donald trump, jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyers. the president wasn't involved in that. >> look, the president did not draft the response. i do want to be clear, the president was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. >> reporter: jay sekulow issued this statement in response to the washington post story last night. apart from being of no consequence, the characterizations are misinformed, inaccurate and not pertinent. cnn previously reported that none of the president's attorneys were involved in drafting that first statement. a person familiar with the matter said that mark kasowitz, the attorney at the time designated to handle legal matters surrounding the russia investigation was not on board air force one and did not participate in writing the statement. on july 23rd, donald trump, jr.'s lawyer jumped to his client's defense sailing donald trump, jr. and his legal team why fully prepared and absolutely prepared to make a statement that was a

the fact that this meeting that donald trump, jr. had with paul manafort and other senior leaders was not about russian adoption. the only person who believes that is donald trump. >> well, the special counsel is going to get to the bottom of it. that's what we know. because now that this story is here -- >> by the way, this idea that it was about adoption is something that donald trump -- that president trump repeated later on at a press conference as being -- and it was something that shawn spicer repeated that there's no indication or evidence that it was anything about anything adoption. we have to take a break. we'll be right back. a fire truck. even a marching band. and if i can get comfortable talking about this kiester, then you can get comfortable using preparation h. for any sort of discomfort in yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it. i wanti did my ancestrydna and where i came from. and i couldn't wait to get my pie chart. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea. just to know this is

president donald trump was unaware of that according to donald trump jr. like i guess the question is, did donald trump know about the meeting, the real reason for the meeting when he was helping craft the statement? >> so anderson, that's, of course, a key question and it's not one that we can answer with confidence as you point out, the president and donald trump jr. have indicated that the president was not fully informed. what our story tonight points out is that the question of how to respond to of this report that was coming in the "new york times" last july was discussed on the sidelines of the g-20 by top presidential aides and advisers, and as you recall, jared kushner and his wife ivanka trump were at the g-20. so there were discussions how to respond on the sidelines and what we hear from our sources is that the initial discussion was -- was one of representeding openness and a full response knowing that these e-mails that there were documents in a sense that lurked in the background that would tell a more a potentially more troublesome story. t

and his attorneys, donald trump -- or attorneys for donald trump jr. had told our pamela brown that they were ready and wanted to put out a more fullsome same, is their terminolo terminology, but that's not what ended up happen. this is donald trump attorney and sarah huckabee sanders at one of the audio briefings. let's play that. >> so he didn't have anything to do with the statement that don jr. put out that was being worked on with his team? >> no, the statement that don jr. put out, are you talking about yesterday's, chris? >> no that was written by donald trump jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyer. >> the "new york times" is reporting that president donald trump okayed the statement. >> has president trump had any conversation with his son, donald trump jr. the last several days and was he involved in helping donald trump jr. craft his statement over the weekend on air force one as was reported in the "new york times"? >> i'm not sure about the specific communications and the nature of those conversations, i know they have spoken at at

donald trump jr., or attorneys for donald trump jr. told our pamela brown that, in fact, they were ready and wanted to put out a more fullsome statement, i believe was their terminology, if memory serves me correct but that's not what end upped happening. i want to play what two people close to the president said at the time. jay sekulow and sarah huckabee sanders at one of the audio only briefings. let's play this. >> so he didn't have anything to do with the statement don junior put out that was being worked on with his team? >> the statement that don junior put out -- you talking about yesterday's? >> the one over the weekend that the president -- >> that was written -- no, that was written by donald trump jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyer. >> because "the new york times" has reporting that the president okayed the statement. >> they're incorrect. >> "the new york times" is wrong. >> is that shocking that sometimes they make a mistake? >> has president trump had any communication with his son donald trump jr. over the

we'll hear what donald trump jr. d to say last month about being transparent and whether anything else would come out. and also ahead, james clapper said recently that president trump was making russia great again. i'll speak with him coming up. americans - 83% try to eat healthy. yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day women's complete with key nutrients we may need. plus it supports bone health with calcium and vitamin d. one a day women's in gummies and tablets. people would ask me that we traveled,ntries what is your nationality and i would always answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results it was a shocker. i'm from all nations. it puts a hunger in your heart to want to know more. [siri tone] the rock: hey siri, read my schedule. [crash] [tires squeal] ♪ rock. [siri tone] merci, gimme some. ♪ hey siri, take a selfie. [siri tone] ♪ [siri tone] >>> the white house today admitted that the president "weighed in" in their words on the statement that donal

