“I love it” – Trump Jr

Emails released by Donald Trump Jr, the son of the US President, reveal that he was offered information that the Russian government wanted to help the Trump presidential campaign. In the email thread, Trump Jr was promised damning information on the Hillary Clinton campaign and he welcomed it.

The latest revelation casts a dark penumbra on the White House which has been trying to cope with allegations that the Trump campaign had colluded with the Russian government to disrupt the elections.

Background

The consensus amongst the intelligence community in the US is that the Russians interfered with the US elections and tried to undermine the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton. It has been reported that the Russian government tried to disrupt Clinton’s campaign through cyberattacks and email leaks that largely favored Donald Trump. In January 2017, Obama imposed fresh sanctions on Russia and ousted a number of Russian diplomats from the country.

President Donald Trump though has been quite enigmatic about Russia’s involvement. He has been quoted as saying, “I think it could very well have been Russia. I think it could well have been other countries. I won’t be specific.”

In March 2017 things took a far more serious turn for the Trump administration. FBI director, James Comey revealed that the agency was investigating possible links between Russian government and Trump campaign aides. Former head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, has now been appointed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate this matter.

Information has subsequently been leaked that Trump himself is being investigated for obstruction of justice. If found guilty, Congress can move for an impeachment.

Relations between US and Russia have always been difficult but these ties have further deteriorated since Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Earlier we examined those ties in detail.

Analysis

Apart from Trump Jr, the exponents in the current scandal are music promoter Rob Goldstone and Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian prosecutor with ties to Kremlin. Trump Jr himself released the emails when he found out that the New York Times had come into possession of them and would be publishing them in an article.

In one of the emails, Rob Goldstone has written that the “Crown prosecutor of Russia” had “offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and be very useful to your father.” He also noted that this was part of Russian government’s support for the Trump campaign. Donald Trump Jr agreed to the meeting by saying that he loved it.

The meeting, which took place in June 2016, was attended by campaign adviser Jared Kushner (current senior adviser to the President) and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort. According to Trump Jr, the meeting was uneventful because the lawyer did not provide him any specific information.

Legal experts have noted that he may have violated campaign law. According to 52 USC 30121, 36 USC 510, campaigns cannot accept “contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value" in connection with any election.

Assessment 

Our assessment is that these emails may play a crucial role in the special counsel investigation. Trump Jr, a key member of the Trump campaign, has provided vocal support to his father’s presidency. They may also indict current senior advisor Jared Kushner for his failure to declare his meeting in the forms submitted to the White House.