Mueller Team Asking If Trump Tried to Hide Purpose of Trump Tower Meeting

[Eugene]

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller are keenly focused on President Donald Trump's role in crafting a response to a published article about a meeting between Russians and his son Donald Jr., three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The sources told NBC News that prosecutors want to know what Trump knew about the meeting and whether he sought to conceal its purpose.

The meeting occurred at Trump Tower in June 2016 and was attended by Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The meeting, which was first reported by The New York Times, also involved Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya and former Soviet intelligence officer Rinat Akhmetshin.

At the time, the White House confirmed that Trump had "weighed in" as the response to the Times report was drafted aboard Air Force One on July 8 as the president returned to the U.S. from Germany. The Washington Post reported that Trump had "dictated" the response.

-snip-

EXCLUSIVE
NEWS
AUG 28 2017, 6:26 PM ET

by JULIA AINSLEY and TOM WINTER


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mueller-team-asking-if-trump-tried-hide-purpose-trump-tower-n796746

[DonaldsRump]

1. Kinda' a no brainer, don't you think? n/t

[BigmanPigman]

2. Hey man, back off! He was just being a good dad to a good kid.

What is wrong with that? Any dad would do the same.

Sincerely,
Kellyanne Conway

[DonaldsRump]

4. No way you could really be Kellyanne...

....you actually answered the question/issue posed.

She has never done that.

[hughee99]

3. Is Mueller looking into whether Trump may have lied to the press about the purpose of the meeting?

"Even if Trump is not charged with a crime as a result of the statement, it could be useful to Mueller's team to show Trump's conduct to a jury that may be considering other charges."

I'm sorry to say it, but this sort of story is what makes it easier for the RW to try to paint this investigation as a fishing expedition.

[FakeNoose]

5. Does this even matter now?

Sure Cheeto lies to the press, they all do. But there's an earlier story on LBN today that could be the whole ballgame:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9526265

Felix Sater is definitely tied into Putin and Trump for the quid pro quo: collusion & proof. The special investigators (Mueller's team) may not even need this meeting to prove anything. He can tie in the kids maybe but it seems he's already got Trump by the balls.

[hughee99]

10. I don't think it does matter now, which makes me wonder why Mueller is "keenly focused" on it.

That is, if the story from the OP is accurate. I surely hope Mueller comes up with solid evidence of a crime. This story doesn't give me hope he's on the right track for that.

[Eugene]

6. This is part of a cover up. Meuller's team may use it to show a pattern of deception

to the grand jury. The meeting itself carries a strong smell of collusion, which is well within the scope of the investigation.

[hughee99]

7. The "pattern of deception" won't matter if he can't actually prove criminality,

and if he can, he won't need to show a pattern of deception. He's not going to win any convictions just by proving Trump is a serial liar, and he doesn't need this to prove that. People post 20 threads a day here about Trump lying to the press and to the American people, Mueller doesn't really need this particular thing to make that case.

[WinkyDink]

8. I'll trust Mueller's judgment on this issue.

[tavernier]

9. Mueller doesn't leak.

Speculation.

[moonscape]

11. True. However, leaks occur as a result of their questioning,

not by the FBI or Mueller team but by those being questioned and who those people talk to.