donald trump jr., between don jr. and his lawyer. that's how you do it. i want to be clear the president was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. >> i mean, obviously jay sekulow was either not telling the truth or, i think more likely, had not been told the truth. >> and i think it's important to note that on some of those occasions, he volunteered that the president wasn't involved in drafting it, which i think reflects how damaging this revelation really is for them. i would suggest that trump was the person who wanted to pull back from full transparency. you know, our reporting basically states that there were other lawyers and advisers involved who knew that more information would come out that would make a less than fullsome statement seem invasive and like an effort to cover something up. so they wanted to put it out there. the president was the one who overruled them. that's the critical decision-making point here. you can call it dictating, you can call it weighing in, you can call i

it concerns the meeting that donald trump jr. had with several russian nationals, inside trump tower during the campaign, in june of 2016. that meeting included campaign manager paul manafort and trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, and we now know multiple russians with ties to the kremlin. that story broke in "the new york times" on july 8th, the report included a written statement from donald trump jr., describing the meeting like this. quote, it was a short introductory meeting. i asked jared and paul to stop by. we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children that was active and popular with american families years ago and was since ended by the russian government. but it was not a campaign issue at the time, and there was no follow up. well, we soon learned that the meeting was much more than a short introduction and that trump's inner circle did not go to that meeting, expecting to hear more about adoption. donald trump jr. released the e-mail chain, showing the back and forth that he had with the pers

donald trump jr. we discuss a program about the adoption of russian children that was ended by the russian government but it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow up. we learned the meeting was more than an introduction and that trump's inner circle did not go to the meeting expecting to hear more about adoption. donald trump jr. showed the back and forth he had with the person who appears to have set the meetling up. rob goldstone wrote that the russian prosecutor offered to provide official documents and information that would incriminate hillary in her dealings with russia and would be useful to your father. this is high level and sensitive information but it's part of russia and its government support for mr. trump and don junior responded in part if it's what you say, i love it. obviously that is very different from what donald trump jr.'s first pass explaining the meeting. when he issued that statement saying it was a short are introductory meeting. we have breaking news a

donald trump jr.'s only e-mails, we know this. his own e-mails show trump jr. was promised, just in case you have forgotten, documents that would incriminate hillary and be useful to your father. it was part of russia's government support for trump. the meeting was set up with the promise of dirt coming from the russian government, the russian government which supported trump's support for presidency. they say it is accurate that the meeting was just about russian adoption. it is simply not the whole truth and it is not even close. another thing the white house is saying today that doesn't add up is this. >> the president weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information that he had. >> he weighed in the way any father would on a statement. >> all right. so they clearly picked those words, practiced them and have given them out as talking points, as any father would. the truth is it is not as any father would because this father is the president of the united states and the question abou

trump jr. we know that donald trump sr. promised a major speech about all of the things that have taken place with the clintons. that was two days before the meeting took place on june 9th, 2016. we know per nbc news reporting that donald trump was at trump tower on the day of the russian lawyer meeting, though he claims he was not part of it and initially claimed he knew nothing about it. we know that members of the trump campaign who went to that meeting say they got no information and it was a waste of time. and we know that the president never did give that speech about, quote, all of the things that have taken place with the clintons. we know all of that coming into this week in terms of the white house response to the news of the meeting emerging this month. july 8th in response to an upcoming "the new york times" report reveal the meeting, donald trump dictated that statement describing the meeting in a different way than was depicted in donald trump jr.'s statement. the day before, during the g20, he had a private s

it puts new light on donald trump jr hillary clinton. puts new light on donald trumer is mad behaviour that week, perhaps. this enquiry about alleged russian meddling seems likely to run through donald trump jr is my presidency. i think the biggest takeaway from this, we do not know what robert muller was looking for. we don't know what documents he found. paul manafort‘s people said that they were the same documents that would have been willingly provided. this is evidence of mueller‘s muscle in this investigation. this is something clearly that is going to be going on for quite some time. donald trump jr says this is a witchhunt. is there a lot of sympathy for that view? trump supporters certainly believe that this is which front. they say that this is which front. they say that this is which front. they say that this is an excuse for democratic opponents to find some reason why hillary clinton lost. outside, even conservatives are taking this investigation very seriously and are special counsel with these wide—ranging powers taking th

