Sen Lindsey Graham on Tuesday described as "disturbing" the revelation that President Donald Trump personally crafted a statement downplaying his son's meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016.

The South Carolina Republican said Trump erred in trying to protect his son by getting involved in writing a statement that was later found to be misleading about the nature of the meeting.

"If that's true then that was a bad decision by the president which will make us ask more questions," Graham said on NBC's "Today" show in response to a report in The Washington Post on Monday. "When you get caught in a lie about one thing, it makes it hard to just say 'let the other stuff go.'"

After initial reports about the meeting were published last month, a statement released on Donald Trump Jr.'s behalf said the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya "primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children."

The Post reported that Trump overruled initial plans to respond to reports about the meeting with more transparency. Trump's son eventually released emails revealing that he believed the meeting would result in the Russians handing over damaging information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Graham, who is one of the members of Trump's party most willing to criticize the president over his campaign's connections to Russia and his apparent warmth toward Russia President Vladimir Putin, said Trump Jr. should have known better than to meet with Veselnitskaya.

Few other Republicans have so far criticized – or defended – the president over the latest news.

But Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., a Trump supporter who has more recently discussed his concern with revelations out of the unfolding Russia investigation, said Trump should not have tried to blur the facts around the meeting.