Trump Admin. Pushes Back On Allegations Of Collusion After Trump Jr.'s Meeting With Russian Attorney
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Trump administration is pushing back against allegations of collusion with the Russians after Donald Trump Jr. changed his story about a meeting with a Russian attorney during the campaign.
Trump Jr. admits that he met with the attorney because she claimed to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
"He was told that there would information that may be helpful to the campaign," residential counselor Kellyanne Conway said in an interview. "There was no such information."
Trump Jr., campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, who has possible ties to the Kremlin. The Kremlin denies any connection.
She offered information on individuals connected to Russia, who she says were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Clinton.
But Trump Jr. says it quickly became clear that she had no meaningful information, and then changed the subject to adoptions and sanctions against Russians.
The revelation comes as former FBI director Robert Mueller is looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the election.
"There was no collusion that happened in this meeting," former CIA deputy director Mike Morrel tells CBS News. "But the fact that they were willing to do the meeting suggests to me... a willingness to collude and that's what Bob Mueller is going to have to dig into."
The White House insists the president did not know about the meeting.
The president says that he is willing to move forward with the U.S./Russian relationship.
President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday. The two discussed creating a cyber hacking unit to prevent future election meddling.
"I am sure that Vladimir Putin could be of enormous assistance in that effort since he's doing the hacking," Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) told Face The Nation.
The president has now somewhat backed off the idea, tweeting:
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