john nields jr: this is a draft. but i think you just testified that on five different occasions, you put one of these drafts in final form? north: it is my recollection that each we prepared to conduct one of those transactions -- and not all of them went through to fruition. there were only three that actually transpired during the time that i was supervising this activity. but it's my recollection that there were probably five times, total -- that we actually got to a point where we thought, one, that the sale would take place; and number two, that we would have the hostages released and a dialogue with the iranians, as a consequence. john nields jr: and you sent those memoranda up the line? north: it is my recollection that i sent each one of those up the line, and that on the three where i had approval to proceed, i thought that i had received authority from the president. i want to make it very clear that no memorandum ever came back to me with the president's initials on it, or the president's name on it, or a

donald trump jr., next. >> sean: thanks to our friends on "the five." donald trump jr. is here to set the record straight about his june 2016 meeting with the russian lawyer. he will join us for an exclusive in-depth interview. that's coming up. by the way, for all the members of the district or media that have to tune into my show tonight, get out your pad and pen. you may actually learn a thing or two. we have a message for you. maybe you want to take notes. we want to lay out the real scandals that you are not covering that you should be covering. if you were actual journalists, you would be. let's lay out the facts of this story. that is tonight. important opening monologue. earlier today after "the new york times" reported on the content of email exchanges prior to this meeting at trump tower, donald trump jr. released what he said is the entire email chain. contact was initiated by rob goldstone, a music publicist who represents a russian pop star who knows the trump family from the 2013 miss un

donald trump jr., next. >> sean: thanks to our friends on "the five." donald trump jr. is here to set the record straight about his june 2016 meeting with the russian lawyer. he will join us for an exclusive in-depth interview. that's coming up. by the way, for all the members of the district or media that have to tune into my show tonight, get out your pad and pen. you may actually learn a thing or two. we have a message for you. maybe you want to take notes. we want to lay out the real scandals that you are not covering that you should be covering. if you were actual journalists, you would be. let's lay out the facts of this story. that is tonight. important opening monologue. earlier today after "the new york times" reported on the content of email exchanges prior to this meeting at trump tower, donald trump jr. released what he said is the entire email chain. contact was initiated by rob goldstone, a music publicist who represents a russian pop star who knows the trump family from the 2013 miss un

. >> donald trump jr. on the offensive.owing he was ready to accept russia's help defensive after row leasing e-mails that he was ready to help russian e-mails. all the chaos the white house is reaching. early start coverage begins right now. >> it is wednesday, july 12th. this morning already the white house in escalating chaos coping with the fallout from donald trump jr.'s meeting with a russian lawyer and his release of an e-mail setting it up. the president's aides and lawyers have formed what the paper calls a circular firing squad, slamming each other for the decisions made since don jr.'s decisions made with the russians. providing the most direct evidence he was willing, even eager to accept help from a foreign adversary. very high level and sensitive information part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump. department jr.'s response, i love it. telling fox news, in retrospect he would have done things a little differently. >> this is 13 months ago before i think the rest of the world was talking about

donald trump jr. who moments ago responded on twitter again, with this, media and dems are extremely invested in the russia story. if this nonsense meeting it all they have after a year, i understand the desperation. >> everybody lied. on the disclosure forms, everybody lied in the trump administration about this meeting. >> if there is a conspiracy to obtain foreign assistance, that's a crime. >> there was no other connection, no phone calls or no further meetings, this is a massive nothing burger. >> it is not standard political practice to seek information from a foreign government. >> we don't know all the details. i know it's serious and i said a long time ago it's serious and this is a serious situation and one that is a long way from over. >> we're now beyond obstruction of justice in terms of what's being investigated. this is moving into perjury, false statements and even into potentially treason. >> lots to talk about here, including the conversation with sebastian go rca. >> qutsz new york

(jrs) in world news tonight... american tourist was beaten to death by a group of 10 men while visiting a greek island in the mediterranean. 22-year old bakari henderson was at a bar in with his friends yesterday when a man approached him and they began fighting. the fight escalated into a brawl on the streets after the bar security asked the men to leave. henderson recently graduated from the university of arizona with a bachelor's degree in business finance and entrepreneurship. he was in greece working on a photo shoot to launch a new clothing line. his friends are in shock as they try to figure out what happened. at least two people have at least two people have been arrested and police are searching for more suspects. (jr stone) in other world news tonight... president trump wrapped up another international trip as the g-20 summit marked its second and final day in hamburg, germany. and while many of the world leaders met for peaceful discussions... tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in pro

