With reports that Michael Cohen is ready to testify that not only did Donald Trump know of the Trump Tower meeting in advance, but gave Donald Trump Jr. the go-ahead to make the meeting happen, the denials that Donald Trump and members of his staff made over the time since the meeting take on a bit of extra … duplicity. Here are some select moments from the timeline of the Trump Tower meeting and what Trump, Trump Jr., and other members of Team Trump had to say about the event.
Highlight moments: Donald Trump making numerous denials in the days after the first news stories about the meeting in July of 2017, and Trump Jr. lying his ass off before the Senate. And watch for appearances by guest starts from Paul Manafort to Reince Priebus.
June 3, 2016—Publicist Rob Goldstone contacts Donald Trump Jr. to arrange transfer of information from the Russian government.
Goldstone: This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr Trump – helped along by Aras and Emin.
Trump Jr: … if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.
June 6, 2016—Goldstone and Trump Jr. exchange several notes arranging a talk with Russian real estate developer, friend of Putin, and international pop star Emin Agaralov. Trump Jr. receives at least three calls from Russian numbers.
June 7, 2016
- Goldstone states that Agaralov has asked him to schedule the meeting between Trump Jr. and a Russian attorney.
- Donald Trump announces that he will be giving “a major speech, probably Monday of next week” to reveal information about Hillary Clinton.
June 8, 2016
- Trump Jr. extends meeting invitation to Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner.
- DCLeaks goes live with first set of stolen documents.
June 9, 2016
- Trump Tower meeting between delegation of Russian operatives led by Natalia Veselnitskaya and Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner
- Ivanka Trump meets Veselnitskaya on way out of building
July 24, 2016
- On CNN's State of the Union, Trump Jr. is asked about charges from Clinton that Russia is trying to help Trump’s election.
Trump Jr: They'll say anything to be able to win this. This is time and time again, lie after lie... It's disgusting, it's so phoney… I can't think of bigger lies.
- Paul Manafort appears on ABC This Week to deny connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Manafort: No, there are not. And you know, there's no basis to it.
July 27, 2016—Donald Trump tells CBS news that charges his campaign is working with Russia are “ridiculous” and “a conspiracy theory.”
Trump: I mean I have nothing to do with Russia. I don’t have any jobs in Russia. I’m all over the world but we’re not involved in Russia.”
September 25, 2016—Kellyanne Conway denies any contact between the Trump campaign and Russia in an interview with CNN and denies that Carter Page went to Russia with the knowledge of the campaign.
Conway: He's certainly not part of the campaign that I'm running, meaning we don't have him — we have a number of people, fabulous people, men and women, as part of our national security and foreign policy team. And he's not among them at Trump Tower.
October 25, 2016—Trump denies any contact with Russia at a rally in Florida.
Trump: I have nothing to do with Russia folks, I’ll give you a written statement.
November 4, 2016—Hope Hicks denies that Trump has any knowledge about Karen McDougal or the payoff.
November 11, 2016—Hope Hicks issues a blanket denial about the campaign.
Hicks: It never happened. There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.
December 18, 2016—Conway appears on Face the Nation.
Reporter: Did the Trump campaign have any contact with Russians trying to meddle with the election?
Conway: Absolutely not. And I discussed that with the president-elect just last night. Those conversations never happened. I hear people saying it like it’s a fact on television. That is just not only inaccurate and false, but it’s dangerous.
January 11, 2017—Trump conducts interview with ABC News and gives a simple “No” to the question of whether anyone connected with his campaign had contact with Russia before the election.
January 15, 2017—Mike Pence is interviewed by CBS news and asked if there was contact between the campaign and Russia.
Pence: Well, of course not, I think to suggest that is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy.
Priebus: I can assure you -- and I've been approved to say this -- that the top levels of the intelligence community have assured me that that story is not only inaccurate but it's grossly overstated and it was wrong.
February 24, 2017—At a White House press briefing, Sarah Sanders is asked about allegations of campaign contact with Russia.
