If the hypothetical/theoretical/potential/evident relationship between the Russian government and comedy video how animals have sex snailsthe campaign of President Donald Trump is a puzzle, it's one in which just a few of the 1,000 pieces are delivered a week or so at a time.
Some people think the whole puzzle is already clear. Others think the puzzle will never be finished, or that we're putting it together wrong. But whatever your belief about Trump's Russia connection, the pieces of the puzzle do continue to surface, and the latest pieces involve the president's oldest son.
SEE ALSO: Ivanka Trump, who 'tries to stay out of politics,' sat in for her dad at a G20 sessionDonald Trump Jr., according to The New York Times, met with a Russian lawyer on June 9, 2016, at Trump Tower, after the lawyer promised "damaging information" on his dad's rival, Hillary Clinton. When first presented with news of the meeting, Trump Jr. said he -- along with then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner -- only discussed an adoption program. Presented with evidence that the adoption program wasn't the only thing discussed, Trump Jr. had other things to say.
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In that first tweet, Trump Jr. appears to acknowledge that the campaign was willing to collude with Russians, though not necessarily the Russian government, and he also told the Timeshe took the meeting because he was told that the lawyer "might have information helpful to the campaign."
This meeting encapsulates the tension running throughout this Trump-Russia saga. The Russian lawyer wasn't an official emissary of the Kremlin, but a cursory vetting would have revealed the potential issues. So was the Trump team trying to collude, or are they just bumblingly incompetent?
And, also, just to note it, the meeting happened on June 9, and if we take a leap back in time some 13 months, we find some interesting things.
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Priebus is the White House chief of staff and, while meetings at Trump Tower between members of the campaign were common in 2016, anything on June 9 is now worth noting.
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Alright then. This tweet is no smoking collusion gun, but it's worth noting that Trump tweeted about Clinton's emails on the day his oldest son attended a meeting wherein he was promised "damaging information" on Clinton.
And what about the Trump Jr. friend who set up the meeting? Wonder what he's like.
Rob Goldstone, the Donald Trump Jr. acquaintance who brokered the meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, the day after the 2016 US election: pic.twitter.com/20bMLUvDiH
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) July 9, 2017
This seems a little on-the-nose.
Trump Jr. associate Rob Goldstone was in Moscow less than 2 weeks before the June 9 meeting at Trump Tower, then went back for most of July: pic.twitter.com/GxLRiDwK9I
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) July 10, 2017
Heh. Wonder he was doing in Moscow before he set up a meeting between a Russian lawyer and the Trump campaign.
Just some more pieces for you puzzle-lovers.
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