens in your head?”

“Honestly, I don’t know … I don’t even think my sirens, you know, went up, or the antennas went up at this time because it wasn’t the issue that it’s been made out to be over the last, you know, nine months, 10 months, since it really became a thing,” Trump Jr. responded. “And so I think there really is an element of context to that. At the time, it wasn’t this big news story.”

The president’s son remained adamant that his father knew nothing about the meeting among Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, and Veselnitskaya at the time. The White House maintains that the president knew nothing of the meeting until the last few days surrounding The Times’ release of its reports.

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“It was just a nothing. There was nothing to tell. I mean, I wouldn’t have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame,” Trump Jr. said.

When Hannity asked the president’s son if he would be willing to submit any documents asked of him and appear before congressional committees and the special counsel for questions and testimonies under oath, Trump Jr. said, “I will.”

“I’ve said it publicly, I said it yesterday. More than happy to cooperate with everyone. I just want the truth to get out there. And that’s part of why I released all the stuff today. I wanted to get it all out there,” Trump Jr. said. “They’re trying to drag out the story. In all fairness, they want to drip a little bit today, drip a little bit then. So I was like, ‘Here it is. I’m more than happy to be transparent about it, and I’m more than happy to cooperate with everyone.” (go to page 2 to continue reading)[lz_pagination]