Speaking by phone with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, the former presidential campaign manager for John McCain lashed at Donald Trump Jr. for attending a meeting with Russians connected to the Kremlin in an attempt to gather information damaging to Hillary Clinton.

While White House press secretary Sean Spicer attempted to dismiss the meeting as only having to do with Russian orphan adoption issues — despite Trump’s email subject line specifically stating “Clinton” — GOP strategist Steve Schmidt disagreed vehemently.

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Addressing President Trump’s early morning tweet stating anyone “would have taken the meeting,” Schmidt knocked that down in short order.

“Well, you and I wouldn’t,” Schmidt told Wallace. “And nor would any other loyal American with a sense of rectitude.”

“This was an attempt at conspiracy, on the part of a hostile foreign power at the most senior level of a political campaign,” he continued. “This has nothing to do with opposition research. This was an intrusion by the Russian government by its intelligence services to the highest levels of the Republican nominee, and I think one of the things that would be interesting that we still don’t have a good answer for is, why is it that the only sweat equity at the Republican platform, that the Trump campaign put forward was on the issue of arm sales to the Ukrainian government which the Russians were on the opposite side of.”

Watch the video below via MSNBC: