Trump touts report Don Jr. did not call him about Trump Tower meeting – POLITICO

White House

President Donald Trump welcomed a report Thursday that said his son, Donald Trump Jr., did not talk with him on a blocked phone number before and after a meeting at Trump Tower between top campaign officials and Russians linked to the Kremlin.

“Just out: The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me,” the president wrote on Twitter. “They were made to friends & business associates of Don. Really sad!”

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CNN reported Thursday that three sources “with knowledge of the matter” told the network that records provided to the Senate Intelligence Community show the calls were between Trump Jr. and business associates.

Democrats, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who both sit on committees investigating the meeting, have pressed for more information om Trump’s Jr.’s repeated phone exchanges with a blocked number. Others have surmised that the calls could have been with his father, then the Republican frontrunner and future president.

The June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower — between Trump Jr., adviser Jared Kushner, then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and Russians including a lawyer linked to the Kremlin — has long been the source of both speculation and investigation in the various probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump’s initial insistence that the meeting was to discuss adoptions and not to gather dirt on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had fueled claims that the gathering could have been an example of the campaign’s collusion in Russia’s efforts to meddle in the election.

Whether Trump knew of the meeting beforehand, or was informed after the fact, is seen by many commentators as key to the collusion question.

Trump Jr. also touted the report on Twitter and taunted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who previously said House Republicans, then in the majority, were not doing enough to investigate the phone records.

“Has anyone heard from Adam Schiff?” Trump Jr. said. “I imagine he’s busy leaking other confidential info from the House Intelligence Committee to change the subject?!? #FullOfSchiff”

Trump and his son are frequent critics of CNN reporting, often calling the network’s coverage of the White House and Russia investigation “fake news.”