The president’s eldest son is in some serious trouble and practically nobody in a position of power—including his dad—is rushing to his defense.
President Donald Trump’s son, his former campaign chairman, and his son-in-law were all told that the opposition research they were soliciting on campaign rival Hillary Clinton was coming from the Russian government, according to bombshell revelations made Tuesday morning.
In an email to Donald Trump Jr., a friend offered to connect the president’s eldest son to a “Russian government attorney” who could relay “very high level and sensitive information” as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
“I love it,” Trump Jr. responded in writing. He forwarded the email to campaign chief Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and one of his closest advisers.
The revelation of these emails immediately sent shockwaves through the White House.
“This is sum of all fears stuff. It’s what we’ve all been dreading,” said one White House official who is now exploring the possibility of retaining an attorney, a step described as purely precautionary.
…….
The series of revelations surrounding Trump Jr.’s communications with Russian officials have damaged his standing within the president’s political inner circle. As The Daily Beast reported on Sunday, opinion of Trump’s eldest son among some of Trump’s senior aides, both past and present, is vanishingly low. Since the campaign, a popular, behind-his-back nickname for Trump Jr. within among these advisers has been “Fredo,” referring to Fredo Corleone, the insecure and weak failure of a son in The Godfather series who ends up causing major damage to the family.
Over the past week, one senior White House official and a former top Trump campaign aide both independently and bluntly described the president’s son as an “idiot” — one who played a role in the campaign and Trump’s political rise simply because he “shares the same DNA,” the official noted.
……
White House and former campaign officials who were reached by The Daily Beast spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not cleared to vent about President Trump’s first-born son. Trump, Jr. did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story and the White House communications office and the president’s outside legal team did not respond either. Manafort’s spokesman Jason Maloni would only tell The Daily Beast that the former campaign chairman had “nothing to add” as of Tuesday noontime.
Another senior official who appears to have nothing to add for the moment is the president himself who has, in the past, repeatedly stressed that allegations of his collusion with Russian actors were “fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election.”
……
The president’s legal team hasn’t been keen to defend the first son either. After initial reports on the meeting with Veselnitskaya, Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s outside counsel, replied: “The President was not aware of and did not attend the meeting.”
……
- Discussion
-
"Since the campaign, a popular, behind-his-back nickname for Trump Jr among these advisers has been 'Fredo'." https://t.co/vIrw2fJUya
— John Schindler (@20committee) July 11, 2017
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.