the blockbuster report in the washington post concerning the meeting in june of 2016 between donald trump jr., jared kushner, donald trump's then campaign manager, paul manafort and a number of russian nationals with tie to the kremlin. that meeting was made public earlier this month in a "the new york times" report published on july 8th when the "the new york times" first reported on this meeting. they included a statement from donald trump jr. who explained, quote, it was a short introductory meeting. i asked jared and paul to stop by. we talked about the adoption of russian children that were active and popular with american families years ago and since ended with the russian government. it was not a campaign issue at the time and there was no follow-up. i was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance but was not told the name of the person i would be meeting with before hand. it's been revealed that statement was not accurate. it was much longer than a short introductory and we know that the original stated purpose of the meeting was to pass along dirt on hillary clinton from the ru

it was donald trump jr.'s idea to invite manafort to an important meeting. russia clinton private and confidential. the no, times knew about that meeting three weeks ago. last night it was reported that president trump personally dictated the words of donald trump jr.'s first public statement about the meeting he gave to the "new york times" when the times asked him about it. when the news of that meeting was first reported the president's lawyer said that president had nothing to do with donald trump jr.'s statement even though the "new york times" reported that the president was consulted in the drafting of donald trump's statement. today the white house press secretary said the president weighed in. >> he certainly didn't dictate but he, like i said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do. >> okay. let's for the moment, put aside whether the president weighed in or dictated every word of the statement and considered this demonstration of the president's failure of neurological executive function when he was speaking in an interview with

donald jr. is now the first thing trump regrets putting his name on. e name removed. sorry, jr., your new name is 60 riverside drive. ♪ [man coughs] [spooky music] - master. you'll be pleased to know i've done your bidding. so much bidding. the best bidding. - spasibo, donald. - ♪ i'm going down to south park ♪ ♪ gonna have myself a time ♪ both: ♪ friendly faces everywhere ♪ ♪ humble folks without temptation ♪ - ♪ i'm going down to south park ♪ ♪ gonna leave my woes behind ♪ - ♪ ample parking day or night ♪ ♪ people spouting "howdy neighbor" ♪ - ♪ headin' on up to south park ♪ ♪ gonna see if i can't unwind ♪ - ♪ [muffled] - ♪ come on down to south park ♪ ♪ and meet some friends of mine ♪ - ah, killed you. - i blew your head off. - [muffled] - is cartman still in the bathroom?

and then donald trump jr. had to issue two more statements each day the "new york times" advanced the story. >> yeah. no question that first statement was an complete description of this event. saying the meeting was primarily about adoption policy and what it does not say is that it had been advertised a as an opportunity to get incriminating information about hillary clinton provided by the russian government. that's a very different understanding of that meeting. so the first statement was certainly not complete. certainly misleading. we reported very shortly afterwards that president himself signed off on this statement. and then jay, one of his lawyers, went on television, went on this network and other networks to say, no, that's not true. that's an incorrect statement. the president had no involvement in it. that is obviously not true according to the white house itself. the white house itself today said he was using the words weigh in or dictate or whatever else. the white house confirmed what was repo

donald jr. is now the first thing trump regrets putting his name on. g to have the name removed. sorry, jr., your new name is 60 riverside drive. ♪ [man coughs] [spooky music] - master. you'll be pleased to know i've done your bidding. so much bidding. the best bidding. - spasibo, donald. comedy central from comedy central's world news headquarters in new york, this is "the daily show" with trevor noah! (cheers and applause). >> trevor: welcome to the daily show, thank you so much, everybody, thank you for tuning in, i'm trevor noah. my guest tonight coming out with her new movie atomic blonde, charlize theron is here, everyone. (applause) kicking ass in her new film. and speaking of white women who kick ass, beyonce. >> outrage growing over mad oom teu sad's shall tussaud statue.

that grand jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with that june 2016 meeting between donald trump jrpaign chairman paul manafort, jared kushner, the russian lawyers and others. we do not know what or who was subpoenaed. this was according to reuters. according to e-mails released by donald trump jr., he agreed to meet with someone that he believed to be a russian government attorney last summer after receiving an e-mail offering him very high level and sensitive information that would incriminate democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton. and bill, i guess it's good news that intent to collude is not a crime because that seems to be what donald trump jr. would have been guilty of. >> other crimes could have been committed in covering up the meeting or in terms of what was given up over the meeting. i always thought they'd subpoena the e-mails, text messages, contemporaneous subpoena the people to say what happened, and not just the people in the meeting. subpoena donald trump's secretary to say did donald jr. show up to talk to his father? and then they'll put donald jr. under

