Donald Trump Jr took to Twitter Tuesday to post a series of emails proving he had met with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign.
The emails show correspondence with British-born entertainment publicist Rob Goldstone, who wrote on behalf of mutual friend and Russian popstar Emin Agalarov.
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Here’s my statement and the full email chain pic.twitter.com/x050r5n5LQ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
“Emin asked that I schedule a meeting with you and the Russian government attorney [Natalia Veselnitskaya],” Goldstone wrote. He stated that the meeting was to “provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.”
He said it would “be very useful to [future US President Donald Trump].”
Here is page 4 (which did not post due to space constraints). pic.twitter.com/z1Xi4nr2gq
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 11, 2017
The tweets were seemingly inspired by The New York Times, which had requested comment before it was to publish the content of the emails.
The emails not only prove that the campaign sought help from a foreign national — which is illegal — but also that Trump’s son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner lied on a security clearance form — a federal crime.
On the form, Kushner omitted that he had met with foreign officials. His lawyer called it an “error”.
Donald Trump Jr published the emails in tweets late Tuesday afternoon, receiving around 28 000 retweets and 17 000 comments in the process
Twitter exploded after the news.
Independent journalist Jared Yates Sexton took to the platform to express his disbelief at Trump Jr scooping his own incrimination.
I…worked on this story for a year…and…he just…he tweeted it out.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) July 11, 2017
I tracked down sources. Followed so many dead leads. Labored over this. And then, he just, you know, tweeted out the proof.
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) July 11, 2017
George Takei wrote a limerick for the occasion.
Lest there be any confusion
Don Jr dispelled the illusion
His emails reveal
What they hoped to conceal
So he’s gonna do time for collusion— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 12, 2017
And others had less sophisticated responses.
what da pic.twitter.com/YGHO1qbb07
— Ethan Booker (@Ethan_Booker) July 11, 2017
isn’t this a demi lovato lyric pic.twitter.com/2togZMFwZG
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) July 11, 2017
When a witch says your tongue has to float in the middle of your mouth without touching anything or you’ll die. pic.twitter.com/AbL9oNw4Is
— Matt Roller (@rolldiggity) July 12, 2017
Desktop
Crimes
I Personally Committed
2016
June
Emails.pdf Aaaand… send!
— Anil Dash (@anildash) July 11, 2017
But, mostly, people struggled to comprehend the absurdity of politics in the age of social media.
TWITTER, 2009: this is neat, Shaq responds to people and stuff!
TWITTER, 2017: the insane president’s idiot son is live-tweeting treason— actioncookbook (@actioncookbook) July 11, 2017
Imagine Watergate. But one of Nixon’s kids kept uploading all the tapes to Soundcloud
— Martin Belam (@MartinBelam) July 11, 2017
Featured image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0, resized)
