Q&A: Legal Questions Swirl About Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting
The email to Donald Trump Jr. just before the general election campaign offered a meeting with a Russian lawyer who would provide incriminating information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” The younger Trump wrote back: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”
While every campaign seeks damaging information on political opponents, the interaction between the president’s son and a foreign national represents a departure from the norm. Legal experts are divided on whether what happened could be a crime.
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch, said “it would be an absurdist interpretation of the law” to consider what Trump Jr. did a crime. “The law does not cover talking politics,” he said. “If it did, pretty much every political meeting would be considered an in-kind contribution that needs to be reported.”