Top Democrat on US House intel committee vows inquiry into Trump Jr. Russia meet

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee says the report that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer last year in the expectation of getting damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign is “a very big deal.”

California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff tells CNN that his committee, which is investigating possible collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, would summon the meeting participants “to get to the bottom of it.”

The New York Times reported late Monday that Trump Jr. was told ahead of time that the source of the information was the Russian government. Schiff says the report, if true, represents “an offer by the Russian government to help interfere in the American election on behalf of one of the candidates” and the first time “the inner circle of the Trump family…have direct contact with the Russians promising” information on Clinton.

In a statement, Trump Jr.’s New York-based attorney Alan Futerfas calls the Times report “much ado about nothing.”

— AP