Washington - US President Donald Trump
on Wednesday defended his eldest son as "innocent" following
emails that showed Donald Trump Jr. welcomed Russian help
against his father's rival in the 2016 presidential election,
deepening the controversy over purported Russian meddling.
Trump Jr. released a series of emails on Tuesday that
revealed he had eagerly agreed to meet a woman he was told was a
Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information
about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow's
official support for his father.
Trump Jr., in a Fox News television interview later Tuesday,
said: "In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little
differently."
The president, after initially releasing a statement on
Tuesday calling his son "high-quality," on Wednesday praised the
TV appearance and repeated his condemnation of investigations
and media coverage of the Russia investigations.
"He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest
Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2017
The emails offered the most concrete evidence to date that
Trump campaign officials embraced Russian help to win the
election, a subject that has cast a cloud over Trump's
presidency and spurred multiple investigations.
The Justice Department and Congress are both investigating
alleged Russian interference in the November election and any
possible collusion with Trump's campaign.
Moscow has denied meddling. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov again hit back against the accusations
and questioned why Trump's son was being blamed over the
meeting.
Trump has said his campaign did not collude with Russia.
Trump Jr.'s correspondence does not appear to provide
evidence of illegal activity but is likely to draw scrutiny from
investigators.
Legal experts said the president's son could run into
trouble if investigators find he aided a criminal action, such
as hacking into Democratic computer networks, or violated
campaign finance laws by accepting gifts from foreign entities.
Trump Jr., on Fox, pledged to cooperate with investigators,
and said he did not tell his father about the meeting.
One of the president's personal attorneys, Jay Sekulow, in a
round of TV interviews on Wednesday said Trump Jr.'s meeting was
not a violation of the law and that the president was unaware of
the meeting and the emails until recently.
"There's no illegality," he told NBC's "Today" programme.
The latest developments jarred financial markets on Tuesday
as investors worried it was another distraction from the
administration's economic agenda.
Trump Jr. told Fox News that Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign
manager at the time, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, now a top
White House adviser, also attended the meeting with Russian
lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who denied having Kremlin ties.