Report: Democratic Theory on Don Jr. Calls Proved Wrong

He didn't get a call from his father before Trump Tower meeting
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2019 3:49 AM CST
Report: Democratic Theory on Don Jr. Calls Proved Wrong
In this Nov. 16, 2016 photo, Donald Trump Jr., walks from the elevator at Trump Tower in New York.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A Democratic theory on Donald Trump Jr.'s infamous Trump Tower meeting with a group of Russians has been proved wrong, sources tell CNN. The insiders say records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee show mysterious calls from Trump Jr. to "blocked" private numbers before and after the June 2016 meeting were to Trump family friends and business associates, not to his father. Democrats including House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff had suspected that Trump Jr. informed his father in advance of the meeting with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. The president's eldest son testified in 2017 that he couldn't remember who he had spoken to. Schiff says he is still pursuing the phone records in an effort to discover "what the president's role was in all this."

"After a year of hearing about this one ad nauseam, yet another left-wing narrative officially bites the dust," Trump Jr. tells the New York Times. Sources tell ABC that the blocked numbers were those of NASCAR CEO Brian France and real estate developer Howard Lorber, both longtime family friends who supported the Trump campaign. A Lorber spokesperson says he "has absolutely not had conversations with Donald Jr. about any Russian matters." Trump touted the report Thursday night, Politico reports. "The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me," he tweeted. "Really sad!" (Last year, Trump said he knew nothing about the "perfectly legal" meeting.)

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