President Trump took to Twitter Thursday to draw attention to new evidence that undermines the Democrats’ theory that some “big deal, very mysterious” phone calls by Trump’s eldest son Don Jr. are a smoking gun that then-candidate Trump did know in advance about the much-critiqued Trump Tower meeting between Don Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer that was supposed to involve “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
The whole story, Trump has said repeatedly, is a media-hyped nothingburger pushed in an attempt to come up with some sort of evidence for the “Russian collusion” narrative. In a series of posts Thursday, Trump highlighted new reports about the calls and slammed the media for trying to turn an “innocent” oppo research meeting into something sinister.
“Just out: The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me. They were made to friends & business associates of Don. Really sad!” Trump tweeted.
He followed that tweet by pointing to Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr’s connection to Fusion GPS, the oppo research firm hired by the Democrats that produced the infamous, still “unverified” Christopher Steele dossier that got the whole “Russia collusion” narrative rolling.
“Nellie Ohr, the wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr, was long ago investigating for pay (GPS Fusion) members of my family, feeding it to her husband who was then giving it to the FBI, even though it was created by ousted & discredited Christopher Steele. Illegal! WITCH HUNT,” he wrote. He followed that up by linking to a report by The Daily Caller detailing new evidence obtained by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
As The Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross reported Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee has obtained phone records that show that, contrary to Democrats’ suspicions, Donald Trump Jr. did not in fact speak with his father from a blocked telephone number in the days leading up to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
“The finding, first reported by CNN, undercuts Democrats’ theory Trump Jr. might have told his father in those phone calls about the Trump Tower meeting, which was held June 9, 2016, with a group of Russians who had offered dirt on Hillary Clinton,” wrote Ross. “Democrats led by California Rep. Adam Schiff long theorized the phone calls were between father and son and that they could have discussed the meeting.”
CNN reports (undoubtedly with some disappointment):
Senate investigators have obtained new information showing Donald Trump Jr.’s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, three sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
Records provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee show the calls were between Trump Jr. and two of his business associates, the sources said, and appear to contradict Democrats’ long-held suspicions that the blocked number was from then-candidate Donald Trump.
Later Thursday, ABC News and The New York Times reported the two associates were Nascar CEO Brian France and businessman Howard Lorber, who are both known associates of Trump. CNN has reached out to both for comment and they have not responded.
Schiff made a point of hyping up the blocked phone calls back in November, telling CNN, “We wanted to get the phone records to determine, was Donald Trump talking to his son about this meeting. It’s an obvious investigative step, but one the Republicans were unwilling to take because they were afraid of where the evidence might lead.” Unfortunately for Schiff and his fellow Democrats, that turned out to be another dead-end.
One detail Schiff and company have not appeared to be very interested in, however, is the connection between the Russian lawyer who prompted the meeting, Natalia Veselnitskaya, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, who also attended the Trump Tower meeting, and the Democrats’ oppo research firm. As Ross highlights, Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin were also working for Fusion GPS at the time of the meeting, though both have insisted that the meeting had nothing to do with their other work.
All involved have consistently said the same thing: It was an attempt for Team Trump to get dirt on Clinton, but it turned out to be about the Magnitsky Act, which involved U.S. sanctions against Russia. When it became evident to Team Trump that they weren’t going to get any info on Clinton, they quickly shut down the meeting.
Read CNN’s full report here.