Author: Nicholas Fandos, Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt / Source: New York Times
Tom Brenner for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Democrats have long stoked suspicions about whether President Trump knew his son met with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, pointing to phone calls that Donald Trump Jr.
received from a blocked number around the time of the meeting.New evidence obtained by Senate investigators appears to have refuted that claim, according to two people briefed on the matter. The investigators have phone records showing that Donald Trump Jr. spoke with two family friends who used blocked numbers — Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar, and the investor Howard Lorber — as the meeting was being set up, according to the people.
Mr. Lorber had significant investments in Russia and traveled to Moscow in 1996 with President Trump as they considered building a Trump Tower there.
For the younger Mr. Trump, the revelation that he had not called his father was seen among Trump allies as a victory over Democrats at a crucial moment in the investigation, according to people close to the White House.
In a statement, Donald Trump Jr. said, “After a year of hearing about this one ad nauseam, yet another left-wing narrative officially bites the dust.”
A Nascar spokesman did not respond to an email seeking comment, and attempts to reach Mr. Lorber were unsuccessful. CNN first reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee had obtained the new phone records, and ABC News first reported the names of the Trump family friends.
Donald Trump Jr. has testified privately that he could not recall who had used blocked numbers, and Democrats have long expressed incredulity that President Trump would not have been told that his son and top campaign advisers attended such a meeting, given that his aides have said he was often briefed on the inner workings of his campaign.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee held up the mystery calls as an obvious lead that Republicans who controlled the panel until January…
The post Senate Evidence Clarifies Mystery Calls Around Trump Tower Meeting appeared first on FeedBox.