Donald Trump Jr.'s willingness to meet with a Russian agent last year to obtain incriminating information on Hillary Clinton represented "a breach of civic responsibility" and a "violation of the oaths of citizenship," Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told reporters Tuesday.

The committee is leading one of several congressional investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Kremlin's potential ties to the Trump team.

Schiff offered some additional insight into where the committee's investigation might be heading, in light of an email exchange made public by Trump Jr. on Tuesday confirming details of his meeting with a woman described as a "Russian government attorney" who had apparently promised to deliver dirt on Clinton.

The release came roughly two days after The New York Times broke the story that Trump Jr., along with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and one-time campaign manager Paul Manafort, met with the attorney in June 2016.

"You have direct evidence that the Russian government had damaging information, communicated it to the campaign, and all the campaign denials … obviously now have to be viewed in a completely different context," Schiff said.

The committee, he added, "cannot rely on any public representations that have been made" by the Trump administration or members of the campaign "about their contacts with the Russians," citing Trump Jr.'s shifting explanations about his meeting.

Schiff's remarks also appeared to be a more subtle version of similar statements by some Democrats, including Clinton's former running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Asked Tuesday by CNN whether the conduct amounts to treason, Kaine responded that the investigation was "moving into perjury, false statements and even into potentially treason."

Though phrased less bluntly, Schiff's remarks when asked if he saw a legal violation appeared to represent a departure for the California Democrat, who had previously been more circumspect in his description of the intelligence committee's investigation.

"This was unethical. It was, I think, in violation of the oaths of citizenship to willingly solicit, receive, encourage foreign intervention in our election. So this is a very serious business, whether criminal laws were violated or not. There are a number of criminal laws that are implicated here, and we see again a kind of shifting defense from the Trump Organization," Schiff said.

Senior Republicans also expressed deep concerns, though they stopped far short of referring to any potential criminal charges, let alone the issue of treason.