trump had anything to do with it. >> this was donald trump jr. s, the president was not involved in that. >> reporter: the statement from trump jr. was drafted on july 8th. aboard air force one as the president returned from g 20 summit in germany and sent to "the new york times" reporting on the 2016 meeting. it said the meeting was abut the adoption of russian children. but trump jr. later released e-mails which showed he thought the russian lawyer had dirt on hillary clinton to which he replied, i love it. >> it was such a nothing. literally wouldn't have remembered the meeting. >> the president's son-in-law, jared kushner and then campaign chairman, paul manafort also attended the meeting. >> it doesn't look good. >> bill matea, former federal prosecutor says the president's involvement in crafting the statement may raise a red flag for special counsel robert mueller. >> wel, as the a prosecutor, if somebody comes to you and tells you x. in fact that's not true, and then you learn that somebody -- counseled them to do that, then you are going

would have come out if "the new york times" hadn't started reporting about the story and told donald trump jr. tlehere we going to report on the story. they were going to report on the contents of the e-mail. did donald trump jr. say for the sake of total transparency, he would put the e-mails out. when it comes to this angle of the story, it seems the credibility lands with the reporters more than it does with the trump organization or the white house or donald trump jr. yeah? >> i'm going to let the public decide that. they know the information that is out there. i will say this, the only way that e-mail that "the new york times" broke, you know good reporters at "the new york times" was because the campaign did a review of the e-mails and disclosed this is information the campaign had seen. they gathered through extensive research. it's not like "the new york times" discovered the e-mail. it was given to them by someone from the trump organization. don got asked a follow up question. it didn't appear out of anywhere that "the new york times" found it. >> why the misleading statement then?

it became clear when donald trump jr. showed e-mails that said it was about russian government support for mr. trump. he replied, if it's what you say, i love it. tonight it's a waiting case of conflicting schedules as the white house tries to move beyond the cloud of the russian investigation. but president trump is put back on defense. >> the statement was true and there were no inaccuracies in the statement. i think what the biggest question is, everybody wants to try to make this story about misleading. the only thing i see misleading is a year's worth of stories that fuels off this russian collusion and based on phony scandal and anonymous sources. if we're going to talk about misleading, that's the only thing misleading i see about this entire process. >> reporter: two investigations are under way on capitol hill into potential collusion between the trump campaign and russia. >> i don't know what role the president played, if any. here's what i would suggest. that when you put out a misleading statement, it's going t

subpoenas related to donald trump jr.'hat have you

while on air force one with the help of taxpayer paid white house aides personally worked with donald trump jr. on a misleading statement about a 2016 trump tower meeting with russians. >> if that's true, then that was a bad decision by the president, which will make us ask for questions. when you get caught in a lie about one thing, it makes it hard to just say, let the other stuff go. >> with us to share reporting and insights, jackie kucinich of the daly beast. and bloomberg politics representative and a cnn correspondent. took hours for the foul-mouthed scaramucci to get the boot and general kelly to impose his rules how to get access to the president. those rules we're told apply to everyone including presidential daughter ivanka trump and presidential son-in-law. >>>. if they hold -- if they hold -- people like the social media director can't just walk into the oval office and suggest a tweet storm? that would be a big change. but can kelly change at least tame the president? that's a big question. for the answer, keep an eye on the twitter feed. actually tame since kelly began work yest

. >> another talk about donald trump jr. linked to a russian attorney last year has changed. >> the attorney said donald trump had nothing to do with the meeting but now something different. >> reporter: new reports tonight from the white house over president trump's hands on role, crafting an explanations of his son's meeting with runner over the 2016 election. >> the president weighed in on my information he could. >> reporter: the white house acknowledging for the first time the president helped write a statement his son donald trump jr., son-in-law jared kushner and paul manafort has with the russians and others in the trump tower. the president dictated that busy leading statement. >> he certainly didn't dictate but he weighed in and offered suggestion like any father would do. >> reporter: his own lawyer assisted mr. trump didn't write the statement saying the meeting about russian adoption. >> i wasn't involved in the statement drafting at all nor was the president, i'm assuming that was between mr. donald trump jr., b

