4/19/2019

ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP FAMILY: “For two years, President Donald Trump and his close associates contradicted, denied and dodged reports and questions of Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign. Now that the Mueller report is out, redacted as it may be, we have the chance to fact-check those public denials against what many people close to the President actually told Mueller when they were questioned by the special counsel. Here are a few notable examples where the Mueller report contradicts public statements made by Trump and some of his associates. Trump Jr. and the Trump Tower meeting In July 2017, The Washington Post reported that Trump dictated Donald Trump Jr.’s statement over reporting from The New York Times that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower over the previous summer. What they told the public: Trump didn’t dictate his son’s statement. What they told Mueller: Yes, he did…The statement that emerged was also misleading in the way it characterized the topic of conversation. What they told the public: The meeting was about Russian adoption, not about the 2016 campaign. What they told Mueller: The meeting was promised to be about incriminating information on Hillary Clinton, but turned into a discussion on current sanctions on several Russians.”

Holmes Lybrand, Sarah Westwood and Betsy Klein, “Fact check: What Trump associates told the public vs. what they told Mueller,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 19, 2019 12:02 pm