Russian-Interference Saga Continues As Trump Jr. Tweets Email Exchanges

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 127 points Tuesday after President Donald Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. tweeted his statement and supporting email evidence regarding his June 2016 interaction with Russian sources, moments after the New York Times latest breaking story hit the wire.

The Dow did recover and was down just 16 points at time of publication.

The emails between Trump Jr. and British intermediary Rob Goldstone culminated in a meeting between a Russian attorney and several members of the Trump campaign intent to discuss election-altering information.

What The Emails Revealed

Goldstone initiated contact June 3 on behalf of an acquaintance Trump Jr. made during the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant who claimed to have gained compromising information about then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” Goldstone’s outreach read. “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.”

Goldstone offered to inform then-candidate Donald Trump directly through a source named Rhona, but Trump Jr. confirmed his intent to mediate, affirmed his strategical interest in the report, noting that he "love[d] it," and scheduled a phone conversation.

The pair ultimately coordinated a June 9 meeting in Trump Tower involving Trump Jr., then-Candidate Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, campaign manager Paul Manafort and a government attorney from Moscow.

However, the interaction did not go as planned. Trump Jr. explained in the statement that the source ultimately turned out not to be a government official and had no information about Clinton. Rather, she wanted to discuss adoption policy and the Magnitsky Act, which allows the U.S. to withhold visas and freeze the financial assets of Russian officials violating human rights.