President Donald Trump, never one to be shy posting on social media, was quick to defend his son, Donald Trump Jr., in a tweet Wednesday morning, saying the cry of “collusion” with the First Son and Russia is nothing more than a “witch hunt.”
“My son Donald did a good job last night,” the president tweeted, referring to Trump Jr’s interview on Fox News’ Hannity Tuesday evening. “He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!”
During the interview, Trump Jr. admitted to meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who reportedly had damaging information on then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The meeting, which included White House aide and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chair Paul Manafort, was brief and nothing about Clinton was ever brought up. Trump Jr. said, “it was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.”
Yes, it is a shame. The situation does not look good for the Trump administration. First, Trump Jr. denied the meeting with Veselnitskaya, then admitted to it, saying nothing came out of it. Unfortunately, it only gives the left a reason to claim they were right all along. While the meeting with the Russian lawyer was not illegal, it certainly adds suspicion.
Since the story broke, outcries of collusion abound on the left, as everyone is giddy with claims that the Trump Administration is guilty of collusion with the Russian government. The gleeful assertion from the Democrats is that the Russian-tampered presidential elections conspiracy theory is true, and Trump Jr.’s emails are the proverbial smoking gun.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va) even suggested Trump Jr. is guilty of treason, saying, “This is moving into perjury, false statements, and even into potentially treason.” The 2016 Democratic vice-presidential nominee continued:
To meet with an adversary to try to get information to hijack democracy. The investigation is now more than just obstruction of justice in investigation. It’s more than just a perjury investigation. It’s a treason investigation.
Those who have been against the Trump team from the beginning have been quick to condemn Junior’s meeting. The ignorance excuse is getting old; it also doesn’t hold a lot of weight considering that Paul Manafort, a man well-seasoned in political rules and ethics, attended the meeting.
Although Trump Jr. claims his presidential father had no knowledge of the meeting because “It was just a nothing. There was nothing to tell,” the naysayers and doomsayers are not convinced. Alan Futerfas, Trump Jr’s lawyer, said in a statement, “In my opinion, this is much ado about nothing.” Futerfas claimed the president had no knowledge of the meeting, and “The bottom line is that Don, Jr. did nothing wrong.”
What it really comes down to, however, is that the Dems are up in arms because a tactic they commonly use is now being used against them. As Erick Erickson wrote in his commentary:
Again, though, there is no crime here. Sleazy politics is not criminal. It is what the Democratic Party does. It is well short of Senator Edward Kennedy actively trying to get the Russians to help defeat Ronald Reagan’s re-election. It is akin to Barack Obama using party loyalist connections to unseal the private divorce records of his Republican opponent for the Senate in Illinois. It is a akin to a foreign spy funneling potentially damaging information about a Presidential candidate named Donald Trump. And Democrats were fine with all those things.
Is the president correct in claiming this a witch hunt on his son? What Junior did, meeting with Veselnitskaya was certainly ill-advised, but not illegal. The situation is, however, more fuel for the left’s efforts to damage the Trump administration, and will provide a means for mainstream media to garner headlines for the next month or so. When it comes to legal, if ill-advised, tactics, the left is quick to cry foul when the tables are turned on them. Apparently, what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander; the left, however, just got a bit closer in their quest to roast Trump.