(jr stone) now at ten... now that a giant crane has been taken down - investigators are back on the scene of the latest oakland construction fire to continue searching for clues. good evening and thanks for joining us, i'm j-r stone. justine waldman has the night off... although a cause for the fire has not been found - evacuees returning home tonight are worried this could have been the work of an arsonist. kron4's ella sogomonian is live in oakland tonight... she talked to some of the people affected by this fire... 180 grand was evacuated today because of falling glass and debris.all but two buildings have been cleared for residents to return home tonight as pg&e restore power. evacuees are making their way back home on sunday after close to 700 were displaced by a massive construction site fire in oakland on valdez and grand that sparked friday morning around 4:30. sot: ksenia kirillova, evacuee back home// "i'm really happy to be back home."all but two buildings have been cleared for reentry as pg&e crew

don jr. didn't say what are you kidding? clearly this is a familiar person. both the intermediary and the family to him. so it would seem to me if he got this kind of email he might have told his father. in fact rob goldstone said i wanted to send it to you first and don jr. never said don't pass it along to my father. but right now we have don jr.'s word and his attorney's word about this. so i think this is something the special counsel is going to have to get an answer to. >> and you spoke with donald trump jr.'s attorney this evening. >> he basically said his client didn't break any laws. the fbi has not reached out for an interview or documentation but said don would do so. don jr. would hand over anything that the fbi would like and said when it comes to these accusations he could have violated campaign finance law, there is an allegation that the russian government wanted to hand over incriminating information. his argument was look we don't know what this was. we can't vouch for this

don jr.y his siblings would need to visit him in the office. >> i think throughout our lives. he has always been there. usually on his terms. wasn't a typical, let's go play catch in the backyard, father son relationship. >> an atypical relationship, that worked. until, the early 1990s. when donald and ivana trump divorced. the world read all about it. >> i was 12. it was a difficult time. certainly difficult reading about it in the papers every day on the way to school. >> don jr. read about it because trump sr. was talking about it. >> he said things that no man should ever say about his wife. in private, let alone in public. and i think it really affected don jr. and he went through a long period of time when, there was real chasm between father and son. >> they didn't talk for a year. >> i think don jr., identified very much with -- with what his mother was going through with the pain. that, that she felt. and i think he was quite angry. >> anger that died down as he grew up and headed to

i'm donald trump jr. >> don jr.t public push to convince voters his father was the only choice. >> a president who will unleash the greatness in our nation and in all of us who will give the hardworking men and women who built this great country a voice once again. that president can only be my mentor, my best friend, my father, donald trump. and when we elect him, we'll have done all that. we'll have made america great again. greater than ever before. >> the speech played well, but it was quickly overshadowed by questions of conflict of interest. after his father's historic victory, trump's team defending don jr.'s role on the transition executive committee, vetting candidates for cabinet positions. transition members argued none of it blurred the lines between trump's business and the government. >> the transition team has been very transparent in the fact that donald trump jr. is on the transition team, that he is someone who is helping us on the discovery. >> stepping into his father's shoes. >> he has agreed to

trump jr. being infompled by -- >> i have said many times in the past, there's another shoe that will drop and there will be other shoe that is drop. >> reporter: is this the first sign of coordination -- >> we have heard of many stories of meetings and communications and stuff, yeah. there will be many more shoe that is will drop. >> reporter: how serious do you think this shoe is? >> i don't know. there's another shoe that is dropped that needs to be pursued and looked at. >> the white house story is evolving. >> it has been for the last several months. >> reporter: does it concern you -- >> i told you it would. >> reporter: -- that it's a family member? >> i can't get into all the details. we don't know all the details. we know it's serious. i said a long time ago, it's serious. this is a serious situation. >>> we have new breaking news coming in just now. bear with me, it's just handed to me. donald trump jr., as we were discussing with david, he just released a new statement. that was just

that is donald trump jr.. donald trump jr.d nothing came of the meeting because the russian woman he met with wanted to talk about adoption instead of destroying hillary clinton's campaign. that story will probably work for donald trump jr.. as the investigation proceeds because this is not a donald trump jr. story. meaning he is not the person in the most trouble in this story. donald trump jr. is now serving as a very convenient heat shield for his brother-in-law, jared kushner, who was also in that meeting, and was included on the e-mails entitled russia, clinton, private and confidential. the e-mails that set up that meeting. >> donald jr might face some legal liability for soliciting something of value to a federal campaign from a foreign citizen. that is against the law. but it is not clear that law could be applied to this kind of meeting. jared kushner is facing a much more serious criminal liability as a result of simply having received that e-mail. that alone. the e-mail. that is a serious criminal issue. for jared k

