Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

We Now Know How Donald Trump Jr. Escaped Being Charged for That 2016 Trump Tower Meeting, and It's Actually Kind of Sad

We Now Know How Donald Trump Jr. Escaped Being Charged for That 2016 Trump Tower Meeting, and It's Actually Kind of Sad
Donald Trump Jr. talks to the press before the arrival of his father President Donald Trump during a MAGA rally on March 28, 2019 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Poor guy.

Now that the redacted version of the Mueller report is available, people are carefully reviewing the contents. But while some members of the Trump administration and the Trump family are celebrating, people reading the report think those sentiments are premature or misguided.

One of the people reveling in the wake of Attorney General William Barr's press conference is President Donald Trump's eldest child with ex-wife Ivana Trump, Donald Trump Jr.


The First Son took to Twitter and posted:

"TOLD YA!!!"

But people who read the report are wondering if Don Jr. really wants to confirm the findings. While laws were definitely bent, proving Don Jr. was intelligent enough to know was a bridge too far according to Robert Mueller.

According to the report from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election by Special Counsel Robert Mueller:

"This series of events [surrounding the June 9 meeting] could implicate the federal election-law ban on contributions and donations by foreign nationals . . . Specifically, Goldstone passed along an offer purportedly from a Russian government official to provide 'official documents and information' to the Trump campaign for the purposes of influencing the presidential election."
"Trump Jr. appears to have accepted that offer and to have arranged a meeting to receive those materials. Documentary evidence in the form of e-mail chains supports the inference that Kushner and Manafort were aware of that purpose and attended the June 9 meeting anticipating the receipt of helpful information to the Campaign from Russian sources."
"Taking into account the high burden to establish a culpable mental state in a campaign-finance prosecution and the difficulty in establishing the required valuation, the Office decided not to pursue criminal campaign-finance charges against Trump Jr. or other campaign officials for the events culminating in the June 9 meeting."

On June 9, 2016, Don Jr, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort met with Russian lawyer and government operative Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower. They later lied about the purpose of the meeting with input from President Trump.

The report further states:

"The Office ultimately concluded that, even if the principal legal questions were resolved favorably to the government, a prosecution would encounter difficulties proving that Campaign officials or individuals connected to the Campaign willfully violated the law."

People largely agreed with the assessment of why Don Jr was not charged more so than the alternative.

Few people bought the story of completely exonerated or total innocence the Trump camp was selling since the conclusion of Muller's investigation.

While some crimes require only an action be taken, others require the criminal to "willfully and knowingly" take the action. The investigation clearly established Don Jr's actions, but Mueller opined that proving Don Jr was not ignorantly committing illegal acts was too difficult.

Although some had an important question about the decision to not prosecute Donald Trump Jr:

The eventual fallout from the report, and if Congress will see the non-redacted version, remains to be seen.

More from People

TikToker @richi_luvv; Sabrina Carpenter
@richi_luvv/TikTok; Sabrina Carpenter/YouTube

Kidz Bop Just Released A Cover Of A Super Suggestive Sabrina Carpenter Song—And Fans Are Not OK

Kidz Bop, the long-running music outfit that refashions pop songs for the ears of children, usually focuses on upbeat, bubble gum pop tunes, right?

It's like the kind of songs you'd hear at, say, the grocery store, retooled for the elementary school set.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot from Fox News broadcast
Fox News

Sean Hannity Roasted After Claiming His Friends In NYC Are 'Scared' After Mamdani's Win

When Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in June, Republicans and some old school Democrats were positively apoplectic.

An immigrant Muslim of Gujarati and Punjabi Indian parents who has lived in NYC since he was 7 years old, the 34-year-old New York State Assembly member was the stuff of nightmares for the MAGAsphere. Mamdani was a non-White, non-Christian, Uganda-born immigrant and progressive Democrat.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Zohran Mamdani
Andres Kudacki/Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

AOC Has Democrats Applauding With Her Viral Reaction To Zohran Mamdani's Historic Win

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had people nodding their heads after she opened up about why democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's win in the New York City mayoral election on Tuesday is so important for the country at large as well as for the future of the Democratic Party.

Mamdani successfully took on the establishment to become the first South Asian, first Muslim, and first millennial mayor-elect, running a campaign that focused predominantly on the city's affordability crisis and that successfully batted away racist and Islamophobic backlash from right-wingers who claimed his policies would "destroy" the city.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Mike Johnson
Fox News

Mike Johnson Gets A Swift Reality Check After Trying To Downplay The Election Results

House Speaker Mike Johnson was called out after displaying his clear denial over Tuesday night's election wins for Democrats, claiming that "no one should read too much into" the results despite major upsets.

Democrats won races around the country, particularly in Virginia, where Abigail Spanberger became the first woman to the win the governorship in the state's history, and in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, successfully took on the establishment to become the first South Asian, first Muslim, and first millennial mayor-elect.

Keep ReadingShow less
A man in a suit walking down the sidewalk and pulling a bag
person in black suit jacket with r ed bag walking beside metal fence
Photo by Romain V on Unsplash

People Who Quit Their Jobs On Day One Reveal What Made Them Say 'Nope, Not Doing This'

Every now and then, simply because we need money, we might take a job that doesn't fulfill us in any way, but at least keeps our bank accounts happy.

Some jobs, however, are so soul-sucking that even with no other prospects immediately on the horizon, we can't, in good conscience, keep working them.

Keep ReadingShow less