donald trump jr.itted to holding a undisclosed meeting, before the election, with a russian lawyer and a russian lobbyist who reportedly once worked for the kgb. and the hardest part to believe is there was a donald trump dumb enough to do that and it wasn't this one. [ laughter and applause ] china reportedly scrubbed the images of winnie the pooh from social media over the weekend, after users compared the character to their president. though it seems like it would be easier to just get their president to put some pants on. [ laughter ] president trump attended the u.s. women's open golf tournament this weekend. so just to be safe, the golfers got changed in their cars. [ laughter ] senate republicans are trying to add a provision to their healthcare bill that would allow companies to offer low cost reduced coverage plans, which critics are calling junk insurance. "i'll take some junk insurance," said dudes who wear really tight biking shorts. [ laughter and applause ] can never -- can never be too

subpoenas have been issued in connection with a controversial meeting between a russian lawyer and donald trump jr., jared kushner, and paul manafort. also breaking, cnn has learned of more major developments. sources connected with the probe say investigators are looking at potential financial ties between president trump in his associates with russia. the president has said that's a red line, mueller should not cross. cnn has also learned that investigators turned up intercepted communications of suspected russian operatives, apparently trying to coordinate with former trump campaign chairman paul manafort. sources say the russians talked about information they believed would damage hillary clinton's campaign. >>> and the washington post is reporting that transcripts of a phone call between president trump and mexican president nieto showed mr. trump mexico would not have to pay for a border wall that is could be worked out. when he asked him to stop criticizing the wall. we're covering all of that. much more this hour with our guests. including congressman eric of the house judiciary and intell

cbs news learns they want the phone records and everything related to the meaning with donald trump jr. that includes president trump's son-in-law jared kushner and paul manafort. even longtime supporters james risch says it's time to know anything and everything with that encounter. >> i guarantee there were phone calls along with those e-mails and i want to hear all of it. >> on wednesday president trump signed a new set of sanctions against russia but not before calling them, quote, seriously fraud. then he turned to immigration. >> this competitive application process will favor app can'ts who can speak english, financially support themselves and their families, and demonstrate skills that will contribute to our economy. >> those opposed insist the measure is short sited for skewing the process too much in favor of highly skilled workers. >> there are certain areas like meat packing, tourism, and agriculture that you kind find an american born laborer to do those jobs and it keeps the company from going out of business an going overseas. >> this would cut the number of ref gees goi

dealing business dealing of donald trump and right now we don't know what the real scope of this investigation is legally now and that's your expertise on jared kushner donald trump jr a e-mails having meetings is anything illegal about all of that well the question is whether he failed to disclose that's one set of separate issues and could it affect his security clearance what we know so far about the for example the meeting that donald trump jr was involved with doesn't establish a crime by itself but what prosecutors are legitimately considering in examining a meeting like that is whether that provides some linkage that they can put together with other elements to show in effect that there was some kind of illicit conspiracy between somebody and the activities of the russian government collusion itself larry we know that's not a crime when you have to show is an intention to conspire criminally was somebody who is committing a crime such as hacking into a computer so the fact that there was at least briefly we don't know whether it was a long term willingness to consider getting der. on hillary clinton and that that willingness to consider getting dirt on hilly

. >> that was written -- that was written by donald trump jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyer. the president didn't sign off on anything. he was coming back from the g 30. the statement released saturday was released by donald trump junior i'm sure in consultation with his lawyers. the president wasn't involved in that. >> the new york times says he was involved. you're disputing that account from the new york times? >> yes. >> he could not have been more definitive, the president had nothing to do with this, your reporting flies in the face of that, what does this mean for the bob mueller investigation? >> well, what he said there is simply not true according to our reporting, you raise a good point about the mueller investigation. you know, bob mueller has to be looking into this, a lot of the president's advisers are concerned that this situation on air force one is going to become something that catches the interests of mueller and the investigation. mueller is investigating whether the president has obstructed justice or attempt

this starts with the trump tower meeting last summer, that included donald trump jr., trump son-in-law jared kushner, and russian attorney natalia veselnitskaya. flash forward a year. kushner and his wife ivanka trump, at the g20 summit, learned the "new york times" is about to report the story. they huddled to craft a response, and agreed to lean toward transparency. according to the "post," "they wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn't be repudiated later." but the "post" reports that on air force one flying back to the u.s., the president overruled his advisors. the "post" writes that the president "directed that trump jr.'s statement to the 'times' describe the meeting as unimportant and unrelated to the campaign." he wanted the statement to say that quickly was contradicted by trump jr.'s own emails, showing he'd promised damaging campaign material on hillary clinton. the "post" story of the president's role in his son's statement conflicts with what his lawyer said last month. >> i do want to be clear. the president was not involved in the drafting of the statement and d

