Trump rails against Clinton’s emails amid Russia firestorm: ‘My son Don is being scorned’
President Trump took to Twitter early Sunday to complain about the media’s coverage of his son’s controversial meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer who was said to have dirt on Hillary Clinton.
“Hillary Clinton can illegally get the questions to the Debate & delete 33,000 emails but my son Don is being scorned by the Fake News Media?” the president tweeted.
HillaryClinton can illegally get the questions to the Debate & delete 33,000 emails but my son Don is being scorned by the Fake News Media?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2017
“With all of its phony unnamed sources & highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting, #Fake News is DISTORTING DEMOCRACY in our country!” Trump fumed.
With all of its phony unnamed sources & highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting, #Fake News is DISTORTING DEMOCRACY in our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2017
It’s not the first time the president has cited his former opponent in an effort to decry the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia. Just last month, Trump claimed he was the subject of disproportionate scrutiny compared to his election foe.
Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, 'bleached' emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared- & they talk about obstruction?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017
Those tweets were in response to a Washington Post report that Justice Department special counsel is looking into whether he obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey.
In April, Trump pushed back against the ongoing investigations into his campaign by rehashing a controversy from the 2016 Democratic primary.
“Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate?” Trump tweeted. “Just asking!”
Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2017
The president was referring to emails that showed former acting Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile had provided questions to the Hillary Clinton campaign in advance of a town hall and debate hosted by CNN during the Democratic primary.
But the emails that revealed Trump Jr. took the June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a lawyer with alleged ties to the Kremlin and its spy agency, has sparked yet another firestorm for the Trump administration.
Trump Jr., campaign chief Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top White House adviser, also attended the meeting, which was brokered by Robert Goldstone, a music publicist who had previously helped ink a business deal between President Trump and a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.
In his initial email to Trump Jr., Goldstone claimed a “Russian government lawyer” had “very high level and sensitive information” that was part of the Russian government’s support for the elder Trump’s candidacy.
“Thanks Rob, I appreciate that,” Trump Jr. replied. “If it’s what you say I love it, especially later in the summer.”
Trump Jr. posted the emails on his Twitter feed Tuesday morning after the New York Times had informed him they were set to publish them. Critics have pointed to the emails as proof that the Trump campaign tried to collude with the Kremlin.
Related: Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer: A timeline
During a press conference in Paris on Thursday, Trump insisted that most people would have taken the meeting.
“My son is a wonderful young man,” Trump said of Donald Trump Jr., 39. “He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer, not a government lawyer, but a Russian lawyer. It was a short meeting. It was a meeting that went very, very quickly — very fast — two of the people in the room, one of them left almost immediately and the other was not really focused on the meeting. I do think this from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting.
“It’s called opposition research or even research into your opponent,” the president added.
On Twitter Sunday, Trump thanked Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign adviser, who told CNN last week that he “never once” heard anyone on the Trump team discuss Russian attempts to meddle in the election.
“Thank you to former campaign adviser Michael Caputo for saying so powerfully that there was no Russian collusion in our winning campaign,” Trump tweeted.
Thank you to former campaign adviser Michael Caputo for saying so powerfully that there was no Russian collusion in our winning campaign.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2017
“No one ever breathed the word ‘Russia’ to me,” Caputo said in the interview, which aired Friday. “We were so busy just trying to keep up with the sun rising and setting on that campaign that I can’t imagine anyone had the time, nor the wherewithal to go out there and even do something like this.”
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