Donald Trump, Jr., right, invoked attorney-client privileges numerous times during a closed door House intelligence committee investigation in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
During the eight-hour testimony, Don Jr. told investigators that he did not communicate with his father about responding to reports that he met with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, who promised she had dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Trump Jr. was specifically asked about a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Veselnitskaya. He said the meeting lasted less than 20 minutes.
The President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, were also in on the meeting with the Russian lawyer. Kushner was the first to leave the meeting when Veselnitskaya only wanted to discuss a Russian adoption program.
Manafort was later indicted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller for money laundering and other white collar crimes. He is currently out on $12 million bond and remains on house arrest.
Trump Jr. said he spoke with White House press secretary Hope Hicks (pictured right with Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway) about crafting a response to the meeting after the news broke. He said his father, President Trump, was not involved in his response.
But that contradicted with a White House statement that President Trump was involved in drafting a response with Hicks aboard Air Force One.
Trump Jr. invoked attorney-client privilege and refused to disclose what he said to his father during an exchange in July.
Neither Trump Jr. nor Trump Sr. are lawyers, but Trump Jr. invoked attorney-client privilege anyway because he said an attorney was in the room with them at the time.
“I don’t believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present,” said the committee’s Rep. Adam Schiff, who pressed Trump Jr. for answers.
Trump Jr. was grilled by House intelligence committee investigators on Wednesday as part of the ongoing probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Potos by Alex Wong/Getty Images, Reuters
