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. 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 cu 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 alien. the e-mail. that is a serious crimina

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. 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

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

. >> 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

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

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 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

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. 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 twitter account and these e-mails are staggering. again, this unquestionably depicts somebody saying the russian government wants to help the trump campaign with documents damping to hillary clinton, and donald trump jr. saying, "i love it" and setting up a meeting to do so. >> and taking the meeting. >> taking the meeting. what took place at that meeting is a whole other question and we have different versions of events. shifting versions in some cases. we still haven't heard from paul manafort at the meeting, or jared kushner, who was at the meeting's we heard from the russian attorney in question who's depicting this all as the trump people wanted damaging information on hillary. >> right. >> but she didn't want to talk about that. again, grain of salt when it comes to, to her story as well as anybody else's who hasn't been up front about this, but it's -- it's a staggering turn of events, and it's rather momentous. this can't just be -- this can't be dismissed as people out to ge

donald trump jr. met with a russian lawyer after a middleman told him that she was a russian government official who had information that was part of russia's effort to help donald trump win the u.s. presidential election. that's according to an e-mail chain that donald trump jr. himself released today on twitter. he tweeted it just minutes before he knew that "the new york times" was posting a story with all of the details from those same e-mails. in the message, a british publicist claims to be working on behalf of a russian pop star and the pop star's father who is a russian billionaire with close ties to the kremlin. the publicist claims the pop star and the pop star's father met with the russian lawyer and that she had dirt on hillary clinton. the publicist later arrange as meeting between the russian lawyer and donald trump jr. at trump tower in new york city. "the new york times" wrote news over the weekend. the newspaper reported that the president's son met with the lawyer in june of last yea

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., 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. 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

donald trump jr. has changed his story in recent days. >>> the regime has been celebrating its new long range missile. there are no signs it might not be successful as claimed. how great is the north korean threat to the united states? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> breaking news. a bombshell revelation today draws the most direct line yet between the trump campaign and russia and it comes in the form of e-mails released by none other than donald trump jr. the e-mails set up the june 2016 meeting between a russian lawyer with trump jr., a trump campaign manager, paul manafort, and trump's son-in-law jared kushner. in the first e-mail an intermediary relayed a message that russia's state prosecutor, quote, offered to provide the trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary. closed quote, the e-mail said the information, once again quoting, would be very useful to your father. this is obviously

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.

now, donald trump jr. had, adam, know fis no official role in the campaign unlike paul manafort, for example. are the stakes different if they were an official part of the campaign or not? >> i think they are. even with donald trump jr. he clearly had a role with the campaign, even if informal. having the chairman of the campaign and having jared kushner who had an active role in the campaign would satisfy that aspect of the legal requirement. i think now it turns to really the focus of the investigation probably would be focusing more on jared kushner and the president rather than donald trump jr. >> ryan, we know this statement that was initially put out has been revised four times for various reasons. the "new york times" now reporting that president trump actually was the one who signed off on that initial statement. so that begs the question, is there a legal issue if he knew the statement was false or does it just look bad for him? we don't know, but does a statement that is not a signed statement, d

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

donald trump jr. is pushing back against this morning, steph. "the new york times" revealing new information about that meeting that he had in june with a lawyer that "the times" says has links to the russian government. the sometimes reporting that before that meeting donald trump jr. was sent an e-mail, nched in an e-mail that the material, damaging material about hillary clinton, was part of a russian government effort to aid his father's candidacy. so this is significant because this is the first time that we are learning that someone within the trump campaign and trump world met with someone with knowledge of this russian government conspiracy. now, "the times" also points out that the e-mail did not detail a broader conspiracy within the russian government but merely that this damaging information was coming from effectively a goal within the russian government to try to bring down hillary clinton. donald trump jr. firing back through his newly appointed attorney, steph, saying this in a stateme

's >> donald trump, jr.,'s interactions with a russian lawyer, some lawmakers have expressed them losing focus. >> does exactly what we need to not be distracted by. we have things we need to do here. we have to come up with a health care outcome. we have to come up with attacks planned. we have to come up with the spending strategy, and we have to be disciplined and not get distracted by things that may be due legitimate about but right now interlace. >> they are wrapping up their working lunch and expect questions about all of the above, harris. >> harris: i would think finishing your job is a bipartisan issue where where do democrats stand? >> they will get to the reese's being bumped back, it later in august, bottom line there, still fighting for health care reform, four senators writing to donald trump, jr., connect mitch mcconnell, sandy want to work with republicans to address the insurance markets. lower premiums, and some other senate democrats have expressed concern about what the impact will be if

