Trump: Son's 2016 Trump Tower meeting was 'totally legal'
President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Lewis Center, Ohio, on Saturday. Credit: AFP / Getty Images / Mandel Ngan
President Donald Trump, in a series of Twitter posts Sunday, repeated his statement that members of “the fake news” media are “the enemy of the people” and said his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer in 2016 to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton was “totally legal.”
Trump, in the tweets, said it was “fake news” and “a complete fabrication” that he was concerned about the meeting his son had at Trump Tower in June 2016. Trump said the meeting was set up to secure opposition research on Hillary Clinton for the presidential campaign, but the meeting “went nowhere” and he “did not know about it!”
That meeting, according to reports, is a focal point of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen has recently said Trump knew about the meeting, according to published reports.
Trump tweeted Sunday: “Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics — and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!”
His Sunday morning tweets from an 11-day working vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey, also continued his repeated criticisms of Mueller and Democrats, and praised his own trade policy. He called Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt” and said that tariffs are “working big time.”
“Too bad a large portion of the Media refuses to report the lies and corruption having to do with the Rigged Witch Hunt — but that is why we call them FAKE NEWS!” Trump tweeted Sunday.
Trump has lobbed attacks on print and broadcast media often during his time in office. But the remark gained fresh attention last week after his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, said she did not believe the media was “the enemy of the people.” She expressed concern about unfair or inaccurate news coverage in an interview with Axios, an online news site, and said, “But no, I do not feel that the media is the enemy of the people.”
Trump tweeted Sunday morning, “The Fake News hates me saying that they are the Enemy of the People only because they know it’s TRUE. I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People. They purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!”
Later on Sunday, Senior Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” that she did not believe journalists were the “enemy of the people.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t say on Thursday that she, too, disagreed with Trump’s “enemy” remarks. She responded that the media conducts “personal attacks without any content other than to incite anger.”
Trump tweeted Thursday, after his daughter’s interview, “They asked my daughter Ivanka whether or not the media is the enemy of the people. She correctly said no. It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!”
A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, released a statement last week to say he had met with Trump at the White House and warned the “enemy of the people” assertion “is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.”
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
