Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) said on Tuesday that Donald Trump Jr. deserves “credit” for releasing emails leading up to his June 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer with alleged damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
“Does it raise new questions for you?” CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked.
“I think so. I mean, any one of these things raises questions,” Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said.
Stewart said it was “too soon” for him to comment on the emails and that his panel will “want to question” Trump Jr.’s intent in attending the meeting.
He said it would be “obviously concerning” if Trump Jr. knew beforehand that the Russian government wanted to help his father’s campaign.
In the email chain, Trump family acquaintance Rob Goldstone identified the lawyer as as a “Russian government attorney” with “ultra sensitive” information that was “part of Russia and it’s government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
Stewart said Trump Jr. deserved praise for releasing the emails, which he posted on Twitter shortly before the New York Times published a story on their content.
“I have to give him credit and I thank him, you know, thank you for releasing these emails, for doing it, you know, very quickly. It gives you and I and the media and those of us on the committee a chance to really digest them. I think that was a good, positive step.”
