Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report provides a detailed account of the days before the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians – and reveals that Ivanka and Eric Trump attended a meeting about adverse Clinton information on the way.
Investigators principally focused on the June 9 meeting itself – exhuming emails between Donald Trump Jr. and a British music publicist that set up the meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer after the promise of dirt on Hillary Clinton.
They also included supplementary information that reveals discussions of the anticipated meeting got touted to senior staff and Trump family members.
Former Deputy campaign chair Rick Gates, who cooperated with prosecutors in the trial of campaign chair Paul Manafort, described information that was announced at a regular staff meeting in the days before the June 9 meeting with Russians.
'Rick Gates, who was the deputy campaign chairman, stated during interviews with the Office that in the days before June 9, 2016 Trump Jr. announced at a regular morning meeting of senior campaign staff and Trump family members that he had a lead on negative information about the Clinton Foundation,' according to the Mueller report.
Donald Trump Jr., Ivana Trump, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump all attended a staff meeting where Don Jr described a lead on negative information about Hillary Clinton, according to the Mueller report
Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya attended the June 9 meeting after the promise of dirt on Hillary Clinton
'Gates believed that Trump Jr. said the information was coming from a group in Kyrgyzstan and that he was introduced to the group by a friend,' it states. The anti-Clinton information offered up to Don Jr in fact was linked to Moscow, not another Russian republic. However the source of information, oligarch Aras Agalarov, was born in Azerbaijan, which could explain confusion.
According to Gates, the meeting was attended by Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Manafort, press secretary Hope Hics, and – 'joining late' – Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner.
Manafort, now sitting in jail after his conviction on corruption charges stemming from his work on behalf of Ukraine, urged caution.
Donald Trump Jr described the information days before the June 9th meeting with Russians, according to the Mueller report. The staff meeting was attended by Ivanka and Eric Trump
'According to Gates, Manafort warned the group that the meeting likely would not yield vital information and they should be careful,' according to the report.
'Hicks denied any knowledge of the June 9 meeting before 2017 and Kushner did not recall if the planned June 9 meeting came up at all earlier that week.'
Longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen 'recalled being in Donald J. Trump's office on June 6 or 7 when Trump Jr. told his father that a meeting to obtain adverse information about Clinton was going forward,' according to the report. But 'Cohen did not recall Trump Jr. stating that the meeting was connected to Russia.'
Ivanka Trump arrived late to the meeting, according to former deputy campaign chair Rick Gates
'From the tenor of the conversation, Cohen believed that Trump Jr. had previously discussed the meeting with his father, although Cohen was not involved in any such conversation,' according to the report.
The information on the meeting was provided in a section called 'Awareness of the meeting within the campaign.'
Trump Jr told the Senate Judiciary Committee he didn't tell his father about the meeting.
President Trump didn't sit for an interview with prosecutors, but responded to questioned in writing with answers he discussed with his lawyers. In written answers, Trump said he has "no recollection of learning at the time" that Don Jr, Manafort, or "Kushner was considering participating in a meeting in June 2016 concerning potentially negative information about Hillary Clinton."
Ignorance of the law appears to have benefited Trump Jr, Kushner, and Manafort – the