>> we have learned special council has issued grand jury subpoenas related to the donald trump jr. meeting in trump tower. this is according to a person familiar with the matter and subpoenas seek both documents and testimony for people involved in that meeting. just to remind our viewers people involved in the meeting include at least eight people we know of. don jr., jared kushner. the subpoena shows special council probe is beginning to enter a new phase. of course, the probe was convened in may and so now robert mueller has empanelled a grand jury. we have initially reported we recently reported there was a grand jury in northern virginia before the special council. this does tell us that mule mmu doing things by the book and that he wants to pull records and ask for testimony. >> jeffrey toobin, what does this move mean? >> it means the investigation is proceeding as a serious major criminal investigation. this is how prosecutors proceed. they need to use grand juries to get information whether through testimony, sworn testimony before the grand jurors or documents subpoenaed f

critical to this russia investigation than the activities of, of course, the president's eldest son donald trump jr., who eventually acknowledged, remember, initially that statement said that, well, this meeting was just about russian adoptions. then donald trump jr. released four pages of e-mails. we don't know what other e-mails might say. the ones released to the public revealed that this russian attorney might have damaging information on hillary clinton, that the president, then candidate at the time, donald trump was supported by the russian government. a very critical part of the investigation. i talked to a top congressional source earlier this morning, wolf, who says that if this is true, further implicates the president in all of this, and obviously raises questions that the president himself will have to answer at some point. he's obviously not eager to talk about these issues but it's out there for the president to answer. >> according to the "washington post" report, the president rejected the strategy of some advisors to be more forthcoming about donald trump jr.'s russia meeting at t

collusion scandal with donald trump's team explains its lucidly to see why her story is being exploited by the mainstream media whole scandal over my meeting with donald trump jr has been carefully orchestrated and blown out this story has proven to be gold for so many. fellow beckons you live from moscow you watching our internationals could have a company this sound our top story french counterterrorism prosecutors are now investigating an attack on soldiers near their barracks in a north paris suburb this morning six troops were injured three of them seriously charlotte dubinsky reports while

collusion scandal with donald trump's team explains it's believed to be why the story is being exploited by the mainstream media. whole scandal over my meeting with donald trump jr has been carefully orchestrated and. this story has proven to be gold for so many. in the afternoon here in moscow you with the international start with that nice from france where french counterterrorism prosecutors are now investigating an attack on soldiers near their barracks in the north paris suburbs this morning six

reuters is reporting subpoenas have been issued in relation to the june 2016 meeting between donald trump, jr others. >> by the way, trump's attorney, ty cobb, related to the original ty cobb says these things are supposed to be secret. what happened? >> interesting. all right. "risk & reward." liz: breaking news from the "wall street journal," special counsel robert mueller is getting a grand jury as part of the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 elections. the move signals the probe is entering a new phase. reuters reporting grand jury subpoenas have been issued in relation to the russian lawyer meeting with donald trump, jr.. welcome to "risk & reward," i'm liz macdonald in for deirdre bolton. mueller has been called ken starr times a thousand, reports indicate mueller is following the, quote, money trail. some unconnected to the

we're in negotiations with donald trump jr. i anticipate he'll be coming before the staff very soon. paul manafort has been more resistant and that is unacceptable. we'll have to use subpoenas for a number of the witnesses. >> thank you for your time. joining me, the author of the plot to hack america. a trump dossier expert. >> this transcript, nine answers of questions is a lot. do you think from an investigative standpoint, it is good to make that public? >> well, there are two different things. it is a great question because it is important for the public's right to know what is going on

donald trump jr., between don jr. and his lawyer. i'm sure his lawyer was involved. that's how you do it. >> john, wendy? again, the question is how do you square that with "the washington post" reporting. >> i mean i think it's very clear. this is going to be a problem for the president of the united states. what it says there is that they lied. he was involved. i mean, this story today has legs. it's not something that is going to go away. and it is going to be looked at by mueller. every time that some other story comes up, he is still going to be looking at the russian story. i think the president is misleading the public. and that's a scary thought for this country. >> i think three days from now we're going to be moving on to something else, not remembering this story. if it is true, if he did participate in this, it's not what he should be spending his time on. >> it's not illegal in and of itself. politicians do it all the time. but there are obviously -- >> lying to the public. >> exactly there is questions of cover-up and social justice. here is a little bi