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

. >> donald trump jr. on the offensive. showing he was ready to accept russia's help defensive after row leasing e-mails that he was ready to help russian e-mails. all the chaos the white house is reaching. early start coverage begins right now. >> it is wednesday, july 12th. this morning already the white house in escalating chaos coping with the fallout from donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer and his release of an e-mail setting it up. the president's aides and lawyers have formed what the paper calls a circular firing squad, slamming each other for the decisions made since don jr.'s decisions made with the russians. providing the most direct evidence he was willing, even eager to accept help from a foreign adversary. very high level and sensitive information part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump. department jr.'s response, i love it. telling fox news, in retrospect he would have done things a little differently. >> this is 13 months ago before i think the rest of the wo

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

donald trump jr. was told in advance that this attorney was with or representing the russian government. as for that attorney, he met with my colleague, keir simmons, who tracked her down in moscow, in an exclusive interview she denied any connection with the kremlin but in an apparent contradiction to what donald trump jr. has said, the attorney says the premise for the meeting was to discuss sanctions. >> reporter: what was the purpose of that meeting? >> translator: i never knew who else would be attending the meeting. all i knew that mr. donald trump jr. was willing to meet with me. i could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for probably the first seven to ten minutes and then he stood up and left the room. it was mr. jared kushner and he never came back, by the way. and the other individual who was at the same meeting was always looking at his phone. he was reading something. he never took any active part in the conversation. that was mr. manafort. >> reporter: they

donald trump jr. was e-mailed ahead of time about the material a russian lawyer wanted to pass along to him and was told the source was the russian government. don jr. admits he was promised information helpful to the campaign about hillary clinton. in response to this, his attorney says it's much ado about nothing. no one denied the existence of the e-mail. the russian lawyer who met with don jr. at the height of the campaign is now speaking out. listen. >> they had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told information that you had about the dnc. how did they get that impression? >> translator: it's quite possible maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> have you ever worked for the russian government? do you have connections to the russian government? >> translator: no. >> the white house denying collusion. the president's lawyers denying he knew about this meeting at all. i do want you to keep this in mind. this makes at least seven current or form

donald trump jr. just releasing a chain of e-mails leading up to his meeting with a russian lawyer. a meeting where he hoped to get information damaging to hillary clinton. he released those e-mails, by the way, on twitter just after being notified by the "new york times" that it was about to publish those e-mails. this is from one of the e-mails donald trump jr. just posted. it's from the british publicist rob goldstone who helped around the meeting with a russian lawyer. "good morning, emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting." emin is a pop star whose businessman father has ties to president putin and did businessry president trump. the e-mail says, "the crown mince met with emin and offered information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father." continuing -- "this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but it part of the russia and its government's support for mr. trump helped along by em

and again, donald trump jr. has said the same thing, that it was in fact from him and i believe it was his lawyer -- i'm sure his lawyer was in consultation. >> you keep saying you don't represent donald trump jr., but can you explain -- >> right. >> -- why it took -- why it's taken six days to continue to find out more people who were in this meeting, more discussions about those e-mails? why was all this trickled out like this? it looks like a pattern of trying to at least if not total cover it up, at least mislead or deceive. >> well, look, you start with -- you use the phrase cover up. let's be realistic here. you've had lawyers on your broadcast and nbc has had lawyers on their network and everybody is coming to the same conclusion about the legality. there's nothing illegal about that meeting. covering up is a big word to use but there was nothing illegal to cover up. with regard to how the information came out, as i said, that was information that was controlled not by my client, not by the president, it

donald trump jr. so, no one knows exactly where this investigation is going to end up, what it's going to uncover. the president and his supporters have said time and time again that this is fake news! it's a witch hunt! please, it's time to end that garbage. read the e-mails and ask yourself, who do you believe, the people who have misled you over and over and over, or do you believe your own lying eyes? let's start our show right now. i want to bring in now cnn's seen white house correspondent, jim acosta, cnn political analyst april ryan, michael isikoff, chief investigative correspondent for yahoo news and cnn political commentator david axelrod. so good to have you all on. david, two key things about this e-mail exchange released today and i read some of in in our open. rob goldstone, the person who set up the meeting e-mails, donald trump jr. says "this is obviously high level and sensitive information but part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump" with donald trump jr. replying

donald trump jr.'s explanations for the meeting changed each time "the new york times" added more to their reporting. we now know that president trump claims that he knew nothing about the meeting until this weekend when donald trump jr. was first working on his first statement about what he would tell "the new york times." and that first statement was proven to be a complete lie by the actual e-mails that were released later. the president of the united states participated in shaping the language of that first set of lies that donald trump jr. told "the new york times" on saturday, saying that the meeting had nothing to do with the campaign, and it was all about adoption of russian children. jared kushner didn't want any of this to come out. that would have been his first choice. have none of it come out. and that's why he didn't put it on his application for security clearance. an application that he signed under oath. jared kushner didn't want it to come out, but if it had to come out, better that t

