WP: Trump Dictated Son's Misleading Statement on Meeting with Russian Lawyer

[lanlady]

Source: Washingon Post

On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril.

The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.

But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed.

Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared a story, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dictated-sons-misleading-statement-on-meeting-with-russian-lawyer/2017/07/31/04c94f96-73ae-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?tid=a_breakingnews&hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar

[applegrove]

1. Already posted.

[uppityperson]

2. This was the first in LBN. By a minute yours was in GD

[applegrove]

3. Yes I deleted mine too.

[uppityperson]

4. Dupe are ok in gd

[applegrove]

7. Okay. Thanks.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. It's OK to have one thread in LBN and multiple threads in GD, on any given story. . . . nt

[applegrove]

6. Did not know that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. That would explain the large # of dupes. there....

Did not know that and I have been here awhile.
Thanks for the info...

[Blue Owl]

8. A master checkers move

n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Don the Con is amateur at everything: government & COVERUPS included. . . . . nt

[syringis]

22. May I ask you a favor?

Please, do not use "amateur". It is a nice word, originally meaning that we love something.

In french we say "bon à rien" (litteraly good at nothing) to describe a incompetent. You certainly have an equivalent in english.

I'm talking about this because it reminded me a sentence I have heard in an old french movie.

Someone saying :

"Tu n'es pas bon à rien, tu es mauvais à tout" (you are not good at nothing, you are bad at everything).

I can safely say that fits perfectly the master clown in chief, bad at everything

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. Oui, je peut utiliser la phrase "non-professional" ou "non-pro" en lieu.

"amateur" does have the advantage of being short and commonly understood. I do resonate with the idea of it meaning "doing something for the love of it".

Another word would be incompetent, but again it is not short and can't be shortened.

More fully, we might say that tRump is "willfully incompetent" and will stubbornly remain so.

"Incapable" might work in some contexts.

I'll think about your request whenever I feel the urge to post "amateur", but even if I avoid it I might backslide.

A bientot!

[syringis]

25. Than you

I was kidding

Anyway, I've never seen that level of incompetence. Schtrumph (contraction of schtroumph-smurf- and trump), brought it at a level of art...

[canetoad]

30. We could turn incompetent into a noun

Trump is an incomp! The whole administration are incomps.

Reminds me of the word 'nincompoop'. The Oxford definition is 'a stupid person' but the origin is unclear. Maybe it's a variant of incompetent.

[Gothmog]

10. This is evidence of collusion and evidence of guilt

This could be very important to Mueller

[Snake Plissken]

11. After a hard day of treason, it's Mueller time

It's time to call the priest in to give this administration it's last rites, drink it up fellas, it's closing time.

[Princess Turandot]

12. Hmmm. Was that the subject of his impromptu covefefe with Putin, the one after the G20 dinner? nt

[Kingofalldems]

13. Can't wait to hear what kind of lie Sanders puts out tomorrow.

Maybe she'll shut it down early.

[riversedge]

14. Looks like thrumps advisor is concerned about this coming out in print......

If I were involved in that pow wow on Air Force One, (as a staff), I would be very worried also.



.................The extent of the president’s personal intervention in his son’s response, the details of which have not previously been reported, adds to a series of actions that Trump has taken that some advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy.

As special counsel Robert S. Mueller III looks into potential obstruction of justice as part of his broader investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, these advisers worry that the president’s direct involvement leaves him needlessly vulnerable to allegations of a coverup.

“This was . . . unnecessary,” said one of the president’s advisers, who like most other people interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. “Now someone can claim he’s the one who attempted to mislead. Somebody can argue the president is saying he doesn’t want you to say the whole truth.”

Trump has already come under criticism for steps he has taken to challenge and undercut the Russia investigation...........

[Docreed2003]

19. IF, big if, this is true, which I don't doubt it is

A). It shows that Trump clearly knew about the meeting and he was trying to control the message

And

B). He didn't trust Donnie Jr to carry out the job of coverup.



Oh and this gem

C). Doesn't this shine a huge light on Trump's statement that he and Putin just talked about "adoptions" at that undisclosed meeting????

[Docreed2003]

20. And sorry riversedge

My response was to the OP not your response...

[deminks]

15. Boom goes the baby cannon.

Link to tweet

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

16. Aw shitsky

has hit the fansky

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Russian fanfansky..

I am cracking myself up here, for no apparent reason.

[UpInArms]

21. Snarf!

[CatWoman]

23. this was reported weeks ago

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029319442

[DonViejo]

26. It was reported weeks ago...

that he approved the release. Tonight, it's being reported that he wrote the release. Big difference.

[marylandblue]

27. Also it's new that he overruled his staff

They wanted a more truthful message, he turned into a lie. In the Nixon White House, everyone tried to protect the President. But now Trump's own staff is throwing him under the bus.

[Doug the Dem]

28. Now THIS is Fake News

After all, it has Trump putting words together in an understandable way!

[TexasBushwhacker]

29. Of course now we know "Russian adoptions" is the code word

for Magnitsky Act and Russian sanctions. Thank you Bill Browder!

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. White House admits Trump 'weighed in' on misleading statement about son's meeting with Russian

The White House has said Donald Trump "weighed in" on the misleading statement issued by his son, Donald Trump Jr, on his controversial meeting with a Russian lawyer.

"The President weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information he had," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, adding that Mr Trump "certainly didn't dictate" his son's statement, but did offer suggestions.
...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-weighed-in-statement-donald-trump-jr-russian-lawyer-a7871831.html

Yeah, 'suggestions', like "I suggest that weasel says this, or I'll hang him out to dry and cut him off."