trump had anything to do with it last month. >> this was donald trump, jr. and his lawyer. the president was not involved. >> reporter: the statement from trump, jr. was drafted last month aboard air force one as the president returned from the g20 summit in germany. it was sent to the "new york times" which was reporting on the 2016 meeting. it said the meeting was about the adoption of russian children but trump, jr. later released emails which shows he thought the russian lawyer had dirt on hillary clinton to which he replied, i love it! >> it was such a nothing. i literally wouldn't have remembered the meeting. >> reporter: the president's son-in-law jared kushner and then campaign chairman paul manafort also attended the meeting. >> it doesn't look good. >> reporter: this former federal prosecutor says the president's intervention in writing the statement may get him into potential legal trouble with special counsel robert mueller. >> well, as a prosecutor, if somebody comes to you and tells you x and, in fact, that's not true and then you learn that somebody counseled

donald trump jr. -- between don junior and his lawyer. i'm sure his lawyer was involved. that's how you do it. you know that. to put this on the president, i think, is absolutely incorrect. >> all right, well, not so according to your reporting. and carol, is it a safe assumption that the president knew details about that trump tower meeting, which then leads to bigger questions about why he wouldn't be forthright from the beginning in that statement. >> so, the president definitely knew that this meeting was about more than adoptions, and the reason that we found it misleading and very interesting that the president dictated it was because it emphasized, as you may remember, i think, at the top, you were describing the exact quote. it stressed we primarily talk about adoptions, which is true, and the second part emphasizing this was not a campaign issue. you know, detaching it from the campaign is something that is, you know, you can parse it, you can get legalese about it but what's what's misleading

in connection with the june 2016 meeting donald trump, jr. had with natalia veselnitskaya and

subpoenas related to donald trump jr.'s meeting with the russian lawyer at the trump tower during the campaign. what have you learned about the grand jury? >> the special counsel has issued grand jury subpoenas related to the donald trump jr. meeting at trump tower last june. this is according to a person i spoke with familiar with the matter. the subpoenas seek both documents and testimony from people involved in this meeting. though it's not clear exactly who involved in the meeting has been asked to testify. but given the wide ranging investigation, it is expected that special counsel subpoenas have been issued or will be issued beyond the trump tower meeting. this development does tell us that robert mueller, special counsel mueller takes the trump tower meeting seriously and he's doing things by the book making sure that if the grand jury signs off on any testimony. >> do we know when the grand jury was impaneled? >> the special counsel was appointed just last may. so obviously sometime after that. the subpoenas were

was donald trump jr.'s initial misleading response to his meeting with the russians actually trump sr.'s response? >>> plus -- a lead exclusive. white house officials pumped by an e-mail prankster. do the silly e-mails expose a much bigger security risk that could potentially impact you? good evening, everyone. welcome to this special edition of "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin tonight with breaking news in the politics lead. and just like that, poof, he was gone. anthony scaramucci doing his best kaiser sose impression before he could begin. a weekend change after walking into the west wing. scaramucci was asked today moments after general john kelly was sworn in as white house chief of staff. officially scaramucci offered to resign. but sources tell cnn that general kelly wanted him out and scaramucci was escorted out of the white house. the retired marine general thought scaramucci undisciplined and without credibility after his profanity-laced tirade about since fired chief of staff reince priebus

trump had anything to do with it. >> this was donald trump jr., and his lawyers. e president was not involved in that. >> reporter: the statement from trump jr. was drafted on july 8, aboard "air force one," as the president returned from the g-20 summit in germany. it was sent to "the new york times," which was reporting on the 2016 meeting. it said the meeting was "about the adoption of russian children." but trump jr. later released emails which showed he thought the russian lawyer had dirt on hillary clinton, to which he replied, "i love it." >> it was such a nothing. i literally wouldn't have remembered the meeting. >> reporter: the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, and then-campaign chairman, paul manafort, also attended the meeting. >> it doesn't look good. >> reporter: bill mateja, who is a former federal prosecutor, says the president's involvement in crafting the statement may raise a red flag for special counsel robert mueller. >> well as a prosecutor, if somebody comes to you and tells you "x," and in fact, that's not true, and then you learn that

that says that president trump may have been the one who drafted that memo released by his son donald trump jrabout that meeting with the russian lawyer