Democratic Sen. Chris Coons encouraged his fellow Democrats on Wednesday to “take a deep breath” after Donald Trump Jr. released emails Tuesday showing he was told the Russian government was attempting to help President Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
“I think it’s important that we all take a deep breath, continue our investigations, make sure we get the facts straight, and understand this in the broader legal context,” the Delaware senator said on CNN.
Coons’ comments stand in stark contrast to others coming from his Democratic colleagues, some of whom have said Trump Jr.’s actions were “treasonous” and proved the Trump campaign attempted to collude with the Russian government.
Trump Jr. released an email exchange between him and Rob Goldstone, a British publicist, showing the president’s eldest son was interested in receiving information indirectly from Russians that was damaging to Hillary Clinton.
In one email, sent June 3, Goldstone told Trump Jr. the information was part of the Russian government’s efforts to help Trump’s candidacy.
Goldstone initially approached Trump Jr. about setting up a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, to receive the information. Trump Jr., then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, ended up sitting down with Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in June 2016.
Allies of Trump described Trump Jr.’s meeting as a “nothingburger,” but Coons said the emails were a “striking” turn of events.
“This is a striking development in that Donald Trump Jr. received emails in which he was proffered — he was told he might receive directly from a Russian government attorney, that’s at least what the email said — information from a hostile power — Russia — that was seeking to help his father win the presidential election, about his father’s campaign opponent,” Coons said.
The Delaware Democrat also said the emails disprove the Trump campaign and White House’s claims that there weren’t any contacts with Russians that were “inappropriate.”
“Just on the face of it, that forces aside all the things that have been said by Trump campaign officials, and the White House, that there was no interaction with Russians that was inappropriate, there was no attempt at collusion,” he said. “This lays all that bare because his enthusiasm for this meeting and his lack of surprise that the Russian government was trying to help his dad win the election are both pretty striking.”
