The President Learns About the Existence of Emails Concerning the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower Meeting

The President Learns About the Existence of Emails Concerning the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower Meeting

¶In mid-June 2017—the same week that the President first asked Lewandowski to pass a message to Sessions—senior Administration officials became aware of emails exchanged during the campaign arranging a meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner, and a Russian attorney.⁶⁶³⁶⁶³ Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 1; Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 2. As described in Volume I, Section IV.A.5, supra, the emails stated that the "Crown [P]rosecutor of Russia" had offered "to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia" as part of "Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."⁶⁶⁴⁶⁶⁴ RG000061 (6/3/16 Email, Goldstone to Trump Jr.); @DonaldJTrumpJR 7/11/17 (11:01 a.m. ET) Tweet. Trump Jr. responded, "[I]f it's what you say I love it,"⁶⁶⁵⁶⁶⁵ RG000061 (6/3/16 Email, Trump Jr. to Goldstone); @DonaldJTrumpJR 7/11/17 (11:01 a.m. ET) Tweet. and he, Kushner, and Manafort met with the Russian attorney and several other Russian individuals at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶ Samochornov 7/12/17 302, at 4. At the meeting, the Russian attorney claimed that funds derived from illegal activities in Russia were provided to Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, and the Russian attorney then spoke about the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 U.S. statute that imposed financial and travel sanctions on Russian officials and that had resulted in a retaliatory ban in Russia on U.S. adoptions of Russian children.⁶⁶⁷⁶⁶⁷ See Volume I, Section IV.A.5, supra (describing meeting in detail).

¶According to written answers submitted by the President in response to questions from this Office, the President had no recollection of learning of the meeting or the emails setting it up at the time the meeting occurred or at any other time before the election.⁶⁶⁸⁶⁶⁸ Written Responses of Donald J. Trump (Nov. 20, 2018), at 8 (Response to Question I, Parts (a) through (c)). The President declined to answer questions about his knowledge of the June 9 meeting or other events after the election.

¶The Trump Campaign had previously received a document request from SSCI that called for the production of various information, including, "[a] list and a description of all meetings" between any "individual affiliated with the Trump campaign" and "any individual formally or informally affiliated with the Russian government or Russian business interests which took place between June 16, 2015, and 12 pm on January 20, 2017," and associated records.⁶⁶⁹⁶⁶⁹ DJTFP_SCO_PDF_00000001-02 (5/17/17 Letter, SSCI to Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.). Trump Organization attorneys became aware of the June 9 meeting no later than the first week of June 2017, when they began interviewing the meeting participants, and the Trump Organization attorneys provided the emails setting up the meeting to the President's personal counsel.⁶⁷⁰⁶⁷⁰ Goldstone 2/8/18 302, at 12; 6/2/17 and 6/5/17 Emails, Goldstone & Garten; Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 3; Hicks 3/13/18 302, at 2. Mark Corallo, who had been hired as a spokesman for the President's personal legal team, recalled that he learned about the June 9 meeting around June 21 or 22, 2017.⁶⁷¹⁶⁷¹ Corallo 2/15/18 302, at 3. Priebus recalled learning about the June 9 meeting from Fox News host Sean Hannity in late June 2017.⁶⁷²⁶⁷² Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 7. Priebus notified one of the President's personal attorneys, who told Priebus he was already working on it.⁶⁷³⁶⁷³ Priebus 4/3/18 302, at 7. By late June, several advisors recalled receiving media inquiries that could relate to the June 9 meeting.⁶⁷⁴⁶⁷⁴ Corallo 2/15/18 302, at 3; Hicks 12/7/17 302, at 8; Raffel 2/8/18 302, at 3.