Donald Trump Jr. tweeted on Tuesday what he claims is the entire email chain setting up his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer. | John Moore/Getty Images Donald Trump Jr. replied ‘love it’ when told of Russian effort to help Trump

Donald Trump Jr. replied “love it” when told in an email chain in June 2016 that a Russian government lawyer was willing to share documents and other information that would “incriminate” Hillary Clinton — and that such information was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

Trump Jr. on Tuesday tweeted out what he said was the full email chain setting up the meeting, presenting the release as a transparency effort, though it came shortly before The New York Times published its own copy of the emails.


In a June 3, 2016, email with the subject line “Russia – Clinton – private and confidential,” music publicist Robert Goldstone says Emin Agalarov, a singer-songwriter whose father is a Moscow-based developer who tried to partner with Donald Trump on a hotel project, “just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting.”

“The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” Goldstone writes. “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump — helped along by Aras and Emin.”

Goldstone asks Trump Jr. if he would be willing to speak directly with Emin, noting that he could send it to Trump, then the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, “but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first.”

“Thanks Rob I appreciate that,” Trump Jr. replies. “I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

The latest revelation comes as the FBI and congressional committees continue to probe Moscow’s role in the 2016 election, including possible collusion between associates of President Trump. The intelligence community concluded that the Kremlin meddled with the aim of electing Trump, who has claimed the Russia narrative is “fake news” and a “hoax.”

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The email chain presents the strongest evidence yet that Trump’s closest allies may have been aware of a larger Kremlin effort to aid Trump’s campaign — and potentially endorsed such an effort. Trump Jr. served as an adviser and surrogate for his father during the campaign, but does not have a formal role in the Trump administration. Instead, Trump Jr. took over running the Trump Organization, along with his brother, Eric Trump.

Trump Jr., who has hired New York criminal defense attorney Alan Futerfas as his personal attorney for Russia-related matters, has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump Jr., White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort attended the June meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya inside Trump Tower.

Contrary to his account, the email chain indicates that Trump Jr. may have learned of Veselnitskaya’s name on June 8, 2016, when Goldstone offers to “send the names of the two people meeting with you for security when I have later today.”

It also appears Manafort and Kushner were forwarded the email chain, despite Trump Jr. saying Sunday that he told the two “nothing of the substance” of the meeting when he invited them to attend.

Veselnitskaya denied in an interview Tuesday with NBC’s “Today” ever possessing “damaging or sensitive information” about Clinton.

“It’s quite possible that maybe they were longing for such information,” she said. “They wanted it so badly.”

The president’s eldest son has emerged as a central figure in the sprawling investigations since The Times first reported the meeting’s existence Saturday. The element of receiving possible dirt on Clinton was introduced Sunday, but Trump Jr.’s lawyer said his client “did nothing wrong” in a statement late Monday.

Trump so far has avoided tweeting about his eldest son, instead seemingly trying to steer the conversation in Washington anywhere else, from the Islamic State to the Olympics. His spokeswoman said Monday that he was only made aware of the meeting “in the last couple of days” but read aloud a statement attributed to the president at Tuesday's press briefing.

“My son is a high-quality person, and I applaud his transparency,” Trump said, according to a statement read by deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Vice President Mike Pence also wasn’t aware of the meeting, according to his spokesman, who appeared to try to distance Pence from Trump Jr.

"The Vice President is working every day to advance the President's agenda, which is what the American people sent us here to do. The Vice President was not aware of the meeting," said Marc Lotter, Pence’s press secretary. "He is not focused on stories about the campaign, particularly stories about the time before he joined the ticket."

Trump Jr. will speak for himself Tuesday evening in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Trump Jr., his attorney and the White House have all sought to downplay the meeting.

“Media & Dems are extremely invested in the Russia story,” Trump Jr. tweeted hours before releasing the emails. “If this nonsense meeting is all they have after a yr, I understand the desperation!”

Members of Congress, however, see it differently.



“There’s no escaping it: the Trump Campaign’s inner circle met with an agent of a hostile foreign power to influence the outcome of an American election,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “The incendiary news of the meeting arranged by Donald Trump Jr. is a grave development in the investigation of Trump officials’ possible collusion with Moscow.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters any time a foreign government offers to aid a campaign, the answer should be no.

“Definitely he has to testify. The email is disturbing,” Graham said. “But what is equally odd to me is the person they met with knew absolutely nothing. I don’t know why they would pick somebody for him to meet with that didn’t have any information about the Clinton campaign. But on its face, this is very problematic.”

Austin Wright and Matthew Nussbaum contributed to this report.