Jay Sekulow, a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, claimed that Donald Trump Jr.’s much-discussed meeting with Russian nationals was not illegal during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
“Almost every expert says it’s not illegal,” Sekulow said, in regards to Trump Jr.’s series of email exchanges and meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
During the interview, Sekulow repeatedly reminded host Jake Tapper that he was not Trump Jr.’s lawyer, but reiterated that the meeting itself, which was 20 minutes, was not illegal.
Tapper asked Sekulow to respond to criticism from conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who has come out with strong language against Trump Jr. Krauthammer said that “bungled collusion is still collusion,” and called Trump Jr.’s actions “deeply wrong” and a “fundamental violation of any code of civic honor.”
Sekulow defended the actions of Trump Jr. and other campaign officials as par for the course during the height of a presidential election. He explained that opposition research is a part of the campaign process. As Tapper continued to press Sekulow on the Trump Jr. meeting, he defended the president’s son, but also made it clear that he represents President Donald Trump.
“I’m one of the counsel for the president of the United States who was not involved in the meeting and not aware of the meeting,” Sekulow said. “The president was not engaged in this, was not aware of it, Donald Trump Jr. made statements that this was everything.”
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