Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley Jeffrey (Jeff) Alan MerkleyThe Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - Trump, Biden renew push for Latino support Sunday shows - Trump team defends coronavirus response Oregon senator says Trump's blame on 'forest management' for wildfires is 'just a big and devastating lie' MORE (D) said Thursday that Donald Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-linked attorney during the campaign was "absolutely" the smoking gun Democrats were looking for in the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation.

"This is definitely the type of collaboration that other events made us think might exist," Merkley told CNN Thursday. "But we hadn't seen it laid out so crisply."

Trump Jr. revealed on Tuesday that he met with a Russian-linked attorney during the campaign who promised incriminating information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE. Trump Jr., campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner all met with the attorney.

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Trump Jr. has defended himself in following days by saying that the meeting was a "waste of time" and that no information was obtained.

Merkley said that Trump Jr.'s defense that he obtained no useful information was "not the question."

"That's not the question. The question is, whether you were aware of an ongoing Russian effort, which this email lays out, whether you were meeting to obtain information, which they admit that they were."

"What we know is that the campaign manager, son and son-in-law went into that meeting with the expectation of meeting with a Russian government attorney," Merkley said.

"Their expectation was that this was someone tied in to Team Putin."

On Tuesday, Trump defended his eldest son, calling Trump Jr. "a great person who loves our country."