Donald Trump Jr. admitted in an exclusive interview with Sean Hannity Tuesday that he “probably would have done things a little differently” in relation to his meeting with a Russian lawyer.
According to a partial write-up of the interview by Fox News, Trump Jr. told Hannity, “in retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently.”
A recent report revealed that Trump Jr. had met with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 hoping to obtain information that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. He claimed that nothing came of the meeting and that he didn’t know beforehand that the information he sought — or the person he was meeting with — could be connected to the Kremlin.
However, as email exchanges released on Trump Jr.’s Twitter account show, he was told at least once by Rob Goldstone, who set up the meeting, that the information was part of an effort by the Russian government to aid his father’s campaign.
“This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” read a piece of a June 3, 2016 email from Goldstone to Trump Jr.
Trump Jr. still contends in his interview with Hannity that the meeting was “nothing” and that “I wouldn’t have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.”
“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. continued. “Someone sent me an email. I can’t help what someone sends me. I read it, I responded accordingly.”
Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager at the time, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, were also present at the meeting with the lawyer.
The full interview with Hannity, which airs at 10 PM EDT, is Trump Jr.’s first interview since he released the email exchanges with Goldstone.