In a Tuesday night interview on Fox News, Donald Trump Jr. defended his meeting with a Russian attorney who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton by saying that the session turned out to be fruitless.

“For me this was opposition research,” Trump Jr. said. “They had something you know maybe concrete evidence to all the stories I’d been hearing about, probably under-reported for years not just during the campaign, so I think I wanted to hear it out. But really it went nowhere and it was apparent that wasn’t what the meeting was about.”

To one New York Times columnist, that defense just doesn’t hold water.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House, Bret Stephens of the Times tore into Trump Jr.’s comments.

“[T]he defense is: I called up my drug dealer for drugs, but he was out,” Stephens said.

The line elicited laughter from his fellow panelists. Host Willie Geist jokingly added, “I hate when that happens, by the way.”

“That’s essentially what he is saying,” Stephens continued. “That the meeting would have been a successful one if a foreign government had provided incriminating or politically advantageous information and successfully meddled in the campaign.”

The Times columnist added that the West Wing has reason to be concerned about the ramifications from the story.

“[I]f this were the big nothingburger that Trump and his team keep insisting it is, he wouldn’t be so nervous about it,” Stephens said. “People aren’t nervous about non-scandals.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[featured image via screengrab]

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