Sanders: This is a non-story because to the best of our knowledge, no contacts took place, so it’s hard to make a comment on something that never happened.
Reporter: Is there any way you could answer more questions, do more things to finish this thing that started right after the election, that somehow the President has an improper relationship with Russia? ...
Spicer: Well, again, there are no connections to find out about. That’s the problem. I think, A, he’s answered it forcefully. You can’t disprove something that doesn’t exist.
May 11, 2017—Trump is interviewed by Lester Holt and admits that he fired FBI Director James Comey to end Russia investigation.
Trump: And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said: ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’
May 18, 2017—Trump labels the Mueller investigation a “witch hunt.”
Trump: There is no collusion – certainly myself and my campaign – but I can always speak for myself and the Russians – zero.
July 6, 2017—Trump denies intelligence reports that Russia was behind election interference and states that “it could have been anybody.”
July 8, 2017
- News of the the Trump Tower meeting goes public.
- Trump Jr. calls Trump on board Air Force One. Trump drafts cover story for meeting.
- Trump Jr. tells the New York Times that the event was “was “a brief introductory meeting” and was “primarily about adoption” as per the statement draft by Trump.
July 9, 2017—Trump Jr. provides a written statement.
Trump Jr: My father knew nothing of the meeting or these events.
July 11, 2017
- Trump Jr. releases some emails exchanged with Rob Goldstone before the meeting.
- Trump Jr. makes an appearance on Sean Hannity. In which he denies telling Trump about the meeting because “there was nothing to tell.”
Trump Jr: I wouldn’t have even remembered it until you started scouring through this stuff. It was literally just a wasted 20 minutes, which was a shame.
July 12, 2017—Trump attorney Jay Sekulow denies that Trump was involved in drafting the excuse for the Trump Tower meeting used by Trump Jr.
Sekulow: I wasn’t involved in the statement drafting at all, nor was the president.
July 16, 2017—Sekulow repeats his claim that Trump wasn’t involved on Meet the Press.
Sekulow: The president wasn’t aware of the meeting and did not attend it. That I can tell you. … The president said he became aware of it very recently, right before this came out, and that’s when he was notified. …
Reporter: Can you tell me about the reports that the president was involved in the initial response that Donald Trump Jr. gave the New York Times.
Sekulow: … The response came from Donald Trump Jr. and -- I’m sure -- in consultation with his lawyer.
July 17, 2017—Trump denies any prior knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting.
Trump: No. That I didn’t know. Until a couple of days ago, when I heard about this. No I didn’t know about that.
July 19, 2017—Trump repeats his denial to the New York Times.
Trump: No, I didn’t know anything about the meeting. … It must have been a very important — must have been a very unimportant meeting, because I never even heard about it.
July 31, 2017—The Washington Post reports that Donald Trump dictated the excuse used by Donald Trump Jr. while he was on board Air Force One.
September 7, 2017—Trump Jr. testifies before the Senate Judiciary committee.
Trump Jr: He wasn't aware of it, And, frankly, by the time anyone was aware of it, which was summer of this year, as I stated earlier, I wouldn't have wanted to get him involved in it, because it had nothing to do with him.
January 29, 2018—In a letter to special counsel Robert Mueller, Sekulow admits that Trump did write the excuse for Trump Jr., but still claims that the description of the meeting as being “primarily about adoptions” was “accurate.”
Sekulow: “You have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.
March 29, 2018—Michael Cohen’s attorney denies that Trump had any knowledge of the payment to Stormy Daniels.
May 3, 2018—Rudy Giulani admits that Trump paid Cohen to pay off Daniels.
Giuliani: They funneled it through a law firm, and the president repaid it. Everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning; I wasn't. I knew how much money Donald Trump put into that campaign. I said 130,000? Gonna do a couple of checks for 130,000.
June 3, 2018—Rudy Giuliani goes on Meet the Press to say that Sekulow was “uninformed” when he stated that Trump did not write the excuse letter.
June 4, 2018—Sarah Sanders refuses to answer questions about changes in her statements concerning the Trump Tower meeting and the excuse letter.