I WROTE THE STATEMENT FOR DONALD Jr. TO GIVE TO SENATE…
“Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I look forward to clearing up any misconceptions about my meeting with a Russian lawyer. As you know, at the time, I was a private citizen although my father was running in the Republican primaries. I was contacted through an acquaintance that a lawyer that had lobbied against retaliatory sanctions imposed by Russia concerning the adoption of unwanted Russian babies and children wanted to meet. They also expressed a concern about corrupt and criminal actions taking by the former Secretary of State in her dealings with Russia, offering proof of her illegal actions.
I decided to accept this meeting because I felt, as a private American Citizen, it was my duty to blow the whistle if the documents proved corruption and crimes committed by the United States Secretary of State in dealings with one of our country’s most formidable adversaries.
Unlike the Secretary of State, I was not a government official, have not been in politics for decades, and did not go to law school, or have a law degree. At the time, I really had no training or education in the complexities of the law with regards to meeting with a foreign lawyer, who was not known to me to have any direct connection to the Russian Government.
I believed the lawyer to be a whistle blower that wanted to expose the corruption in her own government with regards to the Clinton’s. I naively thought this might be a way to also take down Russian officials by exposing their corrupt and criminal dealings with the United States Secretary of State.
At the meeting, I realized the Russian lawyer was not going to provide information concerning corruption and criminal activities by the United States Secretary of State. I listened politely as the lawyer discussed the sanctions imposed by Russia concerning the adoption of unwanted Russian babies.
I had no intent to break any laws. In fact, my intent was quite the opposite. I intended to expose law breaking and corruption at the highest levels of our government. Of course, this would help my father, but it would have also helped all the other candidates, especially her Democrat opponent Bernie Sanders. My father very well may have lost to Senator Sanders, so I knew there was a risk that exposing this corruption could have cost my father the election too.
Again, I had no intent to break the law. I did not understand the complexities, much as a highly trained lawyer/politician might not understand the markings that designate our nation’s secrets as classified even though they had years of training and service at the highest levels of government.
I was extremely careless, but I did not receive the information described by the Russian lawyer concerning corruption and criminal behavior be Secretary Clinton. Today, I realize the meeting was a ruse to gain access to my father. I now believe this person could have possibly been acting against the best interests of the United States and should be investigated as a possible spy.
Again, as a private citizen, I was extremely careless, had no intent to break the law, and received nothing of value from the meeting. If the most qualified person to ever run for the Office of President, who happened to be a trained lawyer, did not understand the law, how can any reasonable prosecutor determine there was intent on my part to do anything other than expose corruption at the highest levels of the United States government. Since nothing came of the meeting I ask, at this point, what difference does it make?