Trump defends son as 'high-quality person' after Russia email release "I applaud his transparency," President Trump said in a statement.

 -- President Donald Trump defended his son today amid the controversy surrounding Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting last year with a Russian lawyer.

"My son is a high-quality person, and I applaud his transparency," the president said in a statement.

The statement from the president was issued by White House principal deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during today's off-camera briefing.

The transparency that the president appears to be referring to is Donald Trump Jr.'s decision to post four pages of purported emails that appear to show the arrangement of meeting with a Russian lawyer who allegedly claimed to have information about Hillary Clinton that would be helpful for Donald Trump Sr.'s presidential campaign.

Donald Trump Jr. and the president's attorneys said that Donald Trump Sr. was not present for the meeting, on June 9, 2016, and on Monday, Sanders said the president learned about the meeting only "in the last couple of days."