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Donald Trump Jr: Harvard Law Professor says 'we now have the proverbial smoking gun' on US President's son

Critics claim emails show collusion between Trump campaign and Russia

Samuel Osborne
Wednesday 12 July 2017 08:06 BST
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Donald Trump Jr defends meeting with Russian lawyer

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Donald Trump Jr's meeting with a Russian lawyer while his father was running for election is the "proverbial smoking gun" needed to show he had committed a crime, a Harvard Law Professor has said.

Laurence Tribe said it suggested the President's eldest son "was part of [a] criminal conspiracy to violate [federal criminal] laws banning foreign aid to any US campaign."

Mr Trump revealed he had replied to an offer for incriminating material on Hillary Clinton from Russia by saying "I love it."

The younger Mr Trump released what he said was the full exchange leading up to his meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a lawyer with links to the Kremlin.

He was told by a friend the information the lawyer had to offer would "incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father."

The email added: “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr Trump.”

Mr Trump replied: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

US federal law makes it a "crime to receive anything of value... in connection with" an election, LawNewz reports.

Mr Trump and his lawyers have denied he did anything wrong.

Donald Trump defended his son, calling him a "high quality person" and saying he applauded "his transparency."

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