>> don jr.'s first answer he spoke to the substance of the meeting, which is more about russian adoptions and the magnitsky act than anything else. >> he didn't say anything about about sanctions, he just talked about adoptions. >> well, then in his second answer he added in the details about what the supposed premise of the meeting would be. it would have been clear to combine the two but i don't know the specific questions and the way they were phrased and put to him by the reporters. >> but is this standard operating procedure in a campaign, to get opposition research? >> it's not. no, it's not for two reasons. first of all, they were -- this meeting was set up by a russian national who was very close to the kremlin. donald trump jr. claims that he didn't know who it was, he didn't get the name, and so how should he have known what was going on. well, when somebody -- when a foreign national from -- i would say a foreign aggressor contacts your campaign and wants a meeting, you sure as heck be

(jrs) that was joe khalil reporting. (justine) it continues to be a big debate at the house this holiday weekend.... still ahead... we'll break down the new idea one senator is suggesting to repeal obamacare and replace it with the new g-o-p healthcare bill... and after the break... hundreds attend a trump impeachment rally in san francisco... fid out the main reason why protestors to want president donald trump out of office... ♪ introducing the new sleep number 360™ smart bed. the only bed smart enough to change sleep as we know it. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you comfortable. and snoring... does your bed do that? right now save on sleep number 360 smart beds™. plus, it's the lowest prices of the season with savings of $500 on our most popular p5 bed. ends sunday. at enterprise car sales...ly experience great customer service and get more for your trade. june twenty-ninth through july fifth. and let enterprise car sales flip your thinking about buying your next vehicle. (ju

donald trump jr. has released an e-mail chain detailing the plan for his secret meeting he had with the russian lawyer last summer during the campaign. a meeting that clearly was set up with the intent of getting incriminating evidence against hillary clinton from the russians. the meeting that we're told the fbi did not know about until now. the first e-mail from rob gold stone, a confidant of the trump family, sent june 3, 2016, reads in part, the crown prosecutor russia met with his father this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your dealing with your father. this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of russia and its government support for mr. trump. i can also send this info to your father, but it is ultrasensitive so wanted to send to you first. trump jr. then replies, thanks, rob, i appreciate it. if it

don jr.'s take away from this communication was that someone had information potentially help to feel the campaign and it was coming from someone he knew. don jr. had no knowledge as to what specific information, if any, would be discussed. his lawyer goes on to say no action was taken. then we got this, steph, from the spokesperson for president trump's personal attorney who says, "the president was not aware of and did not attend the meeting." adding to this cloud of controversy you have donald trump jr. really shifting his story about why he had that meeting in the first place. first he said it was because he thought they were going to discuss russian adoptions. then just a day later he changed his story when he was confronted by reporters for "the new york times" and acknowledged that, in fact, he did take the meeting because he thought it would reveal damaging information about his father's rival, hillary clinton. in the wake of all of this mounting calls on capitol hill for answers, incl

donald trump jr.d a family acquaintance with something to offer. from the opening e-mail dated june 3rd of last year, some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and would be very useful to your father from a music producer named rob gold stone passing on information he says is from a russian pop star who is the son of a real estate mogul known as the donald trump of russia. gold stone goes on to say, "this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump." that's the offer, dirt on hockey gathered by a foreign adversary to help him become president. trump's junior reply, if it's what you say i love it especially later in the summer and from there trump junior and gold stone go on to set up a meeting with what he calls the russian government attorney who is flying over from moscow. then in the next e-mail, the russia attorney. several more e-mails follow before donald trump looping in paul manafort and ja

