Trump Touts American Products Amid Growing Controversy Over Son's Meeting With Russian Lawyer
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) -- President Trump continues to defend his son over a meeting with a Russian lawyer during last year's campaign.
The White House is hoping the controversial rendezvous doesn't step on the administration's message of the week -- Made in America.
"We are here to celebrate manufacturing and to showcase all products in the fifty states," Trump said Monday. "Made in the USA. Remember the old days. Made in the USA."
The president donned a cowboy hat to help kick off what the White House is calling Made in America Week, an attempt to promote products made in the U.S.
"We want to build, create, and grow more products in our country using American labor, American goods, and American grit," Trump said.
But the White House is pushing back at critics who point out questions that the president and his daughter have companies that outsource some of their product manufacturing overseas.
Spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters in an off-camera briefing Monday that it sometimes depends on the product and what manufacturing is available in the states.
"In terms of scalability, there are certain things we may not have the capacity to do here in terms of having a plant or factory that can do it," he said.
The president also took to Twitter Monday to defend his son, Donald Trump Jr., over a meeting he took with a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
"Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That's politics!" Trump tweeted.
At Monday's press briefing, Spicer added that, "the president has made it clear through his tweet, and there was nothing as far as we know that would lead anyone to believe there was anything except for a discussion about adoption. But I would refer you back to counsel."
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, the Kremlin banned the adoption of Russian children by American parents, after the U.S. had imposed sanctions against some Russian officials.
Meanwhile, the president sent well wishes to Senator John McCain (R-AZ) who is recovering from surgery due to a blood clot.
Any vote on the GOP health care bill would be delayed until his return because, as Trump said Monday, they need his vote.