CNN: Don Jr. Calls Ahead Of 2016 Trump Tower Meeting Were Not With His Dad

Donald Trump Jr. walks around Trump Tower on December 6, 2016 in New York. / AFP / Eduardo Munoz Alvarez (Photo credit should read EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Two much-discussed phone calls Donald Trump Jr. made prior to the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not to his father, CNN reported Thursday.

Three sources “with knowledge of the matter” told CNN that records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee establish that the calls to blocked numbers were actually between Trump Jr. and two unnamed business associates.

If confirmed, this development punctures a balloon long floated by Democratic lawmakers, who have suggested that Trump Jr. may have contacted his father to discuss the upcoming meeting with Russians promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Trump is known to have used a blocked number as a presidential candidate, according to House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.

The intrigue first emerged after Trump Jr. provided Congress with phone records that show he made two phone calls to a blocked number on June 6, 2016, three days before the Trump Tower meeting. One call came between two phone conversations with Emin Agalarov, the Russian pop star who helped arrange the Trump Tower summit, which fueled Democrats’ theory. The second call to a blocked number came a few hours later, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s documentation.

CNN was not able to confirm the identity of the business associates Trump was reportedly speaking with, nor the content of the conversations.

Trump Jr. has insisted he did not speak with his father about the Trump Tower meeting, either before or after it happened.

Latest Muckraker
147
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. CNN was not able to confirm the identity of the business associates Trump was reportedly speaking with, nor the content of the conversations.

    So why report it?

  2. Trump is always really talking about himself. So when he said during the DNC/Podesta email releases in 2016 that you shouldn’t use email, you should send info by courier, it seemed ridiculous at the time.

    But what he was really saying was: I had Don Jr. walk up one floor to brief me in person on the meeting with the Russians.

  3. Avatar for drtv drtv says:

    Don Jr. Calls Ahead Of 2016 Trump Tower Meeting Were Not With His Dad

    Doesn’t mean that he did not discuss this with Big Daddy. Just means it may not have been not via a call.

    No doubt there will be a No Collusion!!! tweet in 3…2…1…

  4. When will these creeps be gone?

  5. “Three sources “with knowledge of the matter” told CNN that records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee establish that the calls to blocked numbers were actually between Trump Jr. and two unnamed business associates.”

    and they are?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

141 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ghost Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for inversion Avatar for slagathor Avatar for sniffit Avatar for thebigragu Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for tribalogical Avatar for tsp Avatar for bodie1 Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for khyber900 Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for kelaine Avatar for erik_t Avatar for edys Avatar for nocomment Avatar for godwit Avatar for atldrew Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for kensscreen

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: