Donald Trump Jr. in Nevada in November, 2016. David Becker/Getty Images An email chain between Donald Trump Jr. and a British music publicist shows that just minutes after being offered damaging information on Hillary Clinton from a Russian lawyer, Trump Jr. was already planning on when to release it.

"If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer," Trump Jr. wrote on June 3 to Rob Goldstone, a publicist who represents a Russian pop star and has connections to President Trump.

Just 18 minutes earlier, Goldstone had notified Trump Jr. of a "Russian government attorney" who wanted to share some information about Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."

Trump Jr. published the email chain on Twitter on Tuesday after the eventual June 9 meeting with the lawyer came under media scrutiny.



The "later in the summer" line could suggest that Trump was hoping to use the information on Clinton after the Democratic National Convention in late July, when the presidential campaign got into full swing. At the time of the email exchange, neither President Trump nor then-Democratic primary candidate Clinton had formally secured their parties' nominations.

Trump Jr. has maintained that the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, did not share any information on Clinton during their Trump Tower meeting, which was also attended by President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort.