Why Donald Trump Jr chose to publish his emails
Donald Trump's son has published, for the sake of transparency, he said, his exchanges of emails with an intermediary in order to arrange a meeting with a Russian lawyer. A strategy that creates a little unease in the White House.
“My son did a good job. He was open, transparent and innocent. It’s the biggest witch hunt in history. It's sad!" It is in these terms that Donald Trump commented, on Twitter, the publication by his son of his e-mail exchanges with an intermediary, exchanges intended to organize a meeting with a Russian lawyer. "He is a good person who loves our country!", Had already written the American president Tuesday evening, while his son was about to enter the set of a cable channel, for his first interview after the revelation of the existence of a meeting with a Russian lawyer last June. A twenty-minute television interview for a "transparency" operation.
An interview with a Fox Pro-Trump star
It is on conquered ground that Donald Trump Jr. has chosen to explain himself, having appeared on the conservative Fox News channel, in the Sean Hannity program. The latter is known to be one of the most magnanimous animators vis-à-vis the current presidency. On his set, the son of the American president unrolled his arguments: for him, there is no collusion, because the Russian lawyer did not give him any information about Hillary Clinton. Listening to him, nothing illegal about his behavior either. It was, he said, a simple “research on the opposition.” Trump Jr. again explained that he did something “that everyone does” in the election campaign, namely: look for elements to sully the opposing camp, and to insist, on several occasions, on its transparency in this matter.
“If you have nothing to hide,” Sean Hannity asks him, “does that mean you could testify under oath?” “Absolutely,” replies Trump Jr.
No collusion, no illegality, and above all transparency: a simple line of defense, and immediately taken up by relatives and supporters of the President.
“The Clinton Method:
- Encode emails
- destroy phones
- deny
- The Trump Method:
tweet emails to be transparent #MAGA [Make America Great Again, Editor's note] ”
The Clinton method:
— HARLAN Z. HILL 🇺🇸 (@Harlan) July 11, 2017
1) bleach-bit emails
2) hammer phone to pieces
3) deny
The Trump method:
1) Tweet emails for transparency#MAGA 🇺🇸 https://t.co/OORbnlDExE
Sen. Chuck Grassley just gave Trump Jr. credit for transparency
— Tara Golshan (@taragolshan) July 11, 2017
Part of the American press is also looking for "snitches". The name of the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, comes up several times, especially because his name appears in the chain of emails revealed Tuesday by Donald Trump Jr. On this case, the president's adviser and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have chosen silence. Josh Raffel, a spokesperson for the White House, simply indicated that the couple were "at work".
Other spokespersons told reporters of their powerlessness in this matter. Donald Trump Jr is not employed there, his communication is not managed by the White House. For example, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in charge of the daily press briefing, simply reiterated on Tuesday that she “knew nothing” about the case or its developments. "There was just no collusion [with the Russians, editor's note]" she insisted anyway.
Same distance from Vice President Mike Pence's side. His spokesman thus noted Tuesday that the meeting of the son Trump with the lawyer had taken place before the Republican became Donald Trump's running mate.
