David Becker/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — As with other controversial moments that have swirled around President Trump and his inner circle, reactions to Donald Trump Jr.’s release of what he says are screen grabs of the full email chain allegedly arranging the meeting between him and a Russian attorney who claimed to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton are split between supporters and critics of the administration.
President Trump said he applauds his son’s transparency and called Trump Jr. a “high-quality person” in a statement read by Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Democrats expressed outrage after the release, with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., saying in a bluntly worded statement that the “emails show there is no longer a question of whether this campaign sought to collude with a hostile foreign power to subvert America’s democracy.”
No longer a question that the Trump campaign sought to collude with a hostile foreign power to subvert American democracy.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) July 11, 2017
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement that Tuesday was a “sad day for our country.”
“We must investigate. And we must act on our findings,” Cummings wrote in the statement.
Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., placed Donald Jr.’s tweet side-by-side with a definition of collusion taken from the Merriam Webster dictionary Twitter feed.
“[Merriam Webster] definition of #collusion: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose,” Kennedy wrote.
.@MerriamWebster definition of #collusion: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose. https://t.co/uqn9xetzht
— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) July 11, 2017
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Tex., and member of the House Foreign Affairs and House Intelligence Committees, retweeted Donald Jr. and commented that the Russian government wanted to help Trump, there were Russian and American intermediaries involved and that the Trump family participated in what took place.
This email chain confirms:
Russian govt wanted to help Trump
There were Russian & American intermediaries
The Trump family participated https://t.co/HzXuO9FRtT
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) July 11, 2017
Norm Eisen, the former Ethics Czar for the Obama White House, called the evidence allegedly presented in emails “deeply illegal” in one tweet, and wrote that he had never seen anything like it.
“I have worked on campaigns and as an election lawyer for decades; NEVER seen anything like this,” he wrote, adding that “[every] other campaign would have called FBI” after being contacted with such a request.
I have worked on campaigns and as an election lawyer for decades; NEVER seen anything like this, &EVERY other campaign would have called FBI https://t.co/pS5WVH7PRL
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) July 11, 2017
Trump supporters have a different view
Pro-Trump media figures, as has often been the case with controversial stories that have dogged the administration this year, put a more positive spin on the release of Trump, Jr.’s emails — and also attempted to use the release to criticize the president’s former campaign opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Charlie Kirk, the Executive Director for Turning Point USA, a conservative group, attempted to defend Trump, Jr. based on personal experience.
I spent 4 months almost non stop campaigning with @DonaldJTrumpJr
Not ONCE did Russia come up. So SICK of seeing his character attacked!!
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 11, 2017
Mike Cernovich, a pro-Trump journalist and blogger suggested that both sides were funded by foreign powers.
“Ukraine and Saudi Arabia wanted Hillary to win, they funded and supported her,” he wrote. “Russia was pro-Trump. Yet media only focuses on one side.”
Ukraine and Saudi Arabia wanted Hillary to win, they funded and supported her.
Russia was pro-Trump.
Yet media only focuses on one side.
— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) July 11, 2017
Jack Posobiec, another pro-Trump pundit, also tried to turn the conversation to Hillary Clinton.
“Don Jr releases his own emails and the media loses their minds. Hillary deleted 33,000 emails and the media tells us not to worry about it,” he wrote.
Don Jr releases his own emails and the media loses their minds. Hillary deleted 33,000 emails and the media tells us not to worry about it
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) July 11, 2017
And Gateway Pundit, a right wing blog, appeared to find the emails exculpatory, writing that the “entire story is another big nothingburger.”
But Congressman Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., disagreed, saying that the emails released by Trump Jr. show that the meeting “is a big no-no.”
I voted for @POTUS last Nov. & want him & USA to succeed, but that meeting, given that email chain just released, is a big no-no.
— Lee Zeldin (@leezeldin) July 11, 2017
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