--- title: Donald Trump Jr: Read the Emails He Sent to Russian Lawyer description: President Donald Trump's son has made public series of emails that led to his controversial meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya last June. canonical: https://time.com/4853057/donald-trump-jr-twitter-emails/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-11T15:57:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:19.561Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Donald Trump Jr.‘s Emails to a Russian Lawyer og:description: To set up a meeting for information on then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton og:url: https://time.com/4853057/donald-trump-jr-twitter-emails/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbd290aa89414e87/69889cab196cf4325203c79d/christopher-morris-rnc-republican-national-convention-day-2-45.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5032 og:image:height: 2831 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL RNC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Donald Trump Jr.‘s Emails to a Russian Lawyer twitter:description: To set up a meeting for information on then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbd290aa89414e87/69889cab196cf4325203c79d/christopher-morris-rnc-republican-national-convention-day-2-45.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Donald Trump Jr.‘s Emails Setting Up His Clinton Meeting With Russian Lawyer > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Russian Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya Speaks on NBC's Today Show [Watch (HLS stream): Russian Lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya Speaks on NBC's Today Show](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r0bVQokL.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2017-07-11. The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, told NBC she received a phone call from a man she didn't know and was told to meet with the Trump campaign_ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Jul 11, 2017 3:57 PM UTC  Donald Trump Jr. speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 19, 2016. Donald Trump Jr. speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 19, 2016. Christopher Morris—VII for TIME by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Jul 11, 2017 3:57 PM UTC On Twitter Tuesday, [President Donald Trump’s son](http://time.com/4853005/donald-trump-jr-emails-hillary-clinton-russia/) posted a series of emails that led to his controversial meeting with [Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya](http://time.com/4852612/trump-jr-hillary-clinton-russian-lawyer-info/) “in order to be totally transparent.” In his statement, which he posted alongside screenshots of a series of email exchanges, Trump Jr. said he thought the meeting he took amid the 2016 election last June was “political opposition research” for then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. He originally planned to have a phone conversation, but it didn’t work out and a meeting in New York was later arranged. “As Rob Goldstone said just today in the press,” Trump wrote, “the entire meeting was ‘the most inane nonsense I have ever heard’.” The email exchanges between Trump, Jared Kushner, then-campaign chairman [Paul Manafort](http://time.com/4836165/paul-manafort-trump-foreign-agent/) and Goldstone, a music promoter who represents Emin Agalarov — the man who arranged Trump’s meeting with Veselnitskaya — show the president’s son open to meeting for potentially negative information on Clinton, “especially later in the summer.” Read the emails in full below:      ## Transcript June, you met with Donald Trump Jr ., with Jared Kushner, with Paul Manafort. What was the purpose of that meeting? I never knew who else would be attending the meeting, all I know that was Donald Trump Jr. was willing to meet with me. I could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the media for probably. The first 7 to 10 minutes and then he stood up and left the room. It was Mr. Jared Kushner and he never came back by the way. And the other individual who was at the same meeting was always looking at his phone. He was reading something. He never took any active part in the conversation. That was Mr. Manafort. They had the impression, it appears, that they were going to be told some information that you had about the DNC. How did they get that impression? It's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. They wanted it so badly. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Have you ever worked for the Russian Government? Do you have connections to the Russian Government? 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