Today's talker: Trump Jr.'s call to a blocked number could help build an obstruction of justice case against his father Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer and his subsequent call to a blocked number could bring a lot of trouble for his father.

USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump Jr. can't recall if he spoke to his father about Russian meeting In a newly released transcript of Donald Trump Jr's testimony, the eldest of President Trump's children details what happened in that Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer. Nathan Rousseau Smith has the story.

After setting up a meeting with Russian agents in June 2016 to discuss what he thought would be incriminating information on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. made an 11-minute phone call to a blocked phone number, according to transcripts of his Senate interviews released Wednesday.

Why Donald Trump Jr.'s call matters

When we look back on the scandals of the Nixon administration, and the evidence that ended that presidency, the conversation still often focuses on those 18.5 minutes of missing tape. When future historians discuss the Trump administration, they may very well focus on an 11-minute conversation Donald Trump Jr. had with a blocked number.

Here’s what we know from recently released testimony: Trump Jr. agreed to take a meeting with a Russian lawyer believing she would give him incriminating information on Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government’s support for his father. He then made an 11-minute phone call to a blocked number, but claims he cannot remember who he called and whether he spoke to his father about it. According to Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, Donald Trump used a blocked phone number at his personal residence at the time of the call.

Here’s why it matters: Trump Jr. testified that his father may have influenced his misleading public statements about the meeting. If President Trump knew about the meeting and its purpose and then directed his son’s inaccurate statements about it, it could serve as evidence of obstruction of justice by the president.

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There have been clear concerns about this for a while. Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for the president’s private legal team, reportedly resigned over fears of Trump obstructing justice with his involvement in the misleading statement. Where there is smoke, there is often fire, and those concerns are starting to look more and more like evidence. Indeed, the president’s ever lengthening pattern of obstructive conduct, including the demands for loyalty from and firing of FBI Director James Comey, suggest that the president has always feared, or perhaps even known all along, what the Russia investigation would uncover.

As troubling as all of that is, it doesn’t even touch the potential collusion between Russia and Trump campaign as Russia looked to meddle in the 2016 election. This is just about action the president and those around him may have taken to keep Americans — and investigators — from finding out about it. If, as the president regularly claims, there was “no collusion,” then why did the Trump campaign have so many contacts with Russians, including meetings like this one that involved the most senior members of the Trump campaign?

There’s an old maxim that it’s not the crime but the coverup that leads to politicians’ downfall. The American people need to ask, what do they have to hide?

Jordan Libowitz is the communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-partisan government watchdog.

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What our readers are saying

How can you tell the Trumps are lying? Their lips are moving, and either they "can't recall," or they say "believe me." Hurry, special counsel Robert Mueller, you are our only hope!

— Chuck Sable

Once again, the news media are lying and manipulating. The meeting was set up, and it was mentioned at the meeting that they had information on Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. had no idea that was going to transpire.

— Ernie Ziroll

With the penchant for lying that this administration has, I would bet dollars to doughnuts that Trump Jr. knows full well who he called that day. Do the Trumps really think all of us just fell off the turnip truck from Wisconsin?

— Jack Guzman

Of course Trump Jr. called "The Donald." And, let me say, it’s not going to make a bit of difference. This is all a waste of taxpayer money. In the end, we get stuck with the legal bills and the president will be unscathed.

— Thomas Carper

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What others are saying

Remember: Trump publicly announced that he would be unveiling new dirt on Hillary Clinton related to Russia *three hours* after Don Jr. confirmed the meeting with the Russians who were offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of a “high-level” effort to help Trump win. https://t.co/V8U53pJ82s — Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 16, 2018

Aaron Blake, The Washington Post: "It's clear that Trump Jr. intended to get opposition research from Veselnitskaya in the meeting, but part of his defense has long been that he was unsuccessful in doing so — that the meeting was a bust. So even if you believe that the meeting represented attempted collusion with a Kremlin-aligned lawyer, the whole thing never actually came to fruition. And people who attended the meeting generally agreed that it didn't include the transmission of damaging information."

Having reviewed all documents my read is that having received offer of Russian help in election, Trump campaign eagerly accepted and meeting included campaign manager who owed millions to top oligarch and failson who would try to use Russian spy equipment to communicate w/Russia. — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 16, 2018

Q: Do you know anything about Trump people meeting Russia people?

DON JR: No not at all!

Q: But it's been all over the news for months

DON JR: Okay yeah gimme a redo on that question. I read about it after the fact.

DON JR: And oh yeah I also knew they were happening at the time. pic.twitter.com/2GdEMF4S0A — Susan Simpson (@TheViewFromLL2) May 16, 2018

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