Donald Trump Jr. has ridiculed the Russia investigation, saying the 2016 Trump campaign had been too chaotic to even “collude to order a cheeseburger,” let alone with a foreign state.
Don Jr., 47, used an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show live tour to answer those critics who had suggested he and Team Trump had been “colluding” with Russia prior to his father’s first term as president.
He joked: “Guys, if you knew what was going on in that campaign, like we couldn’t collude to order a cheeseburger. Okay. So like, relax… slow your roll.”
But Don Jr.’s jesting brushes up against a documented paper trail. In July 2017, he released emails showing he agreed to meet a Russian lawyer after being promised “official documents and information” from Moscow that would “incriminate Hillary” Clinton.
The Mueller Report also detailed extensive Russian interference and recounted the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting attended by Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. The lawyer’s talking points were shared with the Kremlin, and the White House crafted a misleading initial statement about the meeting.
A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee later warned of counterintelligence risks from Trumpworld’s Russia ties—even as it stopped short of alleging a criminal conspiracy. Watchdogs also argued the campaign-finance implications for Trumpworld didn’t end with Mueller.
Don Jr.’s remarks came as he reflected on his late friend Charlie Kirk, 31, during Kelly’s touring show, which began in Sugar Land, Texas, last Thursday.
The Turning Point USA founder was killed on Sept. 10 during a campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, with Don Jr. calling him a “generational talent” he’d recognized within “five minutes” of first meeting.
Recounting Election Day 2016, he told Kelly, 54, that “Charlie was… operating… by Twitter” from his office as they tried to swell turnout with interview after interview from coast to coast.
Kirk’s widow Erika Frantzve Kirk, 36, has since been named CEO and chair of Turning Point USA, while suspect Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with his killing.
Robinson’s preliminary hearing was this week postponed until Jan. 16, and his arraignment will follow on Jan. 30.
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