donald trump jr.'s twitter account and these e-mails are staggering. again, this unquestionably depicts somebody saying the russian government wants to help the trump campaign with documents damping to hillary clinton, and donald trump jr. saying, "i love it" and setting up a meeting to do so. >> and taking the meeting. >> taking the meeting. what took place at that meeting is a whole other question and we have different versions of events. shifting versions in some cases. we still haven't heard from paul manafort at the meeting, or jared kushner, who was at the meeting's we heard from the russian attorney in question who's depicting this all as the trump people wanted damaging information on hillary. >> right. >> but she didn't want to talk about that. again, grain of salt when it comes to, to her story as well as anybody else's who hasn't been up front about this, but it's -- it's a staggering turn of events, and it's rather momentous. this can't just be -- this can't be dismissed as people out to ge

donald trump jr.'s role in organizing it to congressional investigators who had questions about his foreign contacts. according to people familiar with the events. and so, ron, it seems to me that the trump administration knew this was coming out. manafort's disclosed it. the house investigators know it. now it's on jared kushner's disclosure form finally, and it represents a possible crime in jared kushner's case because he did not put it on his original disclosure forms. so at some point, the trump administration has the decision, do we want to see this thing come out in the middle of a house hearing that jared kushner is the witness at, where it lands as a bombshell on jared kushner, or do we want it to come out before that and maybe come out with donald trump jr. being the star of the article because donald trump jr. doesn't face the same criminal liability as jared kushner does. >> yeah. you know, they're shaping up for a very interesting thanksgiving dinner in the trump household. i mean it does

donald trump jr. facing an expose has released what he says that e-mail exchange with the trump family business associate last year during the campaign. the e-mails make it clear that the trump associate, publicist rob goldstone, specifically offered what he described as information from the kremlin. russian officials quoted in the e-mail saying that goldstone said offered to provide the trump campaign with some official document sent information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. this is obviously very high level and sensitive information, said the e-mail, but is part of russia and its government support for mr. trump, closed quote. donald jr.'s response, 15 minutes later, thanks, rob, i appreciate that. he went on to say, if it is what you say, i love it. especially later in the summer. peter alexander is at white house. peter, an extraordinary e-mail chain. he says it is legitimate and the new york times said now from its managing ed

the messages between trump jr. and an acquaintance, rob goldstone, outline how russian pop singer amin agalarav, whose father is tied with the kremlin, wanted them to meet with attorney natalia veselnitskaya. it also included jared kushner and paul manafort. he sa trump said, how about 3:00 in our offices? thanks, rob. i appreciate you setting this up. trump jr.: if it's what you say, i love it. especially later in the summer. the president's son tweeted photos of the e-mails along with a statement that reads, i first just wanted to have a phone call, but when that didn't work out, they said the woman would be in new york and asked if i would meet. i decide to do take the meeting. the woman said publicly shef wa not a government official and had no information to provide. the lawyer apparently stated she had information regarding campaign promises by the dnc which she believed mr. trump might find important. i agreed with a very tight meeting schedule. i was told she didn't work for the russian government. >> trans

jr. released all these e-mails, the president praised him for transparency. he's released a series of e-mails. the president praised him for his transparency. had "the new york times" contacted him and said we are going -- we have these e-mails and then he went forward with these e-mails? and also jared kushner, my understanding is three weeks or so ago, he amended his security request to get a security clearance with this meeting. can you say if he had been informed or questioned about this meeting or if he knew the "times" was investigating? >> to your first question, we have reached out to the lawyer for donald trump, jr. we said we were familiar with the contents of these e-mails and were planning to public. we gave a hardline. donald trump, jr. pre-empted it. i think there's been some frustration on the part of donald trump, jr. and people close to him about how the last couple of days have gone in terms of the disclosures and the slow roll, drip, drip. in terms of kushner, i'm not e

don jr. did nothing wrong. don jr., much like his father, taking to twitter and coming out in his own defense tweeting, the media and dem dems are invested in the story, if this is all they have after a year, i understand the desperation. we should point out that to date, john and poppy, at least seven former and current trump associates coming under question for not being initially forthcoming about their contacts with russians. we are hearing now the senate intel committee is going to be hearing from some of these folks. could be as early as this week. the one person we have not heard from on this subject, so far, is the president himself. you know, he's weighed in on so many issues before in the past. this time, so far, at least, the president has remained silent. john? poppy? >> jason carroll for us at the white house. keep listening to see if we do hear from the president. this morning, we did hear from the lawyer, the russian lawyer in this meeting with donald trump jr. and key trump ca

if donald jr.d his fathe about this overte, copie him on these e-mails, it's a very big political problem, i think. it is not, i think, a legal problem. even if this contact between the russian government -- or russian government officials and the trump campaign is unlawful, and it's not clear that it is unlawful, but even if it is unlawful, simply knowing about it on behalf of the president, i can't imagine that would be seen as a crime. but you know, it's important to remember that as important as these, you know, e-mails are that were released today, we all know that e-mails travel in chains, and lots of people are copied, and lots of people have access to e-mails. and there were probably other e-mails about this meeting. all of which director mueller will have access to, and we, at this point, don't have access to. so, you know, we have an important part of the story today, but it's only part of the story, and i think that's important to keep in mind as, you know, people go make dramatic conclu

trump jr. today published a conversation he had over e-mail with his associate rob goldstone. goldstone told him that he'd received some stunning information from an associate in moscow whose father is a russian billionaire, aras agalarov, senile right here. agalarov acted as a liaison between trump and putin when the two tried to meet at the 2013 miss universe pageant in moscow. here's what goldstone told trump jr. about what he had learned. "the crown prosecutor of russia offered to provide the trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. this is obviously very high-level and sensitive information but is part of russia and its government support for mr. trump." that wasn't all. he went on to say, "i can also send this info to your father via rona graph, trump's secretary, but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first." trump jr. signals to goldstone to hold off on tel

don jr.'s radar the same way. however, it was very clear that russia was considered a foreign adversary by 2016, regardless of the e-mails. >> and the reporting, it goes on to say "the president was aggravated by the news of the meeting. according to one person close to him, less over the fact that it had happened, and more because it was yet another story about russia that had swamped the media cycle." meaning all of this including his son, right? >> correct. i mean, he -- as you'll notice, he used his twitter feed to deflect information away from his son today. he talked about almost everything else this morning. the president on twitter. and instead, you know, he focused on his daughter, he focused on james comey. he focused on anything else. he came away, regardless of how critics or, you know, even some people close to the administration who support the president, regardless of how they perceived his interactions with vladimir putin during this europe trip to the g20. the president felt r

then donald trump, jr. the oldest son of donald trump at the time working on donald trump's campaign. and you have the tabloid reporter rob goldstone who donald trump e-mailed regarding the russian meeting with the kremlinx and they go back to the miss universe pageant in russia. the pop star, son ever the russian real estate tycoon. in fact he's the donald trump of russia. trump partnered with him to bring 2013 miss universe pageant in moscow which is when they met his son. so they were very familiar by the time the e-mail was sent. so you have the prosecutor general. this is where it gets interesting. the prosecutor is a putin appointee and also close with the other player in all of this, netalia is the lawyer who met with donald trump, jr. that day as well is jared kushner and paul manafort met there. you look at the faces on the screen and you have connection going back to miss universe pageant where goldstone was familiar with donald trump, jr. saying he could introduce donald trump, jr. to a lawyer wh

this afternoon, donald trump jr. released an e-mail chain between himself and others about hillary clinton that the campaign would find interesting. they seem to show trump jr. knew one year ago that the russian government wanted to support mr. trump and his campaigns. his reaction, if that's what you say, i love it. >> 2016 and potentially 2017 all come down to this. our word of the day, and that is e-mail. >> we've just sign donald trump jr. tweeting out the e-mail in question that everyone's been talking about. >> these e-mails are explosive. this should have set off alarms. instead, it activated their sal vary glands. >> there's an e-mail from the russian government suggesting they want to help, that would be problematic. >> i said a long time ago it's serious, and this is a serious situation. one that is a long way from over. >> the russian attorney in that meeting, sat down for an exclusive interview with my colleague keir simmons. the story she told is different than the narrative offered up by the president's

donald trump jr.'s e-mail exchanges will be part of the investigation as well. details of the contacts were not fully known to investigators until recently. the times is also reporting the e-mails were only discovered after mr. trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner updated his security clearance form after initially failing to disclose his involvement in that meeting. as the possible legal and political consequences escalate for the president and his inner circle, we'll ask president trump's lawyer what mr. trump knew and when. we're covering this breaking story from every angle with our team of correspondents and analysts. let's begin with those explosive e-mails between donald trump jr. and rob goldstone who was working to arrange a meeting between the russian lawyer and the trump camp in june 2016. the russians were offering, quote, official documents and information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. goldstone adds thi

