The President Directs Trump Jr.'s Response to Press Inquiries About the June 9 Meeting

¶The following week, the President departed on an overseas trip for the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, accompanied by Hicks, Raffel, Kushner, and Ivanka Trump, among others.⁶⁹⁴⁶⁹⁴ Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 6. On July 7, 2017, while the President was overseas, Hicks and Raffel learned that the New York Times was working on a story about the June 9 meeting.⁶⁹⁵⁶⁹⁵ Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 6-7; Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 3. The next day, Hicks told the President about the story and he directed her not to comment.⁶⁹⁶⁶⁹⁶ Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 10; Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 3. Hicks thought the President's reaction was odd because he usually considered not responding to the press to be the ultimate sin.⁶⁹⁷⁶⁹⁷ Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 10. Later that day, Hicks and the President again spoke about the story.⁶⁹⁸⁶⁹⁸ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 3. Hicks recalled that the President asked her what the meeting had been about, and she said that she had been told the meeting was about Russian adoption.⁶⁹⁹⁶⁹⁹ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 3; Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 10. The President responded, "then just say that."⁷⁰⁰⁷⁰⁰ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 3; see Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 10.

102

¶On the flight home from the G20 on July 8, 2017, Hicks obtained a draft statement about the meeting to be released by Trump Jr. and brought it to the President.⁷⁰¹⁷⁰¹ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 4. The draft statement began with a reference to the information that was offered by the Russians in setting up the meeting: "I was asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign."⁷⁰²⁷⁰² Hicks 7/8/17 Notes. Hicks again wanted to disclose the entire story, but the President directed that the statement not be issued because it said too much.⁷⁰³⁷⁰³ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 4-5; Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 11. The President told Hicks to say only that Trump Jr. took a brief meeting and it was about Russian adoption.⁷⁰⁴⁷⁰⁴ Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 11. After speaking with the President, Hicks texted Trump Jr. a revised statement on the June 9 meeting that read:

It was a short meeting. I asked Jared and Paul to stop by. We 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 that time and there was no follow up.⁷⁰⁵⁷⁰⁵ SCR011a_000004 (7/8/17 Text Message, Hicks to Trump Jr.).

¶Hicks's text concluded, "Are you ok with this? Attributed to you."⁷⁰⁶⁷⁰⁶ SCR011a_000004 (7/8/17 Text Message, Hicks to Trump Jr.). Trump Jr. responded by text message that he wanted to add the word "primarily" before "discussed" so that the statement would read, "We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children."⁷⁰⁷⁷⁰⁷ SCR011a_000005 (7/8/17 Text Message, Trump Jr. to Hicks). Trump Jr. texted that he wanted the change because "[t]hey started with some Hillary thing which was bs and some other nonsense which we shot down fast."⁷⁰⁸⁷⁰⁸ SCR011a_000005 (7/8/17 Text Message, Trump Jr. to Hicks). Hicks texted back, "I think that's right too but boss man worried it invites a lot of questions[.] [U]ltimately [d]efer to you and [your attorney] on that word Bc I know it's important and I think the mention of a campaign issue adds something to it in case we have to go further."⁷⁰⁹⁷⁰⁹ SCR011a_000005 (7/8/17 Text Message, Hicks to Trump Jr.). Trump Jr. responded, "If I don't have it in there it appears as though I'm lying later when they inevitably leak something."⁷¹⁰⁷¹⁰ SCR011a_000006 (7/8/17 Text Message, Trump Jr. to Hicks). Trump Jr.'s statement—adding the word "primarily" and making other minor additions—was then provided to the New York Times.⁷¹¹⁷¹¹ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 6; see Jo Becker et al., Trump Team Met With Lawyer Linked to Kremlin During Campaign, New York Times (July 8, 2017). The full statement provided to the Times stated:

103

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. I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting with beforehand.⁷¹²⁷¹² See Jo Becker et al., Trump Team Met With Lawyer Linked to Kremlin During Campaign, New York Times (July 8, 2017).

¶The statement did not mention the offer of derogatory information about Clinton or any discussion of the Magnitsky Act or U.S. sanctions, which were the principal subjects of the meeting, as described in Volume I, Section IV.A.5, supra.

¶A short while later, while still on Air Force One, Hicks learned that Priebus knew about the emails, which further convinced her that additional information about the June 9 meeting would leak and the White House should be proactive and get in front of the story.⁷¹³⁷¹³ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 6; Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 9-10. Hicks recalled again going to the President to urge him that they should be fully transparent about the June 9 meeting, but he again said no, telling Hicks, "You've given a statement. We're done."⁷¹⁴⁷¹⁴ Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 12; Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 10.

¶Later on the flight home, Hicks went to the President's cabin, where the President was on the phone with one of his personal attorneys.⁷¹⁵⁷¹⁵ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 7. At one point the President handed the phone to Hicks, and the attorney told Hicks that he had been working with Circa News on a separate story, and that she should not talk to the New York Times.⁷¹⁶⁷¹⁶ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 7.