President Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer

Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump personally dictated a statement in which Don Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared an article, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.” The claims were later shown to be misleading.

The extent of the president’s personal intervention in his son’s response adds to a series of actions that President Trump has taken that some advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy. As special counsel Robert Mueller looks into potential obstruction of justice as part of his broader investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, these advisers worry that the president’s direct involvement leaves him needlessly vulnerable to allegations of a coverup. Although misleading the public or the news media is not a crime, Trump advisers to and his family say that they fear any indication that President Trump was seeking to hide information about contacts between his campaign and Russians almost inevitably would draw additional scrutiny from Mueller. President Trump, they say, is increasingly acting as his own lawyer, strategist and publicist, often disregarding the recommendations of the professionals he has hired.