Former US Attorney Joyce Vance says that Donald Trump Jr. contradicted himself in Senate testimony about his father’s knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting with Russians and implicated the president in a story that will not hold up.
Video:
On MSNBC, Stephanie Ruhle asked Vance if Trump Jr. tripped up his own story on what his father knew about the meeting by trying to pin it on Hope Hicks.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Vance answered, “And there’s even some conversation or testimony from trump junior where he indicates he didn’t want to involve the president. So he spoke through hope hicks. But we know from much of the e-mail traffic and testimony we’ve heard from others that the president was involved in crafting the coverup letter that was sent out, the statement that was crafted to try to hide the true purpose of the June 2016 meeting. It defies belief that Trump Junior wasn’t fully aware of the circumstances, wasn’t involved in that creation himself.”
Trump Jr.’s transcript was full of I don’t remembers and I don’t recalls. A legitimate investigation would have been able to tear him apart, but Democrats have been denied the ability to conduct a full investigation by Republicans who are limiting their access to vital documents and phone records. Trump Jr. undercut his own story that his father knew nothing about the Russia meeting by trying to blame everything on Hope Hicks, but there is already ample evidence that Trump crafted the cover-up letter about the purpose of the meeting aboard Air Force One.
Donald Trump Jr. screwed up because there is no way that Trump could have written the cover-up letter and not known about the meeting. The cover-up letter is obstruction, and that is an impeachable offense. Even in this limited context, Donald Trump Jr. couldn’t offer testimony without dragging his dad down.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
