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Cillizza: Trump Jr.'s explanation of meeting makes no sense
Donald Trump Jr.'s latest email explanation to Sean Hannity doesn't make any sense
(CNN)Donald
Trump Jr. has offered a series of explanations over the past 72 hours
for why he met with a Russian lawyer who purported to have information
about Hillary Clinton's campaign.
He tried out his latest one with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday night.
"I
didn't know if there was any credibility, I didn't know if there was
anything behind it, I can't vouch for the information," Trump Jr. said.
"Someone sent me an email. I can't help what someone sends me. I read
it, I responded accordingly."
By
this explanation, Trump Jr. is blameless because all he did was respond
to an email -- promising info on Clinton -- from Rob Goldstone, a
publicist for a wealthy musician.
It's just not that simple -- or anywhere close -- for Trump Jr., however.
First
-- and most important: Getting an email is one thing. Quickly
responding to it to set up a phone call or a meeting is another. The
first is passive. Someone sends you an email. The second is active. You
act on the email, setting up a meeting to get the information. Two very
different things.
The latter is
what Trump Jr. did here. Not only did he respond to the email to set up a
meeting but he also seemed to suggest to Goldstone that he'd "love it"
if the information on Clinton was as bad as Goldstone promised.
(Goldstone had said it was "incriminating" in a previous email.)
That's
enough to put the lie to Trump Jr.'s all-I-did-was-get-an-email!
explanation. But Trump Jr. also had plenty of other information via
previous emails from Goldstone that made him something less than just a
guy who got an email.
Goldstone
had already told Trump Jr. that the information had likely come from a
Russian prosecutor from a meeting with Aras Agalarov, a Russian real
estate tycoon whose son, Emin, the musician, employs Goldstone. Not only
that, but Goldstone had told Trump Jr. in a previous email that "this
is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of
Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
"Part
of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." It's very hard
to misinterpret that. It's a direct statement from Goldstone, who Trump
Jr. has known since at least 2013, about where the information is
coming from and what the goal of passing it along to the Trump campaign
is.
This is not Trump Jr. flying
blind off of an email "someone" sent him. Not even close. Trump Jr. knew
the sender. He knew what was promised by the sender. He made clear he
was excited to get it. And, even with ALL of that, he STILL didn't need
to set up a meeting. But he did.
Which tells you everything you need to know about how lame his latest explanation actually is.
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