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 jr. released the e-mail chain detailing his meeting with a russian attorney in june of last year in which a claim that a top russian prosecutor claimed to have information with hillary and her dealings with russia. but the market took a half hour to digest that and bounced back an hour later. there was no flight to safety in safe haven plays like gold or the dollar either. this as the senate announced it will delay its recess in order to get the president's pro growth agenda back on track. and we have new details emerging in how hillary clinton's campaign may be having the same thing they're accusing donald trump jr. but with ukrainian officials wished to see hillary win the election. donald trump jr. in a move toward transparency releasing an e-mail chain that set up a meeting with a lawyer during the campaign of last year. a publicist writing that a top russian prosecutor offered to provide the campaign with some official documents and information that claimed it would incriminate hilla

eastern is donald trump, jr., don't miss that. of course, i have one the best press secretaries sitting next to you coming want to know what she does now? >> ari: you should ask dana perino that. i think what she has to do is button-down with governmental employees. she speaks for the white house, that's what she needs to talk to this morning, get their facts, know what they know, and say it. as for donald trump, jr., he is not a government employee. she cannot speak for nongovernmental employees, even the president's son. >> melissa: that's a great point. i wonder if she knows that. i wonder if she has that line memorized and ready to go. i would hope so. >> mike: she has to have the discipline to meet the press and say -- the reason she can't be his spokesman is she's not responsible there. >> sandra: i'm checking the twitter accounts of both the president and don, jr., because they have been so actively tweeting throughout this period nothing for the last five hours from the president. >> ari: donald trump, jr., is smart to go

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

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. 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

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. knew before he met with a russian lawyer during the campaign there was a, quote, russian government effort behind that meeting. that effort from the russian government was to help his father's campaign with dirt on hillary clinton. how did donald jr. know that? because of an e-mail from this man, a publicist. >> earlier this morning, the russian lawyer who was in that meeting spoke to nbc news. >> translator: it's quite possible maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> the lawyer for donald trump jr. says this is much ado about nothing. several key officials will speak to them in the coming days. i want to begin with jason carroll at the white house. no denial this e-mail exists. >> reporter: no denial and no sign the stories are going away. senator john mccain, john, weighing in on this this morning calling the report very serious, saying it's just another shoe that's dropping in the controversy. this white house, this administration, very frustrated

donald trump jr. revealing he had a meeting with the russian lawyer last year with known ties to the kremlin and the elder trump's campaign chairman and son-in-law were there as well. "the new york times" reports the russian lawyer promised dirt on hillary clinton. here, a short time ago, you have this, the president's son tweeting this with a clear dose of sarcasm. obviously, i'm the first on a cam tan to ever take a meeting to hear dirt on an opponent. his father was unaware of the meeting. jessi jessica schneider is here with details. >> reporter: donald trump jr. making statements defending his meeting with the ties to the kremlin. after "the new york times" unearthed the meeting on saturday, the president's eldest son released this saying it was a short introductory meeting, i asked jared and paul to stop by. we talked about a program about the adoption of russian children that was popular years ago. it was not a cam paper issue at the time and no follow up. i was asked to attend. that was the st

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

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

meeting with donald trump jr. and this russian intermediary was problematic. why is it so difficult for many of the colleagues to say that, at least there shouldn't be a meeting on the opponent, in this case, hillary clinton, and a foreign entity? >> i said at the very least this issue is -- this matter is now -- it's problematic and it's damaging. i agree with the segment you ran with trey gowdy who said that this drip drip drip is damaging the credibility of the administration. that if they have information about any potential contacts with the russians in the campaign days they should turn them over immediately. it seems we're learning about them from the media and the new york times in this case. it speaks to the broader issue of the russian policy. i'm at a loss to explain, i won't explain this administration's attitude on russia. it's a hostile actor and that really has not earned anything that -- for example, we shouldn't be entering into a cyber agreement with the russians right now. i mean, they're clearl

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

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. 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