s transparency. >> the reason don jr. released his e-mails is because he is completely transparent. >> how refreshing to have somebody be transparent. >> donald trump put it all out today. >> donald trump junior is transparent. >> so listening to that, you're left with the impression that donald trump jr. has been the very essence of transparency when he disclosed those e-mails that he had put it all out there, let it all hang out. here he is again tuesday night on fox. >> did you ever meet with any other person from russia that you know? >> i don't even know. i've probably met with other people from russia. certainly not in the context of actual formalized meeting or anything like that. because why would i? >> well, today we learned that the june 2016 meeting that all this transparency is about was attended by at least eight people including, yes, another russian, a russian american who allegedly has ties to russian intelligence, an allegation we should point out that he denies. we're going to have much more on him in a

(jr stone) now at ten.. triple digit temperatures hitting parts of the bay area once again and it's not over yet...(justine) tonight much of the bay area is under a heat advisory...(jr stone) thanks for joining us i'm j-r stone...(justine) and i'm justine waldman... fire warnings have also been issued for some areas because the hot and dry conditions... could help fuel wildfires... (jr stone) meteorologist lawrence karnow joins us now with details on just how long this heat wave is sticking around for. lawrence? lawrence karnow: another weekend, another round of hot, triple digit temperatures for part of the bay area. it's been a hot summer so far and today was no exception. highs soared into the 100s in many of the interior valleys. but it was almost 40 degrees cooler at the coast. heat advisories are up once again away from the coast and bay as temperatures will head back into the 90s and low 100s again tomorrow. we're also seeing a few monsoonal clouds sweeping across our skies too. it will be even hotter

(jr stone) in benicia... police arrest a 21-year-old man in connection with raping an underage victim. officers say brandon jacobs met the victim... a 15- year-old girl...as he was serving as a youth volunteer at a local church. on friday... police located jacobs while he was trying to meet up with the girl. he was taken into custody and booked into the solano county jail. (justine) in oakland, police are investigating a rape case involving seven suspects... the attack happened around 10 friday night on 83rd avenue. near the new highland academy elementary school. the victim was taken to a hospital. police are still looking for the seven suspects. (jr stone) in national news tonight... nine bodies were found in an overheated tractor-trailer in a san antonio walmart parking lot early this morning. (justine) 17 others are in life-threatening condition. some survivors told officials they crossed the border by foot at laredo, texas.(jr stone) now the u-s attorney's office is holding 60-year-old james bradley juni

donald trump jr. releasing a trove of e-mails detailing the lead-up to his meeting with the criminally linked attorney. what they say about the russian government's support, that kremlin-linked attorney speaking out. an nbc news exclusive interview with the russian attorney whom donald trump jr. met last june, her account of that meeting with the president's son, son-in-law, and steve bannon. >>> and kushner's clearance. the e-mails, jared kushner cc'd on the plans for that meeting. why didn't he reveal he had communications with a russian attorney in his security clearance forms? one of the dozen lawmakers calling for kushner's security clearance to be revoked joins me. up with of the dozens, i should say. we start with the e-mails released by donald trump jr. just a short time ago. they follow a series of bombshell stories by "the new york times" and what you might call evolving answers by the president's first born about this meeting with the russian lawyer. let's read through some of those e-mails

trump jr. met with a russian lawyer after a middleman told him that she was a russian government official who had information that was part of russia's effort to help donald trump win the u.s. presidential election. that's according to an e-mail chain that donald trump jr. himself released today on twitter. he tweeted it just minutes before he knew that "the new york times" was posting a story with all of the details from those same e-mails. in the message, a british publicist claims to be working on behalf of a russian pop star and the pop star's father who is a russian billionaire with close ties to the kremlin. the publicist claims the pop star and the pop star's father met with the russian lawyer and that she had dirt on hillary clinton. the publicist later arrange as meeting between the russian lawyer and donald trump jr. at trump tower in new york city. "the new york times" wrote news over the weekend. the newspaper reported that the president's son met with the lawyer in june of last yea

don jr.'s response, i love it. if it's what you say i love it especially later in the summer. now he's speaking out in his own defense telling fox news he would have done things a little differently. >> this is 13 months ago before i think the rest of the world was talking about that. so i don't even think my sirens went up or the antennas went up at this time because of it because it wasn't the issue that it's been made out to be over the last nine months, ten months. >> do you tell your father anything about this? >> no. it was such a nothing -- there was nothing to tell. i mean, i wouldn't have even remembered it until you start scouring through the stuff. it was a wasted 20 minutes which was a shame. >> so far don jr. has not spoken to the fbi nor handed over documents but his lawyer says he's willing to talk to any investigators. last night, the president signed off on don jr.'s initial statement crafted by trump advisors late saturday. a statement that made no receive roens to the meeting about being about da

