Erin Kelly and David Jackson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators Thursday that he was skeptical about a 2016 meeting with a Russian attorney he expected would deliver dirt on Hillary Clinton – but decided to go in case it revealed information concerning Clinton's "fitness" to be president.

"To the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out," the president's eldest son told investigators for the Senate Judiciary Committee in a statement released by the Trump Organization.

"Depending on what, if any, information they had, I could then consult with counsel to make an informed decision as to whether to give it further consideration," Trump Jr. said in the statement. "I also note that at this time there was not the focus on Russian activities that there is today."

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which also plans to interview Trump Jr., said the statement underscores that the president's son knew he was doing something wrong in attending the meeting.

"That Trump Jr. apparently knew he should consult a lawyer before or after the meeting is an admission that he knew what he was doing raised serious questions of legality and propriety," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

The Senate panel's investigators interviewed Trump Jr. on Thursday for about five hours as part of the committee's ongoing probe of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. Trump Jr. did not speak to reporters outside the interview room.

The committee is seeking answers about a June 9, 2016 meeting that Trump Jr. took at Trump Tower with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. Trump Jr. released email correspondence in July of this year showing he took the meeting after he was promised it would yield dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Clinton.

The meeting, which took place five months before the Nov. 8 election, was also attended by the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

Other attendees included Rob Goldstone, an entertainment publicist who first reached out to Trump Jr. about potentially damaging information on Clinton; Anatoli Samochornov, a Russian-born American translator brought to the meeting by Veselnitskaya; and Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist.

Trump Jr. continues to maintain he did not collude with Russia during the campaign.

"I did not collude with any foreign government and do not know of anyone who did," Trump Jr. said. "I am grateful for the opportunity to help resolve any lingering concerns that may exist regarding these events. I am very proud of the campaign my father ran and was honored to be a part of it."

Committee leaders have said they may call the president's son to testify at a public hearing in the future. If he refuses, the committee can subpoena him.

Trump Jr. also is expected to be interviewed by investigators for the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own Russia probe. Special counsel Robert Mueller also is investigating the June 2016 meeting as part of a separate inquiry and is looking into possible criminal activity.

Trump Jr. said the controversial meeting grew out of a June 3, 2016 email he received from Goldstone.

"In his email to me Rob suggested that someone had 'official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton] and her dealings with Russia' and that the information would be 'very useful' to the campaign," Trump Jr. said. "I was somewhat skeptical of his outreach...I did not quite know what to make of his email. I had no way to gauge the reliability, credibility or accuracy of any of the things he was saying."

"As it later turned out, my skepticism was justified," Trump Jr. said. "The meeting provided no meaningful information and turned out not to be about what had been represented. The meeting was instead primarily focused on Russian adoptions, which is exactly what I said over a year later in my statement of July 8, 2017."

Russia banned Americans from adopting Russian children in 2012 in retaliation for a U.S. law known as the Magnitsky Act that prohibits certain Russian officials from entering the U.S. or using the U.S. banking system. The Russian government wants to end those sanctions.

"Until that day, I had never heard of the Magnitsky Act and had no familiarity with this issue," Trump Jr. said. "It was clear to me that her (the attorney's) real purpose in asking for the meeting all along was to discuss Russian adoptions and the Magnitsky Act."

That's when, Trump Jr. said, "Jared excused himself from the meeting to take a phone call. I proceeded to quickly and politely end the meeting by telling Ms. Veselnitskaya that because my father was a private citizen there did not seem to be any point to having this discussion."

The meeting ended there, he added. "As we walked out, I recall Rob coming over to me to apologize," Trump Jr. said.

He said the meeting lasted about 20 to 30 minutes and he had no recollection of any documents being given to him.

Trump Jr.'s dismissal of the meeting as providing nothing "meaningful" reveals just how important it was to the Trump campaign to find dirt on Clinton, especially at a time when there was talk of a contested Republican convention, Schiff said.

"Trump Jr.’s expression of disappointment that the meeting did not focus solely on this sensitive information only underscores what he and the campaign hoped to gain," the congressman said.

Trump Jr. also talked Thursday about his now-infamous email responding to Goldstone's initial invitation to the meeting. When Trump Jr. was offered dirt on Clinton, he replied: "If it’s what you say, I love it, especially later in the summer."

Trump Jr. told investigators Thursday: "As much as some have made of my using the phrase 'I love it,' it was simply a colloquial way of saying that I appreciated Rob’s gesture."

According to a congressional aide, who did not have authorization to speak publicly, Trump Jr. also told investigators he didn't recall details of White House involvement in crafting his initial public statement – which he used to respond to questions from news outlets about his then-undisclosed meeting with the Russians.

President Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.'s response to reports by the New York Times about the meeting, while the president was flying back from the Group of 20 summit in Germany on July 8, according to The Washington Post.

The White House subsequently acknowledged that Trump "weighed in" on the statement, which was later proved to be incomplete and misleading. It was an apparent break with comments made by the lawyers defending the president in the Russia investigation, who originally said Trump had no involvement in drafting the statement.

More:President Trump 'weighed in' on Donald Jr. statement 'as any father would,' White House says

CNN reported Thursday that Mueller is now asking to speak to White House staffers who were aboard Air Force One when the statement was written on Trump Jr.'s behalf.

White House special counsel Ty Cobb declined to comment.

"The White House, out of respect for the Special Counsel and his process, will not be commenting on specific requests received from the special counsel," Cobb said, referring to Mueller.

More:Ty Cobb, Donald Trump's newest Russia lawyer, adds legal muscle as investigations widen

Legal experts have said Trump's involvement in the statement could spell trouble, as Mueller investigates possible obstruction of justice – a front of the investigation opened after the president abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey in May for his handling of the Russian investigation.

Chris Wray, the new FBI director who replaced Comey, on Thursday offered a full endorsement of Mueller and asserted that wide-ranging federal inquiry into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia was moving forward.

"I can say very confidently that I have not detected any whiff of interference in that investigation,'' Wray told delegates to a security conference in Washington.

In office for just more than a month, Wray succeeded James Comey, who was abruptly fired in May by President Trump for his handling of the Russia investigation.

After his interview with Judiciary Committee investigators, Trump Jr. said in a statement that he "answered every question posed by the Committee...until both sides had exhausted their lines of questioning."

"I trust this interview fully satisfied their inquiry," he said.

Here is Trump Jr.'s full statement:

Contributing: Kevin Johnson