On March 24, Attorney General William Barr released a four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.” 

According to Barr: “The Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.”

Really?

Then consider the infamous meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.

Among its attendees:

• Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.;
• His son-in-law, Jared Kushner;
• His then-campaign manager Paul Manafort; 
• At least two lobbyists with ties to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, including Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya; and 
• Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet counterintelligence officer suspected of “having ongoing ties to Russian Intelligence.”

A year later, when The New York Times broke the story, the Trump team scrambled to explain it in as innocent a way as possible. 

July 8, 2017: Donald Trump, Jr., issued the statement: “It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up. 

“I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand.”

Donald Trump, Jr. [Gage Skidmore photo]

July 9: He added: “No details or supporting information was provided or even offered.”

July 9: The New York Times reported that, at the meeting, Trump Jr. was promised damaging information about Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

July 9:  Trump Jr. issued a new statement: “After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton.

“Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information. She then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of Russian children and mentioned the Magnitsky Act.”

[This is a bipartisan bill passed by Congress in 2012, to punish Russian officials responsible for the torture and death of a Russian tax accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Moscow prison in 2009.]

“It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.” 

Trump Tower 

(By Jorge Láscar from Australia)

July 11: Trump, Jr., tweeted: “The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research. I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn’t work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet.

“I decided to take the meeting. The woman, as she has said publicly, was not a government official. And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act.”

July 16:  Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, went on “Meet the Press” to announce: “Let me say this—but I do want to be clear—that the President was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. It came from Donald Trump Jr.”

July 31: The Washington Post broke the news that Trump himself “personally dictated” the July 8 statement issued by his son.

Donald Trump

August 1: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said:   “[President Trump] certainly didn’t dictate [the statement] but he—like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do.”

June 2, 2018: Trump’s lawyers drafted a memo to Special Counsel Robert Mueller: “You have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.

“His son then followed up by making a full public disclosure regarding the meeting, including his public testimony that there was nothing to the meeting and certainly no evidence of collusion.” 

June 3, 2018: Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani said on “Meet the Press”: “I think [Sekulow] was uninformed at the time just like I was when I came into the case. He was just in the case. This is a point that maybe wasn’t clarified in terms of recollection and his understanding of it.”

June 15, 2018: Trump, in a White House press conference, said: “It’s irrelevant. It’s a statement to the New York Times—the phony, failing New York Times…That’s not a statement to a high tribunal of judges.” 

Almost two months later, on August 5, Trump tweeted: “Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!”

Thus, by Donald Trump’s own admission, a secret meeting “about the adoption of Russian children” has become “a meeting to get information on an opponent.”

If you commit a crime, don’t issue multiple—and contradictory—statements about what you did.

Case in point: Donald Trump’s latest version about the infamous meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.

Among its attendees:

• Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.;
• His son-in-law, Jared Kushner;
• His then-campaign manager Paul Manafort; 
• At least two lobbyists with ties to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, including Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya; and 
• Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet counterintelligence officer suspected of “having ongoing ties to Russian Intelligence.”

It was supposed to remain secret—from the press, the FBI and the voters.

When The New York Times broke the story, the Trump team scrambled to explain it as innocent a way as possible. 

They certainly didn’t want voters to think that their candidate had committed treason by meeting with officials of a hostile foreign power to manipulate a Presidential election.

On July 8, 2017, Donald Trump, Jr., issued the following statement: “It was a short introductory meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago and was since ended by the Russian government, but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up.  

Donald Trump, Jr. [Gage Skidmore photo]

“I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand.”

On July 9, he added: “No details or supporting information was provided or even offered.”

Then The New York Times reported that, at the meeting, Trump Jr. was promised damaging information about Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

So, on July 9,  Trump Jr. issued a new statement: “After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton.

“Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense. No details or supporting information was provided or even offered. It quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information. She then changed subjects and began discussing the adoption of Russian children and mentioned the Magnitsky Act.”

[This is a bipartisan bill passed by Congress in 2012, to punish Russian officials responsible for the torture and death of a Russian tax accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Moscow prison in 2009.]

“It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting.” 

Trump Tower 

(By Jorge Láscar from Australia)

On July 11, Trump, Jr., tweeted: “The information they suggested they had about Hillary Clinton I thought was Political Opposition Research. I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn’t work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet.

“I decided to take the meeting. The woman, as she has said publicly, was not a government official. And, as we have said, she had no information to provide and wanted to talk about adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act.”

On July 16, Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, he went on “Meet the Press” to announce: “Let me say this—but I do want to be clear—that the President was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. It came from Donald Trump Jr.”

Then, on July 31, The Washington Post broke the news that Trump himself “personally dictated” the July 8 statement issued by his son.

Donald Trump

On August 1. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said “[President Trump] certainly didn’t dictate [the statement] but he—like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do.”

On June 2, 2018, Trump’s lawyers drafted a memo to Special Counsel Robert Mueller: “You have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.

“His son then followed up by making a full public disclosure regarding the meeting, including his public testimony that there was nothing to the meeting and certainly no evidence of collusion.” 

On June 3, Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani said on “Meet the Press”: “I think [Sekulow] was uninformed at the time just like I was when I came into the case. He was just in the case. This is a point that maybe wasn’t clarified in terms of recollection and his understanding of it.”

Then, on June 15, Trump, in a White House press conference, said: “It’s irrelevant. It’s a statement to the New York Times—the phony, failing New York Times…That’s not a statement to a high tribunal of judges.” 

Almost two months later, on August 5, Trump tweeted: “Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics – and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!”

Thus, by Donald Trump’s own admission, a secret meeting “about the adoption of Russian children” has become “a meeting to get information on an opponent.”