>>> donald trump jr. was told the russian government was providing damaging information about hillary clinton. a stunning new report this morning from "the new york times" ahead. >>> and 16 people dead after a marine corps plane crash in mississippi. there are no survivors. the fbi is on site. the latest information we have just moments away. just a military tragedy there. we're following that very, very closely. >>> good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. it is tuesday, july 11th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. up first, not only did donald trump jr. meet with a lawyer linked to the kremlin, there's no reporting that don jr. was told the january government was directing her efforts to spread damaging information about hillary clinton. that's according to "the new york times" citing through sources familiar with an e-mail sent to trump jr. that e-mail reportedly says the information about clinton was part of a kremlin effort to help the trump campaign. >> the e-mail wa

trump, jr. someone of that magnitude and that level, you would have to have some kind of explanations as to why you would be meeting. and again, at that time, this was around a very important time. the president -- well now president trump, but candidate trump at that time early on has major security and secret service there so if you were coming to that building there was a reason to come to that building. that reason according to this news article, this breaking news, that the reason was to give information about the clinton campaign so he had a reason. it makes sense. it sm what falls into place and understanding as to why there was a meeting. right now it's alleged. >> i did hear the conversation on getting into the trump tower, what did you have to do, show id, this was before he game the nominee. each time i one i had to show identification at the elevator to get up to the floor at least where the trump family. >> and explain. >> and explain why you're here. i'm from cnn i'm doing an inter

donald trump jr. was told before the meeting he'd be given compromising information about hillary clinton that was part of a russian government effort to helps his father's campaign. russian government effort. those three crucial words, they are new, and very important, especially given the word that is missing. denial. no one in the white house or donald trump's orbit is denying this happened. >> that e-mail reportedly came from this man, rob goldstone, a publicist who helped coordinate the meeting. earlier this morning, the russian lawyer in that meet with trump jr. told nbc news this. >> translator: it's quite possible they were looking for such information because they wanted it so badly. >> they wanted it so badly. donald trump jr. has hired a lawyer. he says this is much ado about nothing. all of this is happening at the senate intelligence committee gets ready to begin interviews with trump campaign officials. first, our team of reporters on the ground covering all of the angles. let's begin at

don jr. explained how he said that meeting at trump tower in june of 2016 played out. >> us a little taken aback by her saying -- talking about me pressing for the information. but as you can see from the e-mails the pretext of the meeting was, hey, we have information and there was even some small talk -- i don't remember what it was. it was sort of nonsensical and garbled and went on to, you know, a story about russian adoption and how we could help. i think it became apparent to jared and paul who i think jared left after a few minutes -- >> she said that, yeah. >> i do remember that. we were all there. i was basically sitting there and listening as a courtesy to my acquaintance. >> joining me this afternoon is kelly o'donnell, julia hersh field davis and ashley parker who had one of the news making articles today on what the paper called a category 5 hurricane brewing in the white house. and our panel today joining me on set "washington post" columnist, msnbc analyst eugene robinson. form

don jr.'s two statements, both -- neither one is inconsistent with the other. one just is longer and more ex-plainti ex-plaintive. we have two people also in the meeting that corroborate what was discussed and it is concerning the news had come out tonight from "the new york times" where, you know, three people have seen some e-mail that i haven't seen and john hasn't seen that suggests don jr. knew this potential evidence that actually wasn't ever brought to the meeting because it didn't exist, it was just a pretext, but nonetheless, this was sourced from the russian government. i'm not as quick to cast guilt or start charging people with certainly crimes but not even political malfeasance based on the evidence that we have as we sit here tonight. >> okay. let me just say -- i don't know if we have the statement ready for you, but now there's a third response from don jr. and it says, "robert goldstone condu contacted donald jr. in an e-mail. alleged wrongdoing by democratic party front-runne

bottom line, is that don, jr., did nothing wrong. the russian lawyer at the center of the story, natalia veselnitskaya spoke with nbc news. here's what she said. >> it appears that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc, how did they get that impression? >> it's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> have you ever worked for the russian government? do you have connections to the russian government? >> no. >> in any language, no, i don't work for the russian government. that's what she said. clearly, what will happen from this point forward, donald trump, jr., said i'm happy to talk to the senate intelligence committee and share what i know about that meeting et cetera, but there would be other questions now asked by lawmakers on capitol hill about why he took a meeting with a person that potentially could have been an agent while the foreign government -- even though you just heard the woman there say she was not acting in that capacity. >> eric: k

take a listen. >> don jr. has very explicitly stated he didn't even know the name of the person with whom he was meeting. he agreed to the meeting based on a contact from the miss universe pageant. they get into the meeting and it quickly turns into a pretext for russian adoption, according to his statements, that the comments this woman is making about any type of information on hillary clinton were vague, they were meaningless. others exited the meeting very quickly. the meeting itself was very brief. there was no information given. there was no action taken. there was no follow up. let me respectfully say as well as i can, i don't think anybody had to look very far to find damaging information on hillary clinton. >> that's beside the point. he took a meeting with somebody -- >> she provided a loop. >> it wasn't just let's have lunch. he brought two very important people with him. it's a credibility issue as to whether or not he knew who he was meeting with. i don't know what should be more troubling to you,

trump, jr. admits he met with a russian lawyer expecting to get damaging information on hillary clinton. >>> tonight, new questions about collusion, and what the president may have known. weakening sanctions, did the trump administration secretly try to water down legislation that would slap new sanctions on russia and the putin regime? we're going to tell you what we're learning this hour. >>> widening split, as more senate republicans refuse to support the republican health care bill, the president is daring lawmakers to skip their august recess while staying largely absent from the nitty-gritty up on capitol hill. is there any real hope for progress in the days ahead? >>> and taking back mosul as iraq declares a crucial victory against isis, cnn goes inside the climatic battle with exclusive video of a war-torn city emerging from the terrorist's brutal grip. we want to we will p come our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." break

don jr. replying in the e-mail, if it's what you say it is, i love it. >>> also at this hour, the russian lawyer with reported ties to the kremlin who came from moscow to trump tower. she is now speaking out about the meeting with don jr., paul manafort and jared kushner. who is she? what did she bring? and did then-candidate donald trump know? >>> also moments ago on the deadly military crash. the c-130 with 15 marines and a sailor on board, we're on the scene. >>> the close call at san francisco airport. what we have learned about the pilot who was about to land where four passenger planes were waiting to take off. >>> and the images coming in right now, digging for clues after four young men go missing. >>> good evening, and it's great to have you with us here on a tuesday night, and we begin tonight with donald trump jr.'s own e-mails. the president's son was told during the campaign that he was about to get dirt on hillary clinton, and he was told in those e-mails that the russian govern

. >> donald trump jr. gives up the game. >> there's no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. >> the president's son releases a jaw-dropping e-mail showing attempted collusion with the russian government. >> this is time and time again, lie after lie. >> tonight, what did the president know and when did he know it? >> russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. >> what this revelation means for all three investigations. >> the e-mails, i think, made quite clear that the russian government had possession of damaging information. >> how the white house and republicans are reacting to a story they can no longer call fake news. >> this is a massive nothing burger. >> why this bombshell e-mail is already a factor in the trajectory of trump care in the senate. >> i love e-mails. you can't erase e-mails. when "all in" starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. after a year of denials tonight we know the campaign of donald j. t

donald trump jr. on saturday, which was quickly -- >> it was a misleading statement. >> a misleading statement, which they had to quickly correct. this is malpractice of public relations 101. >> do they just not think it -- because they've known about the e-mails since june 21st. do they just not think it will ever come out in the media -- >> no, this is what happens when lawyers and public relations people get together and try and come up with a statement they believe will do the least harm in a way. what i think they didn't realize at this point is this thing would unspool itself. >> and they thought they could throw sand in the eyes of the media and the story would shift and the media would drop the story and move on to the next thing. they didn't think that it was going to -- >> and the problem is too much of a big deal, too much of a pivotal issue. it's the closest anyone has come so far to a smoking gun. so you don't forget the chapters preceding to that point. and to the republican party, i agr