The White House said Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump had a role in producing a statement in which his son denied that a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer was related to the 2016 presidential campaign — comments later shown to be misleading. White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a briefing that Trump "certainly didn't dictate [the statement], but … he weighed in, offered a suggestion, like any father would do." The Washington Post reported on Monday that Trump's advisers discussed the statement about the meeting and agreed that Trump Jr. should issue a truthful account of the episode so that it "couldn't be repudiated later if the full details emerged." Trump Jr. released emails in July that showed he eagerly agreed last year to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Clinton as part of Moscow's official support for his father. The New York Times was first to report the meeting at Trump Tower in New York.

Source: CBC News August 01, 2017 23:37 UTC