2016 ELECTION/DONALD JR/RUSSIA/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Donald Trump Jr. struck an unapologetic tone during hours of congressional questioning last year, saying he didn’t think there was anything wrong with meeting a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 presidential election or that the get-together might have been part of a Russian government effort to aid his father, according to transcripts released Wednesday [5-16-18]. The president’s eldest son also deflected multiple questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, responding to dozens of queries by saying he could not recall…Meanwhile, the Senate intelligence committee said it stands behind a 2017 assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia intervened in the election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina said in a statement that his staff had spent 14 months ‘reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work, and we see no reason to dispute the conclusions.’ The Judiciary Committee transcripts reveal new details about how the Trump Tower meeting — central to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between Trump aides and the Kremlin — came to be arranged and efforts afterward to mitigate the political damage arising from its disclosure. The transcripts show the dissatisfaction of Trump Jr. and other campaign aides, including brother-in-law Jared Kushner, when the meeting failed to yield the harmful Clinton information they thought they’d get — as well as the increasing panic of one of the meeting participants who feared his reputation would be ruined by his role in having set it up.”
-Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker and Chad Day, “Trump Jr: Can’t recall discussing Russia probe with father,” The Associated Press, May 16, 2018 11:42 am