A member of President Donald Trump’s legal team on Sunday insisted that Trump knew nothing about and did not attend his eldest son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised alleged damaging information on Hillary Clinton as part of a Russian state effort to help Trump’s campaign.
Asked on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” if he knew the names of everyone who attended Trump Jr.’s meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, Jay Sekulow said he did not and went on to insist unprompted that Trump was not among their number.
“I don’t represent Donald Trump Jr. and I do not know everyone for sure that was at that meeting and the President was not at the meeting,” Sekulow said. “I can tell you he was not there. The President was not aware of the meeting and did not attend it.”
Sekulow said Trump “became aware of it very recently” and that he learned of the meeting “about the same time, almost exactly the same time.”
Asked about the perception that Trump Jr. was trying to obfuscate what happened in the meeting by changing his story amid new reporting, Sekulow said, “There was nothing illegal to cover up.”
“That was information that was controlled not by my client, not by the President. It was controlled by Donald Trump Jr.,” he said. “The President was not involved in that decision.”
